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Various Artists
A Country Superstar Christmas III
Hip-O/Universal
As far as I'm concerned, country music goes well with holiday songs, because twangster artists are well versed in both sentiment and hokum. Plus there's not much oversinging going on with most of the Nashville folk - they basically deal in plainspeak. That's certainly the story on this compilation of seasonal tunes both cherished and unknown. Alan Jackson's signature is understatement, and his "A Holly Jolly Christmas" is almost as refined as Chely Wright's "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." Each track allows itself only one instrument of character: his is a sleighbell, hers an accordion. Nice stuff on both. Some cuts do get gussied up, and they suffer for it. The strings that thicken Vince Gill's melodramatic "O Come All Ye Faithful" mar the music by italicizing the mush. Ditto for the synth on Alecia Elliot's "What Child Is This" (that manger didn't have an AC outlet, did it?) and the spoken word history lesson at the front end of Reba McEntire's Streisand-like "Silent Night."
The somewhat mediocre Mark Wills dares add to the trad repertoire with a somewhat mediocre John Hall (of Orleans fame) piece called "New Star Shining." Alabama glide through an original as well, but let's not even go there. George Strait's swing through dessertville is one of the disc's best nonstandards. "I sure do like those Christmas cookies, sugar/ I sure do like those Christmas cookies, babe," he says with a post-nog leer in his voice. Hubba hubba. The other is Toby Keith's stripped-down and hopped-up "Christmas Rock," about a wife's diamond wishes and a hubby's penniless billfold: "She's wants a Christmas rock/ But Santa's pocket's ain't got no roll." Closing thoughts? Buttons and bows may dress up a present, but an ordinary brown wrapper, delivered with verve, still has a credible panache.
Jim Macnie
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