Gene Autry Christmas

Personnel includes: Gene Autry, Rosemary Clooney, Mitchell Choirboys, Cass County Boys, King Sisters, The Pinafores.
Compilation producer: Didier C. Deutsch.
Recorded between 1947 and 1956.
Includes liner notes by Didier C. Deutsch.
Following on from an excellent Gene Autry Christmas collection on Columbia from ten years earlier, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Other Christmas Classics adds two tracks to that disc's 16 and furnishes a remastering that makes these tracks sound better than ever. Though Autry's known best in a holiday context for the title song, he recorded many more splendid songs during the period, all of them evincing his superb Hollywood swing. Autry's other additions to the repertoire of Christmas classics landed in 1950 ("Frosty the Snowman," then a new song) and 1952 ("The Night Before Christmas Song"). Since country & western audiences were notoriously sensitive, he stayed away from sacred classics, making this collection much more exciting and fun than the usual. Aside from the above, highlights include "He's a Chubby Little Fellow," "Here Comes Santa Claus," and his update of an earlier hit, "The Night Before Christmas (In Texas, That Is)." ~ John Bush