Willie Nelson: The Classic Christmas Album

Willie Nelson gets the holiday treatment in Willie Nelson: The Classic Christmas Album, part of a whole line of albums that collect holiday tunes from throughout an artist’s career.

Nelson takes the right approach with these songs. He covers most of the classics — “White Christmas”, “Jingle Bells”, “Frosty the Snowman”, etc. — and he keeps the arrangements simple and traditional. Organ, guitar and the occasional harmonica give the songs some nice rustic accents, helped of course by Nelson’s wonderful twangy voice, as warm and weathered and comforting as a beat-up old baseball mitt.

Nelson’s Christmas songs provide the perfect accompaniment for those cold December nights when you’re wrapping gifts or putting the finishing touches on your tree or just enjoying a quiet sip of hot cocoa by the fireplace. Only the most cold-hearted of Scrooges could say “Bah humbug!” to this collection.