Album Review: Various - An Americana Christmas

Christmas is a great frame for writing about heavenly love and earthly loneliness. This compilation sees Johnny Cash, The Band and Emmylou Harris reflect on the former, the seasoned performers lending a gentle country inflection to traditional carols like The First Noel and The Gifts They Gave. Dwight Yoakam speeds things up on Run Run Rudolph and Ronnie Fauss brings equal parts heartbreak and humour with Everybody Deserves A Merry Christmas. No one does lonely like country musicians and Max Gomez, The Common Linnets and Old 97’s have you crying in your eggnog by album’s finish.