A Brenda Lee Christmas: In the New Old Fashioned Way is a studio album by American singer, Brenda Lee. It was released in September 1991 by Warner Bros. Records and was her second studio album of Christmas music. The album's creation was derived from the early 1990s revival of her holiday song, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". The collection featured 13 songs, including several re-recordings of Christmas tunes from Lee's first holiday collection. It received mixed reviews from critics following its release.
Background Brenda Lee was a top-selling pop singer in the 1960s due to a string of international top-10 and number one singles. She was reinvented as a country performer in the 1970s and had commercial success in the genre through the 1980s. She then signed to Warner Bros. Records and the label released an eponymous studio collection in 1991. Lee explained in her autobiography that the recent revival of her holiday hit, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", inspired the making of Lee's second Christmas-themed studio album. Ronnie Shacklett (Lee's husband and manager in the 1990s) convinced Warner Bros. to make the album and Lee began recording the project in 1991.
Recording and content A Brenda Lee Christmas consisted of 13 tracks co-produced by Jim Ed Norman and Eric Prestidge. Many of the songs were re-recordings originally made for her 1964 LP, Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee. Re-recorded tunes included "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". The new material (never before recorded by Lee) were the album's religious tracks, such as "Joy to the World" and "O Come All Ye Faithful". Lee later said that "Go Tell It on the Mountain" was among her favorites from the project.
Release and critical reception A Brenda Lee Christmas was released by Warner Bros. Records in September 1991 and was offered in two formats: a compact disc (CD) or a cassette. The album received mixed reviews from critics following its release. Carma Wadley of the Deseret News gave it a positive response, writing, "Lee serves up a pleasant rendition of familiar songs. The overall feeling rings true to her style". Orla Swift of the Record-Journal gave the collection a "C" rating, finding that it lacked the "bouncy" material from previous discs. "Instead we get heavy-handed, trudging treatments of otherwise pretty songs," she wrote. The Chicago Tribune believed it would "appeal to several crowds" but found covers of "Joy to the World" and "Silent Night" to be "pretty square for a woman once nicknamed Little Miss Dynamite". However, the newspaper concluded that Lee's voice ultimately made them "first rate carols". Marvin Jolly of AllMusic called the disc "among the best of the singer's many holiday recordings", but only gave it a two-star rating out of five.
Track listing
Personnel All credits are adapted from the liner notes of A Brenda Lee Christmas: In the New Old Fashioned Way.
Musical personnel Doug Clements – Backing vocals Mark Douthit – Saxophone, soloist James Ferguson – Backing vocals Steve Gibson – Electric guitar Dennis Good – Trombone Barry Green – Trombone Mike Haynes – Trumpet John Hug – Acoustic guitar Wendy Johnson – Backing vocals Jana King – Backing vocals Brenda Lee – Lead vocals Paul Leim – Drums Tom McAninch – Horn Nashville String Machine – Orchestra, strings Chris McDonald – Trombone Farrell Morris – Percussion Bobby Odgen – Piano Billy Puett – Flute, saxophone Ebby Ramm – Horn John Sheffield – Trumpet Lisa Silver – Backing vocals Bobby Taylor – Oboe George Tidwell – Trumpet Glenn Worf – Bass Cindy Wyatt – Harp
Technical personnel Kevin Anderson – Engineer Mark Coddington – Engineer Noah Dewey – Engineer Carl Gorodetzky – Contractor Larry Jefferies – Engineer Danny Kee – Production assistant Dave LaBarre – Engineer Brenda Lee – Liner notes Laura LiPuma – Art direction Glenn Meadows – Mastering Mark McCarthy – Engineer Keith Odle – Digital multi-track editing Tikm Nikosey – Lettering Jim Ed Norman – Producer Eric Prestidge – Producer, mastering, mixing, recording Todd Robbins – Engineer Bob Tassi – Engineer James "Val" Veluntini – Engineer Bergen White – Arranger, conductor
Release history + Release history and formats for A Brenda Lee Christmas: In the New Old Fashioned Way Region Date Format Label Ref. Various September 1991 Warner Bros. Records Circa 2020 Warner Records
References