HOLIDAY
Kelly Clarkson, 'When Christmas Comes Around' (Atlantic)
The standards on Clarkson's second Christmas album are almost unfair to other interpreters — she is that nimble a singer. (See "Last Christmas," especially, rendered here as a vivid roller coaster.) However, it's the original tunes — which she sings with the kind of verve most singers not named Mariah Carey don't bother putting into their holiday releases — that make this LP truly stand out.
"Santa, Can't You Hear Me," with Ariana Grande, is pure Motown, and "Glow," with Chris Stapleton, is a worthy howl-off between two powerhouse vocalists. It's also striking just how uncelebratory some of these songs are: "Merry Christmas (to the One I Used to Know)" is haunting and "Christmas Isn't Canceled (Just You)" is a blissful tsk-tsk.
JON CARAMANICA, New York Times
Norah Jones, "I Dream of Christmas" (Blue Note)
Jones is slyly understated here as both a singer and pianist. The album intersperses new songs of her own with tunes like "Blue Christmas" and "Run Run Rudolph," which she turns into a slinky rumba. Yet behind the poise of her own new songs, like "It's Only Christmas Once a Year" and the gospelly "You're Not Alone," there's a tinge of genuine loneliness and longing, hinting at the toll of pandemic isolation.
JON PARELES, New York Times
Pistol Annies, "Hell of a Holiday" (Sony Nashville)
The alliance of Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley wrote 10 new songs, dipping into retro styles like Western swing, girl-group rock and Laurel Canyon pop-folk. Their scenarios encompass holiday cheer, faith and flirtations. But they also recognize the holidays can be a strain. Among the handful of covers is Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December," about a laid-off factory worker. Pistol Annies also wrote about seasonal depression ("Make You Blue") and family strife ("Harlan County Coal"), with a wife struggling to get through Christmas with a drunken husband and "47 dollars in the gol-durned bank."
JON PARELES, New York Times
