Martina McBride Album: “White Christmas”

Martina McBride released this CD several years ago. At the time I bought her CD and could not stop listening to it during Christmas.

Now they have packaged it with 4 new songs. Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland are my favorite new songs on the CD. Silver Bells is my favorits song on the entire CD.

If you are a Martina McBride fan or if you just like Christmas music, this is for you.

Martina could possibly have the best voice in Nashville, and now she sings our favorite carols as well..............You have to buy this one

Editorial writers are critical because they are jealous and have no talent. Often, artists change songs because they don't have the talent to give an acurate, honest interpretation, and use "artistic freedom" as an excuse for their failings.

The same thing was said about the Carpenters, calling them "vanilla." In the words of Paul Willams, "but what an exquisite flavor vanilla is."

Martina McBride has one the best voices of her generation, and doesn't need to hide it behind the usual production tricks and false "interpretations." Because she is confident of her musicianship, she sings these Christmas songs the way they were meant to be sung, letting the lyric and melody shine through to honor the holiday.

As a composer/arranger/producer, I appreciate her interpretations, as well as the production quality of this album.

Thanks Martina.

Martina McBride's WHITE CHRISTMAS is one of the most traditional Christmas cds to be released in recent years. There's no new holiday anthems to learn, just tried and true hymns ("What Child Is This," "Away In A Manger") and Yuletide evergreens ("Silver Bells," "I'll Be Home For Christmas"). The perky and sweet McBride is a natural to interpret Christmas music and her cheerful (if bland) selections fit her persona well. If you are looking for a set of familiar music with traditional arrangements and pleasant vocals that will add a little ambience without dominating your surroundings, this cd should do the trick.

This cd was originally released in 1998 with only ten tracks, with "Do You Hear What I Hear" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" added when it was reissued just a year later. Make sure you are getting the 12-track set if purchasing a used copy on Amazon.

All these songs have been recorded many times before by many different singers. However, Martina has such a wonderful voice that I forgive her for not including any original material.

From the opening strains of Do you hear what I hear?, the least-covered song here, it is obvious that this is a high-quality album from a singer who is inspired by these songs. Best of the lot is O holy night - although I've heard many covers of it, I regard Martina's as the ultimate performance of this song.

There is a huge market for Christmas albums full of familiar songs and Martina knew it when she chose these songs. If you are looking for such an album in an easy listening style, they don't come any better than this.

Note that in 2007, a new edition of this album was released containing all these 12 tracks plus four more. This version of the album remains available (at least for the time being) at a lower price than the 2007 version.

I love this cd!!! Martina's voice is amazing and I love that this is traditional Christmas music, all the classics. Martina's version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is positively the best I've ever heard and "O Holy Night" blows me away. My two favorite Christmas songs, "Frosty the Snowman" and "White Christmas" are included too. I highly recommend this one, it'll be a favorite for many years to come!!!