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List Price: $11.98 | | Label: Rounder / Umgd
Salesrank: 132307
Released: November 20, 2001 |
| Our Price: $6.04 |
| Used Price: $2.75 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Father Christmas Track Listing:
1. I'll Be Home For Christmas
2. The Christmas Song
3. Merry Christmas Darling
4. Blue Christmas
5. Johnny Snowman
6. Let It Snow
7. Silent Night
8. Winter Wonderland
9. White Christmas
10. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Editorial Review:
Along with hit singles and Fan Fair appearances, Christmas albums are one of the requirements for a successful career in major-label country music. Even artists with only one CD behind them are often compelled to make the second a collection of holiday favorites. Deana Carter's the exception that proves the rule. On the punningly titled Father Christmas (dad Fred, a veteran Nashville session man whose resumé includes Bridge over Troubled Water and work with Dylan and Waylon Jennings, is her sole accompanist here), the one-time multimillion seller for Capitol uses the form to reintroduce herself on an indie.
Carter's voice, both smoky and innocent-sounding, impossible to listen to without feeling the need to have your back scratched right now, brings these mostly familiar songs a dimension of personality that's often lost on more cookie-cutter releases. The space given her father's wide-ranging talents reflects a sense of true collaboration. His pithy, Willie-style solo on "Merry Christmas Darling" is a small gem, and his bluesy intro to "Silent Night" takes the melody into a distinctly new realm. Father Christmas isn't as filling as a set of new Carter songs would've been, but it's a good sign of her continuing vitality as a performing force. --Rickey Wright
Father Christmas Reviews:
Intimate Christmas 
2007-09-08 - Deana Carter's 2001 Christmas CD "Father Christmas" is a very satisfying set. The stark guitar and voice arrangement brings out both the lovely melodies, Carter's excellent vocals, and creates an intimate feeling of celebration. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is filled with longing to be with family. Mel Torme's classic "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" is done with expressive vocals and lots of feeling. Richard Carpenter's "Merry Christmas Darling" is one of the more creative choices for the set, a lovely romantic holiday song. "Johnny's Snowman" was penned by Deanna's dad and is a track you won't find elsewhere (as far as I can tell). "Winter Wonderland" is great fun as Deana chases her dad's agile guitar. "White Christmas" & "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" conclude the set. The childhood Christmas interview is very sweet, but could have been kept in the home vaults. This is an excellent Christmas recording. Enjoy!
Like sitting in their family room with them on Christmas Eve -- delightful! 
2006-03-08 - I've been a devotee of Deana Carter's voice and music since the first time I was swept away with her "Strawberry Wine" and any music fan of any genre ought to own that album. I'm sure that Deana's Christmas album may not appeal to everyone, but for me, it is pure magic, and became an immediate favorite for the holidays and even beyond. This incredible work has Deana teamed up with her father, Nashville studio guitarist Fred Carter Jr., to record their unique and starkly beautiful rendition of these ten Christmas songs. With just Deana's pure, textured vocals and her Dad's outstanding acoustic guitar, this CD delivers heartfelt lyrics and music for songs we love rendered in an old-fashioned way. I was captivated from the first note, and felt like a spellbound guest in their home, listening to loving family innocence and music-making first-hand. Their mutual warmth and enjoyment at recording together transcended the limitations of listening to a cold CD. This album is a distinctively noncommercial and delightful take on covers of traditional Christmas melodies, and one a true lover of music and family cannot miss.
I was immensely touched and pleased to find, at the end of this CD, an unlisted bonus track of Deana Carter as a little girl, interviewing her father for an elementary school project. The interaction between them is a joy to behold as Mr. Carter goes along with his little girl's demonstration of a "journalist's" interview with charmingly playful humor, followed by a heartbreaking ballad her father recorded long ago that happened to be on the same tape. I, personally, am thankful to Deana for including these tracks...it feels like discovering the most precious reward just for listening.
Other reviewers have said it best, so I will conclude simply with my recommendation: Get this CD. You will love the intimacy and the freshness of these Christmas songs, and you'll want to introduce every holiday guest to the spirit and charm of Deana and her talented Dad.
Already a favorite
2004-12-15 - A gentle, understated holiday gem, just perfect for listening to while sitting quitely by the fire and looking at the lights on the Christmas tree.
Recorded with her father providing sole accompaniment on guitar, this album dodges the prefab, overproduced sound of many holiday releases and instead gives the listener an intimate and heartfelt vibe.
Deana's "Silent Night," for instance, will move even the most hardened atheist, and brings up memories of homespun church services. "Winter Wonderland," on the other hand, is quick-paced and playful; I can imagine Deana and her dad smiling and joking with one another while recording it. (At one point he slows the tempo to a stop, and she lets out a scolding "DAD!")
My favorite cut, "Merry Christmas Darling," has emotion that Karen Carpenter never quite got, a wistful, heartbroken yearning, giving the impression that her love's not only far away, but in someone else's arms as well.
I wish there were more one voice/one instrument CDs like this...but the lack makes me treasure Deana's album all the more.
Wonderful, homespun acoustic holiday collection
2002-12-06 - Having conquered the country charts in 1996 with the Matraca Berg-penned "Strawberry Wine" and a debut album full of hit singles, Carter stumbled commercially with her sophomore release, "Everything's Gonna Be Alright." Where the first album followed an earthier Nashville path that had been trod by Mary-Chapin Carpenter, the second worked more of Carter's rock influences (including acts like ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd) into the mix. Despite several fine tracks (including the Matraca Berg penned "Dickson County"), the public didn't buy it, apparently prefering that Carter would just repeat her debut.
After being dropped by Capitol (and suffering through a divorce), Carter regrouped and recorded this even more unusually individualistic disc. Working with her father, Nashville studio guitarist Fred Carter Jr., Carter recorded ten Christmas tunes, with just voice and guitar. In such a stripped-down setting Carter's voice is revealed to have even more texture than was apparent on her Nashville-produced band efforts, and her father's jazzy acoustic picking (which has accompanied Waylon, Willie, and Merle, as well as Simon & Garfunkel), provides terrifically pleasant backing.
In addition to nine holiday chestnuts, Carter includes her father's fanciful dream of Louisiana snow, "Johnny's Snowman." The disc concludes with an unlisted bonus track of Carter interviewing her father for an elementary school project. The elder Carter shows off some impressive rock 'n' roll licks on "Jenny Jenny," before being cut off by his young daughter ("Mr. Carter, Mr. Carter, that's enough. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time.").
The homespun, fireside combination of voice and acoustic guitar gives these tried-and-true Christmas songs a renewed vitality, and will certainly have them standing out in your holiday CD rotisserie.
A mellow holiday outing from this Nashville gal
2002-12-02 - A remarkably understated acoustic Christmas album... Usually when Top 40 country stars do a holiday record, they tend to blast away at the songs -- I guess it's a chance for them to wail away on a different type of material? -- but Carter prefers to croon, and the results are low-key and kind of nice. Backing her up on acoustic guitar is her father, '50s session picker, Fred Carter... as an interesting family-oriented bonus, the disc also includes an interview she conducted (as a little kid) about his old days in Nashville. Worth checking out, if you're in a holiday mood.
