Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas
Encyclopedia
Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas is the first Holiday album by country music
artist Ricky Van Shelton
.It was released following the success of his first two albums. The album includes versions of traditional and popular Christmas songs, along with two older country Christmas songs, Willie Nelson
's "Pretty Paper", and Eddy Arnold
's "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S". It also includes two original songs, "Country Christmas", and "Christmas Long Ago".
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton is a currently retired American country music artist. Active between 1986 and 2006, he has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...
.It was released following the success of his first two albums. The album includes versions of traditional and popular Christmas songs, along with two older country Christmas songs, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
's "Pretty Paper", and Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
's "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S". It also includes two original songs, "Country Christmas", and "Christmas Long Ago".
Track listing
- "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Kim Gannon, Walter KentWalter KentWalter Kent was a Jewish American composer who wrote the music for songs including the Christmas standard "I'll Be Home for Christmas", and the wartime hit " The White Cliffs of Dover", co-written with fellow American Nat Burton. He died at the age of 82-External links:...
, Buck RamBuck RamBuck Ram was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger.-Biography:...
) - 3:06 - "White ChristmasWhite ChristmasA white Christmas refers to the presence of snow on Christmas Day. This phenomenon is most common in the northern countries of the Northern Hemisphere...
" (Irving BerlinIrving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
) - 3:19 - "Santa Claus Is Coming to TownSanta Claus Is Coming to Town"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....
" (J. Fred CootsJ. Fred CootsJohn Frederick Coots was an American songwriter. He wrote over 700 songs.He is most famous for the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", a song that became one of the biggest best sellers in American music history....
, Haven GillespieHaven GillespieJames Lamont "Haven" Gillespie was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" as well as "You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Breezin' Along With The Breeze", "Right or Wrong," "Beautiful Love",...
) - 1:52 - "Silver Bells" (Ray EvansRay EvansRaymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films...
, Jay LivingstonJay LivingstonJay Livingston was an American composer and singer best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote the music and Evans the lyrics....
) - 3:09 - "Silent NightSilent Night"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
" (Franz Xaver Gruber, Joseph Mohr) - 2:20 - "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" (Eddy ArnoldEddy ArnoldRichard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
, Jenny Lou CarsonJenny Lou CarsonJenny Lou Carson, , born Virginia Lucille Overstake, was an American country music singer-songwriter and the first woman to write a No. 1 country music hit...
) - 2:49 - "Please Come Home for ChristmasPlease Come Home for Christmas"Please Come Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song, released in 1960, by the American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Hitting Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in December 1961, the tune Brown co-wrote with Gene Redd peaked at position #76. It appeared on the Christmas Singles chart for nine...
" (Charles Brown, Gene Redd) - 2:33 - "Pretty Paper" (Willie NelsonWillie NelsonWillie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
) - 2:48 - "Country Christmas" (Don SchlitzDon SchlitzDonald Alan "Don" Schlitz, Jr. is a country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammys, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards...
, Ricky Van Shelton) - 2:35 - "Christmas Long Ago" (Schlitz, Van Shelton) - 3:09
- "What Child Is This?What Child Is This?"What Child Is This?" is a popular Christmas carol written in 1865. At the age of twenty-nine, English writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden near-fatal illness and confined to bedrest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression...
(GreensleevesGreensleeves"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of...
)" (William Chatterton Dix, Traditional) - 3:07
Personnel
- Eddie BayersEddie BayersEddie Bayers is an American session drummer who has played on 150 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for eight straight years, and has three times won the Nashville Music Awards 'Drummer of the Year'...
- drums - George Binkley III - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Mark Casstevens - guitar
- Roy Christensen - celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Al DeLory - pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- Conni Ellisor - violin
- Paul FranklinPaul Franklin (musician)Paul Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville,...
- steel guitarSteel guitarSteel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use... - Steve Gibson - guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single... - Carl Gorodetzky - violin
- Roy Huskey, Jr.Roy Huskey, Jr.Roy Milton Huskey was a prominent American upright bass player in country music from Nashville, Tennessee. Huskey performed alongside musicians such as Chet Atkins, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, George Jones, Steve Earle, Doc Watson and many others...
- upright bass - Randy McCormick - piano
- Ted Madsen - violin
- Dennis Molchan - violin
- Craig Nelson - upright bass
- Louis Nunley - background vocals
- Mark O'ConnorMark O'ConnorMark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
- fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, mandolin - Tom Robb - bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- John Wesley RylesJohn Wesley RylesJohn Wesley Ryles is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1968 with the single "Kay", a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts, and the title track to his debut album for Columbia Records.Ryles later recorded one album, Reconsider Me, for the Plantation label,...
- background vocals - Pamela Sixfin - violin
- Gary Vanosdale - violin
- Kristin Wilkinson - violin
- Dennis Wilson - background vocals
- Curtis Young - background vocals
- Additional background vocals by "5th Avenue".
Chart performance
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 32 |