Down Home Christmas

The Oak Ridge Boys are no strangers to holiday albums. As a matter of fact, the last studio album they cut prior to 2019s Down Home Christmas was 2016s Celebrate Christmas, which was the seventh seasonal platter the group recorded over the course of their career. Where Celebrate Christmas leaned heavily on familiar tunes, Down Home Christmas is a splashier affair, produced by Dave Cobb, the hottest producer in Nashville during the second half of the 2010s. Cobb revives and freshens the classic Oak Ridge Boys sound of the early 1980s -- its clean and smooth, with many nostalgic nods to the sock hops of the 50s -- and steers the group to newly written songs, many penned by Aaron Raitiere. The results are pleasing, if somewhat awkward. From the start, its clear that the Oak Ridge Boys are a bit older than they once were; their voices are weathered and worn, like a well-loved family couch. As The Family Piano kicks off the album, their evident age is a little startling, but soon the harmonies seem warm and familiar, which leads to an appreciation of the albums construction. Cobb has assembled a lively, cheerful collection of originals, one where rollicking novelties like Reindeer on the Roof and Dont Go Pullin on Santa Claus Beard are as integral to the albums success as the sticky sentiments of Bring Daddy Home for Christmas. Better still are the moments that exist between the two extremes, like South Alabama Christmas, a slow blues which feels as comforting as a night in by the fire on a cold December day. It all adds up to one of the better holiday albums by the Oak Ridge Boys. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine