Reviewed by Tony May

At a time of lookalike and soundalike country artists, nice to hear again the distinctive vocal style of this veteran star of the genre. This is a truly sumptuous Christmas set, chock full of rich arrangements and the best of everything. "Mary Did You Know" sets the standard, a lush duet with current country superstar, the husky-voiced Wynonna. For some reason, quite a few recent country albums have featured a touch of gentle reggae rhythms, here it's "Pretty Little Baby Child", very acceptable with fine vocal backing by The Katinas. "The Chosen One Montage" is a superbly worked 15:42-worth of mainly familiar carols spruced up and presented all shiny and new. Hard to avoid falling into the syrupy excess trap on this type of sentimental set, here "A Soldier's King" is the culprit, they'll probably love it in the States, but a bit gooey elsewhere. The duet with Glad on "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" is a success, as is most of this highly sophisticated album. Rogers is still the suave interpreter he always was, a creditable recording of enjoyable Christmas fare.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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