Country Christmas gift ideas and stocking stuffers

CDs and more for your Country gift list

Santa’s gone Country! Here’s a whole sleigh-full of Country stocking suffers for family, friends and you too. You deserve it! Scroll down for mini-reviews and handy links.

  • Top artists on ‘Country Faith Christmas 2’
  • A blue (grass) Christmas with Dailey & Vincent
  • Tracy Lawrence is ‘Frozen in Time’
  • Brett Eldredge: still GLOWing strong
  • Rodney Crowell finds ‘Christmas Everywhere’
  • Martina McBride swings into Christmas
  • A quirky Yuletide: from lullabies to kazoos
  • Celebrate with Ray Stevens
  • Scroll down for mini-reviews and links

 Top artists on ‘Country Faith Christmas 2’

If you’re headed to Cracker Barrel, here’s a CD you could find. ‘Country Faith Christmas Vol. 2’ is a new Christmas album from the faith-based brand, Country Faith. The CD features top Country Music artists including Carrie Underwood, Chris Young, Kelsea Ballerini, Charlie Daniels, Hank Williams Jr, Darius Rucker, John Berry and more. Distributed through Curb/Word Entertainment, the album is available now through digital retailers, including Apple Music and Amazon.  The CD will be sold exclusively in Cracker Barrel stores and is one of only four featured Christmas releases at Cracker Barrel’s over 600 stores, which are located across the U.S.  More details here.

A blue (grass) Christmas with Dailey & Vincent

If someone you know is dreaming of a blue (grass) Christmas, here’s the perfect gift.  Multi-GRAMMY® nominated duo Dailey & Vincent have released of their first-ever Christmas record, ‘Dailey & Vincent: The Sounds of Christmas,’ available now from BMG. The Sounds of Christmas experience is more than just an album release as momentum continues throughout the holiday season with a nationally broadcast television Christmas concert special, four all-new Christmas episodes of “The Dailey & Vincent Show” on RFD-TV and a 15-city Christmas tour. The album features Christmas classics like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Carol of the Bells” and “Go Tell It On The Mountain” as well as never-before-heard holiday tunes such as “Road To Bethlehem” featuring Dolly Parton. Tour info and more here.

Tracy Lawrence is ‘Frozen in Time’

Here’s a new album from one of favorite people: Tracy Lawrence. ‘Frozen In Time’ offers a mix of classic holiday favorites plus four original tracks, including the album’s title track, co-written by Tracy and Rick Huckaby. Tracy describes that song as “a festive nod to family traditions served up Western Swing style, with a side of holiday cheer.” Your gift recipients can enjoy the album on CD, vinyl or digital (available here). Track listing and more info at Tracy’s website.

Brett Eldredge: still GLOWing strong

In 2016, Brett Eldredge released a Christmas album titled, ‘Glow.’ Now he has re-released the album in a ‘de-luxe edition’ that includes all the original tracks plus five new tracks. Brett has added his renditions of ‘Do You Hear What I Hear,’ ‘Silver Bells,’ ‘Sleigh Ride,’ ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’ and ‘Christmas Time Is Here.’ He has also added some pre-holiday dates to his tour schedule and no doubt he’ll be singing some of the tracks from the album. Gift idea: add a couple of tour show tix to the album for that special someone. Go to Brett’s webpage here. And check out the cool ‘snow globe’ graphic with Brett in a powder blue tux!

Rodney Crowell finds ‘Christmas Everywhere’

Singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell says that he’s read the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (a.k.a. “Twas The Night Before Christmas”) on Christmas Eve to his children and grandkids for more than 40 years.  If he wants a break from tradition, he could play them his new Christmas album, “Christmas Everywhere” instead.  Unlike most other Xmas offerings, this album consists of twelve original Christmas-themed songs, and features guest stars (including Vince Gill) and his own kids. The album is available digitally, on CD and on vinyl (black or marbled red and green). Order your copy here. More info at Rodney’s website.

Martina McBride swings into Christmas

“It’s The Holiday Season” and that’s the title of Martina McBride’s 2018 yuletide album (her first since 1988’s “White Christmas”).  The new album features more of a Christmas-pop vibe than the previous album that focused more on Christmas hymns. Recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, Martina is backed by orchestras with 40+ top musicians. Martina will also be taking that big band sound on the road for a number of pre-Christmas dates.  If someone on your gift list is more into cooking than listening to Holiday tunes, Martina has a book for that. Her second cookbook, ‘Martina’s Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life,’ is out just in time for gift buying. All of Martina’s merch is available vis her website and the usual retail outlets.

A quirky Yuletide: from lullabies to kazoos

Do you know somebody who would enjoy something a little, er… different? The CMH Label Group is releasing more of its catalog to Global Radio for the Christmas season. This includes a brand-new 3 song EP, “Rockabye Baby,” featuring Yuletide hits “All I Want For Christmas is You,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Last Christmas.” Speaking of unique renditions of Christmas classics, it doesn’t get more unorthodox than a “Kazoo Christmas,” except for maybe a “Surfin’ Christmas.” And what would a CMH Christmas be without “Pickin’ On Christmas,” a collection of holiday hits done in our one-of-a-kind bluegrass style.  “Stars & Snow” is an album full of Texas Country covers of both modern and traditional Christmas classics. Then, it’s time for a Feliz Navidad, as the Red Hot Jalapenos take you on a trip to a “Christmas South of the Border.” You can find links to these and more here.

Celebrate with Ray Stevens

How about gifting Ray Stevens fans with some show tickets? The music legend is “decking the halls” at his new Nashville showroom, CabaRay.  Through Saturday, December 29, Stevens will perform multiple live “Christmas at CabaRay” dinner shows at the venue.  “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the CabaRay,” says Stevens. “The CabaRay is now fully decorated for the holidays and the shows take on a decided Christmas flavor right after Thanksgiving.”  At each show, dinner seating begins at 6:00 p.m. with the live concert following at 7:30 p.m. Ticket pricing: $99 seats include VIP seating, dinner and live show / $79 seats include dinner and show on the main dining floor / $59 seats are available in the balcony (does not include dinner).  Tickets are available now at Ray’s website or by calling 615-327-4630. CabaRay is located at 5724 River Road in West Nashville.

There you have it: my roundup of Country Christmas gift ideas for 2018.  Now go shopping, in-store or online. Merry Christmas!

Preshias Harris  is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at   www.collegeofsongology.com  Follow her blog at  www.nashvillemusicline.com

Country, Bluegrass, Americana news and more

November’s ‘Inside Track on Music Row’ sneak peek

  • ‘Hannah’ new single from Tom Mackell EP
  • Dailey & Vincent’s ‘first ever’ Xmas album
  • 77 million streams for Tenpenny’s ‘Drunk Me’
  • Kip Moore has acoustic ‘Room To Spare’
  • And much more

Catch up on more than thirty music news items in the November 2018 edition of my column, Inside Track on Music Row. The entire column (and a whole lot more) is now posted here at Nashville Music Guide, complete with photos, videos and graphics. Thank you NMG editor Amanda Andrews! You always make the column look SO good.

The column is the longest-running Country music column in America.  Scroll down for a sneak peek at just a few of the items in the November column.

‘Hannah’ new single from Tom Mackell EP

AMERICANA NEWS: Tom Mackell hails from Philadelphia and debuts a unique sound resembling a cross between outlaw country and Americana. The Nashville based singer/songwriter has released his latest single ‘Hannah’ – the first single from a forthcoming E.P. slated for early 2019.

Fusing elements of classic Americana and outlaw country revival with youthful sincerity, ‘Hannah’ explores an old country adage through the lens of a millennial songwriter.  Despite the challenges that inspired the song, Mackell has managed to turn 2018 into a banner year musically, crafting a new album on which ‘Hannah’ will appear, in addition to touring with 90’s stalwart Sister Hazel and securing forthcoming dates with ‘The Voice’ alum Tony Lucca. Music, tour dates and more at tommackell.com.

Dailey & Vincent’s ‘first ever’ Xmas album

BLUEGRASS NEWS: Heading into the holiday season, multi-GRAMMY® nominated duo Dailey & Vincent are gifting fans their first-ever Christmas record, ‘Dailey & Vincent: The Sounds of Christmas,’ available from BMG. The collection of Christmas classics and never-before-heard holiday tunes ranked No. 2 on the Amazon’s Holiday Hot New Releases.

To order ‘Dailey & Vincent: The Sounds of Christmas,’ click here. Country music icon Dolly Parton collaborated with Dailey & Vincent on the Jimmy Fortune and Jeff Bates penned “Road To Bethlehem.  The bluegrass veterans were also joined by 2018 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Ricky Skaggs, on a cut of Alabama’s “Tonight It’s Christmas,” which is one of two bonus tracks available exclusively when fans purchase the Christmas record at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® locations and online at CrackerBarrel.com.  Tour dates and album info at daileyandvincent.com.

77 million streams for Tenpenny’s ‘Drunk Me’

Mitchell Tenpenny. Photo credit: Alan Poizner

CD RELEASES: Nashville native Mitchell Tenpenny burst onto the scene earlier this year when his RIAA-certified Gold single, ‘Drunk Me’ hit airwaves across the country. The breakthrough song has earned more than 77 million on-demand streams tracking 3 million a week, and has surpassed 500,000 units of downloads in the U.S.

Tenpenny’s debut album, ‘Telling All My Secrets,’ will be available everywhere Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, on the Riser House/Columbia Nashville. The title track is available now with pre-order.  Tenpenny wrote 56 songs in preparation for the album narrowing it down to 11 strong tracks that tell his story including Top 15 single ‘Drunk Me,’ and fan favorite ‘Alcohol You Later.’ His total career streams exceed 104 million, across various platforms. Music and tour info here.

Kip Moore has acoustic ‘Room To Spare’

EP NEWS: Kip Moore announced he will release ROOM TO SPARE: THE ACOUSTIC SESSIONS EP on November 16. Driven by a promise to fans to share an acoustic EP, Moore shared further insight into the project exclusively with American Songwriter, including the creative process that went in to the seven-song collection and co-writing five of the tracks.

Audiences across the country will also be able to experience the new tracks live this fall as Moore also revealed a limited Room To Spare: Acoustic Tour kicking off in Milwaukee, WI on 11/29. The new EP showcases multi-Platinum singer/songwriter Moore’s signature sound in a stripped-down setting. Music, merch, tour updates  and more here.

Read the entire column and much more at Nashville Music Guide!

Preshias Harris  is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at   www.collegeofsongology.com  Follow her blog at  www.nashvillemusicline.com