Dolly Parton - Home For Christmas 320cbr (Big Papi) 1990 Country Christmas Music

The dulcimer intro on "We Three Kings" took me by surprise. How classy is that?? Dolly manages to take an album of covers (technically) and makes the songs uniquely hers. For the country fan, there's lots of twang which seemed to stand out on her Columbia albums, not to mention a slant toward gospel. This album is a nice mix of secular and non-secular music. With Dolly's strength, I would have loved to hear her tackle more difficult songs in the way of "O Holy Night" or "Ave Maria." Dolly has taken standards like "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and turned it into bluegrass romp. Maybe a bluegrass holiday album might be in the not too distant future and Dolly will take on more difficult fare. In the meantime, Dolly's in fine voice and it's clear she had a great time making this cd.

The only mis-step is the spoken intro at the beginning of the album and the congregation style choir and preacher on "The First Noel" and again spoken verse on "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer." Outside of these teeny details, this is a fine album to play as you hang your ornaments on the tree.
Happy Holidays!!