Home for Christmas
OnHome for Christmas, Dolly serves up the type of country Christmas feast that only she could deliver, complete with all her Smokey Mountain fixins. Like Dolly, this collection is sometimes traditional and other times way, way, way over the top. But that's why you love her (that, or you don't buy her records). Dolly's at her best here with her torch-and-twang rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and the yee-haw hoe-down reeling that she slaps through "Go Tell It on the Mountain." "The First Noel" begins with a standard chorus before getting a kick-start from the band, and "Joy to the World" really rocks out. (By Dolly's standards, that is.) Her spoken-word reminiscing about her childhood memories in the Smokeys is touching, but a similar reading during "Rudolph" is almost painful. Great for fans--but where oh where is "Rock Candy Christmas?"--Steve Gdula