Kenny Rogers Album: “Christmas [EMI]”

Kenny has recorded five Christmas albums - four solo and one with Dolly - but this was the first one he did. It includes an excellent mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar.

The most familiar songs here are White Christmas (the Bing Crosby classic), When a child is born (the song that gave Johnny Mathis his only UK number one hit), O holy night (one of the most popular carols) and My favorite things (originally sung by Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music).

Before you get to them, there are some great songs, of which Carol of the bells is a cover but the others might all be originals. Kenny must like Sweet little Jesus boy a lot - he re-recorded it for the Gift, one of his other Christmas albums, but I particularly like Kentucky homemade Christmas (about a poor family determined to have as good a time as they can) and Kids (about the people who enjoy Christmas most).

This was a great start to Kenny's career as a singer of Christmas music.

This album is one we used to listen to on the way to my grandparents for Christmas. It brings back some great memories!