Christmas (Alabama album)

Christmas is the first Christmas album by country band Alabama. The album was released on RCA Nashville in 1985. It was certified double platinum for shipment of 2 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 11, 1996.^[2] Since 1991 when SoundScan started to collate sales data, 515,300 copies have been sold in the United States.^[3]

Christmas
Studio album by Alabama
Released	September 1985 (1985-09)
Recorded	1982 (Track 10), 1985 (Other Tracks)
Genre	Country
Length	37:09
Label	RCA Nashville
Producer	Harold Shedd and Alabama
Alabama chronology
40-Hour Week (1985) Christmas (1985) Greatest Hits (1985)
Singles from Alabama Christmas
"Christmas in Dixie" Released: December 6, 1982

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]

The album is Alabama's first Christmas album and includes one of their more popular holiday songs, 1982's "Christmas in Dixie," which charted on two of Billboard magazine's music popularity charts in six different calendar years.^[4] "Christmas in Dixie" peaked at No. 35 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart in January 1983, and also reached No. 3 on Billboard's special, year-end, weekly Christmas Singles chart in December 1983.^[4]

Track listing

1. "Santa Claus (I Still Believe In You)" (John Jarrard, Teddy Gentry, Randy Owen, Greg Fowler, Linda Gentry) – 4:07
2. "Joseph and Mary's Boy" (Don Cook, Keith Whitley) – 4:06
3. "Happy Holidays" (Ronnie Rogers, Swain Schaefer) – 3:18
4. "Christmas Memories" (Becky Hobbs, John Greenebaum, Randy Albright) – 3:21
5. "Tonight Is Christmas" (Keith Worsham, Stan Munsey Jr., Don Matthews, Steve Baccus) – 4:19
6. "Thistlehair The Christmas Bear" (Donny Lowery) – 4:06
7. "Tennessee Christmas" (Gary Chapman, Amy Grant) – 3:40
8. "A Candle In The Window" (Susan Longacre, Walt Aldridge, Gary Baker) – 3:51
9. "Homecoming Christmas" (Rogers) – 3:52
10. "Christmas in Dixie" (Mark Herndon, Randy Owen, Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry) – 3:37

Personnel

Alabama

• Jeff Cook- electric guitar, background vocals
• Teddy Gentry- bass guitar, background vocals
• Randy Owen- electric guitar, lead vocals

Mark Herndon, Alabama's drummer, does not play on this album.

Additional Musicians

• Eddie Bayers- drums
• Kenny Bell- acoustic guitar
• David Briggs- keyboards
• Shane Keister- synthesizer, Fairlight
• Farrell Morris- percussion
• Larry Paxton- bass guitar
• Brent Rowan- electric guitar

Strings performed by the "A" Strings, arranged by Bergen White.

Chart performance

Chart (1985)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	8
U.S. Billboard 200	75

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)^[2]	2× Platinum	2,000,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Christmas at AllMusic
2. "American album certifications – Alabama – Alabama Christmas". Recording Industry Association of America.
3. Bjorke, Matt (November 26, 2017). "Top Country Catalog Sales Chart: November 26, 2017". Roughstock. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Christmas in the Charts (1920–2004). Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 17. ISBN 0-89820-161-6.