What a wonderful CD. All of these songs are classics. And the master of Christmas melodies performs them with his usual mellow voice. Christmas is not Christmas with out Rudolph. And the song "Where Did My Snowman Go?"....what a treasure. Rosemary Clooney and Gene's voices really blend well together on "The Night Before Christmas Song". This version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is wonderful. This CD is a must for anyone who loves Christmas music. Mr. Autry is in top form on all of these selections.

Everybody knows that the biggest Christmas hit of the first half of the 20th century was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." Now, the question is whether you know that Gene Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" comes in second on that list (no idea what is third, sorry). The story is that Autry only recorded the song because his wife told him to. The singing cowboy had already had a major holiday hit with "Here Comes Santa Claus" and would have another with "Frosty the Snowman." Autry had a rather large catalogue of Christmas songs, as this collection amply proves. These songs were recorded in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and include some songs that I absolutely guarantee you have never heard before, such as the Autry originals "He's a Chubby Little Fellow" and "I Wish My Mom Would Marry Santa Claus." There is also a duet with Rosemary Clooney of "The Night Before Christmas (In Texas, That Is)"; the song comes in two parts because of the limitation on how much music you could get on one side of a single way back when (a time closer to Edison's wax discs than the CD).

This 2003 release adds a couple of tracks to the CBS "Christmas Favorites" album from a while back, and remasters the entire bunch. That does not exactly make these songs sound like they were recorded last week, but they do sound better and there is something totally appropriate about the old fashioned sound of these recordings that you do not really want them tampering with anyway. It is interesting to note that the most "traditional" song Autry does is the last track, "Up on the Rooftop"; most of these songs are about Santa Claus. You would think there would be something less secular, especially given we are talking about a major country western star, but that is not the case. Apparently that was the way things were a half-century ago. Just remember, this collection is nostalgia and not kitsch, even if these songs were recorded before you were born.

Prolific. That was Gene Autry, it seems. His wife asked him to record "Rudolph", a promotional tune for the long-time but now-defunct Montgomery Ward department store. It went beyond a mere promo and ended up as a Christmas standard. Who knows how much money it's made. Gene could also write a tune now and then and not just "Ridin' Down the Canyon". He wrote some of these songs himself. It's worth having, believe me. And as for prolific, reviewer L. Bernabo (with the typo in his branding) couldn't tell you which song is the #3 most popular (after White Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). Well, trust me, it's "The Christmas Song" written by the "Velvet Fog" Mel Torme and sung by Nat "King" Cole. It's been around like 50 years. You can find it easily enough. In the meantime, buy this one.