Seeing as the country music community appears to be pretty obsessed with the Christmas season (one only has to look at the plethora of festive country albums released each year), it only seemed fitting that its greatest imitator, ABC’s primetime drama ‘Nashville’, would follow suit. Already with four Big Machine-distributed soundtrack albums under its belt, the franchise is no stranger to the music market with a stipulation of the actors’ contracts being that they sing their own songs with no overdubs. Some of the cast are more naturally gifted in this area than others, but in general the soundtracks have enabled fans to own their favorite songs from the show and extend the reach and belieavability of the characters. Now, however, Nashville has decided to do something different.
What makes ‘Christmas With Nashville’ stand out beyond the sometimes cheap make-believe of its soundtracks and “original” songs is that for the first time the actors themselves are the ones performing. Each song on the dozen-track collection is accredited to the actors, and they have chosen these classics to cover as themselves rather than as their characters. In many ways this is the next step in the Nashville brand; it was a struggle for them to get renewed for both seasons two and three, so it makes sense that after two-and-a-half years of playing the Opry and various events (under character and real personas), they would begin to establish themselves as reputable country and roots musicians in their own right. After all, who knows if Nashville will return for a season four? For those in the cast intent on pursuing their own music, this is a great promotional tool to push their names and sounds into our consciousness, and also something to peddle leading up to Christmas with the mysterious absence of a Season 3: Volume 1 soundtrack album anywhere other than (incidentally there has been zero promotion, perhaps indicative of fading buzz).
So where ‘Christmas With Nashville’ is not so much a cohesive record with clear underlying storylines, it does represent each artist as a different slice of the musical pie. Clare Bowen (Scarlett O’Connor), whose songs on the show have been some of the most popular, leads proceedings with a somewhat clunky but generally cutesy and later impassioned rendition of ‘Santa Baby’; while her on-screen uncle Chip Esten (Deacon Claybourne) croons the gentler, more traditional country-infused ‘Blue Christmas’; rocker Jonathan Jackson (Avery Berkley) belts the jingly 80s-sounding ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ and Hayden Panettiere (Juliette Barnes) charms us all with a smooth, beautiful rendition of ‘White Christmas’.
Yet, despite all of this record’s attempts to distance itself from the fictional narratives of its birthplace, there are some songs that hit closer to what we know of these characters. For a start, Connie Britton (Rayna Jaymes) and Will Chase (Luke Wheeler) conjure up a wonderfully cheesy and romantic duet on ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’, featuring a chemistry that might leave some wondering whether their affair extends into real life too. Sam Palladio (Gunnar Scott) also stays close to the mournful, soulful acoustic artist that we know (partly because a lot of Sam’s musical prowess went into Gunnar) in a quite brilliant cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’ (who can do Joni Mitchell justice?! Apparently this guy).
But mostly what this album does is allow us to peek into the souls of the actors who we feel we know so well in some other form. Blues singer Aubrey Peeples (Layla Grant) shines an impressive light on her already-established musicianship that her character doesn’t necessarily allow for, with the classic and sultry ‘Merry Christmas Baby’, while Connie Britton shakes herself up and lets her silliness out with ‘You’re A Mean One Mr Grinch’. Vocally I don’t think she’s ever sounded so good, and the personality and confidence she exudes here is second to none, just as ‘Christmas Coming Home’ allows Lennon & Maisy to jump headfirst out of the cutesy acoustic vein that they had begun to become stuck in. Too, Will’s performance of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ shows a more vulnerable side to the upbeat, party attitude of his character Luke, just as Chaley Rose (Zoey Dalton) gets to shine on ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ (although one of the lesser tracks on offer in my opinion).
Then there’s the group performance to close, a collaboration between all the singing cast members on ‘Celebrate Me Home’, a truly special rendition that draws upon a choir and gospel style to send shivers down the spine. Sam, Chip, Jonathan and Chaley have performed together on the show several times, while Connie, Chip, Lennon and Maisy have also created something of a family affair, so it seemed only a matter of time before they would bring all the actors together into one blow-out performance. And blow-out it is. There is something particularly beautiful about all of them singing as one, with tiny spotlights appearing in different areas of the mataphorical stage as we briefly hear the individual voices of each singer in turn. It has been produced extremely well, and deserves to be heard perhaps more than the others.
I’ve heard a lot of Christmas records from the country music community this year, and many are great in their own ways. But ‘Christmas With Nashville’ pulls back a curtain on our favorite show in a way that is incomparable. If you watch the show at all, or even if you don’t, this is definitely worth a purchase this festive season.
