''Christmas with Scotty McCreery'' is the Christmas album by season ten ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' winner

Scotty McCreery Scott Cooke McCreery (born October 9, 1993) is an American country singer. He rose to fame after winning the tenth season of ''American Idol'' in May 2011. His debut studio album, '' Clear as Day'', was released in October 2011 and was certifi ...

. The album was released on October 16, 2012, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Mercury Nashville Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as #MCA Nashville, MCA Nashville and #Mercury Nashville, Mercury Nashville wh ...

. The album was certified Gold on November 26, 2012.

Background

In July 2012, Scotty McCreery revealed that he was working on a Christmas album. He indicated that he had always wanted to make a Christmas album, and had talked about it for about a year before it was given the go-ahead by his label. The album contains many of the standard Christmas songs, as well as two original Christmas songs - "Christmas in Heaven" and "Christmas Comin' Round Again". He described "Christmas in Heaven" as his favorite song on the album. McCreery revealed that he was writing a song called "Christmas in Heaven" about his grandfather, who died while he was getting ready for the album, but received a song with the same title and opted to record that instead. The album was produced by

Mark Bright Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former Association football, footballer. Born to a The Gambia, Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early a ...

, who was also the producer of McCreery's first album, '' Clear as Day''. The Christmas album was released on October 16, 2012 in the United States. It was included in the ''Scotty McCreery QVC Bundle'', which also contains ''Clear as Day'', and was released on October 23 through

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network and a flagship shopping channel specializing in televised Shopping channel, home shopping, owned by QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group). Founded in 19 ...

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews by the critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

thought that to release a Christmas album at this point of his career "may be a tad speedy but a festive collection is a softball pitch up the middle for McCreery, one that the cornpone singer can hit clear out of the park." Billy Duke of

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

considered it a "consistent project that takes few chances, but offers 11 pleasant recordings to easily slip into one's yearly holiday playlist." In similar vein, Matt Bjorke of Roughstock thought the album is "largely as warm and familiar as a cup of Hot Cocoa. That is, it's not the kind of groundbreaking all-new Christmas recording but it is well-made and should be an easy addition to any Christmas music fan's collection of yuletide music."

Chart and sales performance

''Christmas with Scotty McCreery'' debuted at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200, with first week sales of 41,000 copies. It also charted in No. 2 in the

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

and No. 1 in the

Top Holiday Albums Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine only Record chart, charted Christmas Single (music), singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday Phonograph record, records until the 1958 Christmas and holiday season, holiday season w ...

charts. As of December 2013, the album has sold 382,000 copies in the US. The ''Scotty McCreery QVC Bundle'' released through

sold 5,000 copies the first week and reached No. 93 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes. *

– lead vocals * Jimmy Nichols – keyboards, acoustic piano *

Brent Mason Brent Mason (born July 13, 1959) is an American country music guitarist, songwriter and session musician. ''Guitar World'' magazine listed Mason as one of the "Top Ten Session Guitarists of All Time". Discovered and mentored by Chet Atkins, Maso ...

– electric guitars *

Danny Rader Danny Rader (born November 1, 1981) is a musician from Panama City, Florida. Born into a musical family, he began to play drums at age 2 and branched out into bass, guitar and piano in his early teens. Later he incorporated bouzouki, mandolin, b ...

– acoustic guitars * Tony Lucido – bass guitar *

Paul Leim Paul William Leim (born December 29, 1950) is an American drummer and recording session musician based in Nashville. Biography Leim was born in Port Huron, Michigan and raised in Troup, Texas. He was inspired to take up drumming as a child a ...

– drums *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion (1, 3-9) *

Aubrey Haynie Aubrey E. Haynie (born March 27, 1974) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he w ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

(1, 3, 5) *

Jonathan Yudkin Jonathan Yudkin is an American multi-instrumentalist who is a proficient player of banjo, violin, mandolin, and other stringed instruments. He is a session musician in Nashville as well as a record producer, arranger, and band leader. Biograph ...

–

arco bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than, a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar an ...

(6, 7),

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

(6, 7),

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

(6, 7),

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

(6, 7),

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(6, 7), string arrangements (6, 7) * Charlie Judge – strings (9), string arrangements (9) * Wes Hightower – backing vocals (2, 3, 5-8, 10, 11) * Jenifer Wrinkle – backing vocals (2, 3, 5-8, 10, 11)

Production

* Brian Wright – A&R * Mark Bright – producer * Derek Bason – recording, mixing * Chris Small – recording, mixing, digital editing * Adam Ayan – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) * Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordinator * Kirsten Wines – musical assistance * Craig Allen – design * Andrew Southam – photography

Charts and certifications

Weekly Charts

Year-End Charts

Certifications

References

External links

{{Authority control Mercury Nashville albums Scotty McCreery albums 2012 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Country Christmas albums Albums produced by Mark Bright (record producer) 19 Recordings albums