105 DAYS LEFT UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
Buy Home For Christmas here (Amazon GB)
Stream Home For Christmas here (Spotify)
You think a Christmas fanatic like me wasn't going to buy the Dolly Parton Christmas album based on that camp-tastic cover alone?! Of course little 16 year old me swiftly spent all his pocket money on the album back in the wintry months of 1990. Shockingly, Home For Christmas was the first Dolly Parton album I owned but did start a lifetime of appreciation for Nashville's greatest star (in fact, the record store I frequented often then recommended I try the Heartbreaker album before delving into her more well known stuff. I was smitten)! It wasn't just the music of Home For Christmas that I fell for - it was the audacity of releasing it over 100 days before December 25th arrived. It was like Dolly was personally encouraging you to spread a little joy before the most wonderful time of year officially began - and it was an invitation I was all onboard for.
There was something quite sweet about opening the album with The First Noel - and having a choir sing the first verse. I always thought the loud, proud piano chords that precede Dolly's solo were accompanied by a glare from the bossy choir director, as if to say "Just DOLLY now please"! What is Christmas without a solo or two in the village pageant? There's a twinkle in her eye as she frolics into Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Accompanied by a buoyant piano and pogo-style beat, its a feel-good sleigh ride-hay ride with the fiddler hanging on for dear life on the back for his middle 8 solo. Those trademark conversational vocals make it feel like you are just having a good ol' sing-song with the legend in your own living room. Ms Parton is more poignant and melancholy on I'll Be Home For Christmas, making that hopeful promise that she knows she may not be able to keep. There is an elegance to the piano accompaniment, matched by the jazzy percussion, that makes you just sway along. It is absolutely captivating if not a little heartbreaking - every ounce of emotion on display.
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer is a jolly ol' bluegrass ho-ho-hoedown with Dolly back in narrative mode, telling what is perhaps the second greatest story of the season. The lovely message of equality she adds in at the end makes you glad from head to (mistle)toe. She continues to bring tidings of good cheer on Go Tell It On The Mountain; I don't recall being aware of this song before hearing Dolly's version but it has since become a favourite. I'll always have a fondness for this version as the introduction. The gospel-infused choir vocals are the icing on the cake, whilst the take-it-to-church ending is electrifying. Little Drummer Boy proved to this Dolly novice what long time fans had known all along - the performer didn't need all the whistles and bells of production to make an impact. She was just as capable of doing so with a sparse percussion and her intuitive voice. We Three Kings brings out the awe and wonder of the lyrics through a symbiotic partnership of that beguiling guitar accompaniment and Dolly's reverent vocal style. It is as if the music has traversed the passages of time just waiting for Dolly to sing it...
Time to kick up those heels on the sing-along of Jingle Bells. You can tell that Dolly's vision for the album was to make something the whole family could enjoy (which may be why it worked so well as a TV special). Sure, it is a little cheesy but so is Christmas and this captures the spirit of brilliantly. O Little Town Of Bethlehem sees addition of a graceful violin solo which seems to swathe its sound round Ms Parton's voice like swaddling clothes on the baby in the manger. Her voice is as crystalline as the midnight clear and the solemnity of the words are lost on no-one. And then this convivial carolling concert comes to an end with the rousing Joy To The World. The way the song adds layered texture as it progresses, until you reach the hand-clap crescendo of the finale means you leave the album feeling merry and bright, joyful AND triumphant!
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