Search - Various Artists :: Tennessee Christmas

Excellent set of eighties country recordings

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 08/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Back in the days before CD was popular, this was one of the best LP's of Christmas music that I came across. The ten songs have everything evenly balanced - five male vocals, five female vocal, and a great mix of Christmas classics, original songs and covers of lesser-known songs.



I don't know if the compilers knew when they selected the artists, but Barbara Mandrell, Steve Wariner and Jimmy Buffett were all born on 25th December. Moreover, they were the only country stars with this birthday that could have been included at the time.



There are so many great tracks here, but Reba's version of Away in a manger is outstanding. Not far behind are Jimmy Buffett, the Oak Ridge Boys, Ray Stevens and John Schneider - the first three with original songs and John with a song (Please come home for Christmas) that I had not heard before I bought this, though it is a cover of an R+B song that had been popularized by the Eagles. Of course, it has been recorded by many others since and is now a regular feature of Christmas albums.



Steve's version of the title track (an Amy Grant original that I first came across via Alabama's version) is also excellent. Unlike some of the other singers here, Steve did not include it on his own Christmas album.



Barbara Mandrell (actually my favorite among the singers featured here) does a fine cover of Winter wonderland, though it's not the track I would have selected from her Christmas album. The tracks featuring Nicolette Larson, Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn are also wonderful.



Because this is a straight re-issue of an original LP, the playing time is short for a CD, but the quality is high and the price is low. As such, it remains one of my favorite Christmas albums."