The Oak Ridge Boys are country’s ambassadors for Christmas music.
Depending on whether or not you are still a young kid, or a kid closer to 92, they have become the Andy Williams of Nashville, the Mariah Carey of Music City, or the Michael Buble of holiday baubles. For over thirty years they have put on a full-production Christmas show that travels the country. The Boys are currently booked to play into 2026 on their extended farewell tour with Ben James filling the hole left by Joe Bonsall’s passing in 2024 and Aaron McCune and Tim Duncan alternately stepping in for Richard Sterban who is battling pancreatic cancer.
The Oak Ridge Boys have recorded eight dedicated Christmas albums dating back to Christmas, their first offering from 1982, right up until 2023’s Christmas Collection, which drew from their previous seasonal recordings.
The Oak’s ability to entertain for over fifty years in their current configuration, by keeping the seemingly contradictory spheres of sentimentality and showmanship, camp and sincerity, and faith and fun in the air, through the power of entertaining four-part harmony singing is special. It’s why they are in The Country Music Hall of Fame and members of The Grand Ole Opry. That musical gift also explains their natural inclination toward Christmas recordings. It’s a direct-line-natural-fit.
The Oaks have the ability to revisit familiar themes and characters year after year by exploring the season through new songs and wise eyes. 2019’s Dave Cobb produced Down Home Christmas is one of their most endearing examples of that.
In the liner notes to the album, Oak Ridge Boy’s lead singer Duane Allen said, “Dave Cobb was the producer/coach/motivator for this project. He encouraged us to dig a little deeper into our souls, to capture the magic of each song. With very simple instrumentation, the four Oak Ridge Boys voices are out front and in your face with the awesome huge sound of RCA Studio A wrapped around, but not overpowering, it.”
Eight of the ten songs are originals, many written, or co-written, by Aaron Raitiere. They allow the Oaks’ authenticity and deep sense of tradition to infuse the new stories with a sweet charm and solidity. As much as anything, the album is fun. The blended natural harmonies offer the intimacy and the feel of a live performance.
The album kicks off with “The Family Piano,” an off-shoot of Jamey Johnson’s “Mama’s Table” from 2009’s The Boys are Back. Both songs are sentimental testaments to the strength of family and home. “The Family Piano” sounds like the most inviting door imaginable opening to the past and the music to come. It’s about the literal and figurative power of harmony.
“Angels” is a bouncy example of the Oaks ability to walk the scared-secular line without alienating either camp, celebrating gratitude and messengers.
“Bring Daddy Home for Christmas” captures the childish confusion of exactly who rules at Christmas, Jesus or Santa. The entire narrative sounds like an old Red Simpson classic about a daddy who is away for Christmas. It’s a wondrous delight, an open-ended story song for Christmas that doesn’t mind embracing a little mystery. I love the spirit of this song.
“Reindeer on the Roof” and “Don’t Go Pullin’ on Santa Claus’ Beard” are youthful romps featuring Richard Sterban’s rumbling bass. I can imagine kids raised on this squealing with joy each year when it gets played. The songs are wonderful inclusions of children in the listening experience without pandering to them. Keep in mind the Oak’s recorded “Eddy Raven’s “Thank God for Kids” on their first Christmas album over forty years ago. They seem to genuinely know how to make glad the hearts of children.
Hearing Joe Bonsall’s tenor soar above “Hallelujah Emmanuel” reminds us of the light be brought to the Oak Ridge Boys for years. Energetically, the song feels like an altar call.
“Down Home Christmas” most quickly falls in line with Bing Crosby’s “Christmas Dinner Country Style” and Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Christmas Dinner” as it praises turkey and pies. Hmm-Hmmm! This sentimental song about home is delicious, beyond just the groaning dinner table.
“South Alabama Christmas” sounds like Christmas Eve giving way to exhausted sleep and eager anticipation. It is a sleepy and quiet number. The dishes are done, the guests have left, and the kids are in bed. The timing between singing “Merry Christmas from south Alabam… to ya’all” is perfect for reasons I cannot explain. Jamey Johnson and Bill Anderson wrote this gem about the Christmas spirit without the northern trappings of snow, cold, or chimneys. Or even houses. The song is set in a double-wide trailer.
How sweet the Oaks sounds sound here, sounding bright as when they first began. Down Home Christmas is a delight.
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