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  • Los Angeles Times

    This year's essential Christmas albums ranked, from 'Shatner Claus' to the irresistible JD McPherson

    by Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times Nov 26, 2018 6 minutes

    The spirit of inspiration runs stronger than usual through this year's batch of new holiday music collections, with fresh melodies and lyrics in some of the best. Veteran country singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, Oklahoma recent arrival JD McPherson, the long-running Nashville, Tenn.-based genre-defying band the Mavericks and Texas' barnstorming Old 97's each have delivered Christmas albums built around inviting new songs that make them worthy additions to the favorites you might turn to year in and year out. Albums, listed alphabetically by artist, are ranked on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (classic). Let the roundup begin:

    David Archuleta

    "Winter in the Air"

    (Shadow Mountain)

    There will always be an audience for an angelic tenor voice singing songs of the season, as the "American Idol" alum demonstrates on his second Christmas album. The selections tend toward contemporary Christian over time-honored carols, but he finds room for both, along with a couple of honorable originals he co-wrote with different

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