Setting the mood for the holidays is an important step; whether you’re trimming the tree or decking out the outside of your house with every string of lights you can find. Below are Lula’s top holiday music picks to get and keep you in the spirit until New Year’s Eve!
Mary Did You Know– Reba McEntire First released on her 1999 Christmas album The Secret of Giving, Reebs has put her on spin on this Christmas classic time and time again. Most recently, she sang it for CMA Christmas with her pals, Little Big Town. Thought her original version is on our playlist, you can catch her group performance with Little Big Town on CMA’s Vevo.
Blue Christmas– Loretta Lynn Loretta recorded her now famous version of Blue Christmas in 2016, on her album White Christmas Blue. You can hear it on our playlist, or listen to it here, provided by Sony Music Entertainment.
A Christmas to Remember– Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton Kenny and Dolly released their Christmas album, Once Upon a Christmas, in December of 1984. On it, A Christmas to Remember was featured, and they filmed a made for TV special of the same name to promote album sales. The special has been rerun several times, but has never been released for purchase by the public, despite demands from fans. A Christmas To Remember remains one of Kenny & Dolly’s most popular holiday songs recorded together.
Christmas Cookies– George Straight Despite the popularity of Christmas Cookies, George Strait has never released it on one of his own albums; instead the song shows up on well-known country compilation albums. Christmas Cookies can be found on A Country Christmas: 1999.
Hard Candy Christmas– Dolly Parton Dolly Parton made this song famous when she starred in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Carol Hall, the songwriter, adapted the verses so that Dolly would sing the refrains as a solo, rather than a full ensemble piece as was done in the play. There is an alternate recording in which Dolly sings the entire song. Multiple versions exist and it is now a well known hit. Trisha Yearwood did her own stunning version of the song at this year’s CMA Christmas. If you missed it, you can catch the special again on ABC on December 21 at 9/8 central!
Check out our playlist and hear all of our top picks for Country Christmas festivities!