''Christmas at Our House'' is the 15th solo studio album by the American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

artist

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

. The album was released in October 1984 on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

and was produced by Tom Collins. It was Mandrell's first album of Christmas music.

Background and content

''Christmas at Our House'', as described by Bradley Torreano of ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

'', "shows the country star adding her name to the countless musicians who have released personalized Christmas albums." The album includes ten tracks, including some new material. It includes two tributes of the Christmas season, the title track and "From Our House to Yours", which Torreano described as "down home". It also includes cover versions of Christmas standards such as "

I'll Be Home for Christmas "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longe ...

" and "

Winter Wonderland "Winter Wonderland" is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. Due to its seasonal theme, it is often regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himbe ...

"; it also introduced what would become a holiday standard, "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe (Our First Christmas)". Torreano gave the album three out of five stars staying, "Her brand of country-pop may not appeal to all fans of the genre, but many country listeners will probably find this a nice Christmas album to play for the holidays."

Release

''Christmas at Our House'' was Mandrell's third album released in 1984, officially issued in October. The album peaked at #31 on the '' Billboard''

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart in 1984. No singles were released from the album and it was her first album not to reach the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart since '' He Set My Life to Music'' in 1982. ''Christmas at Our House'' was originally released as a vinyl LP record on

in 1984, with five songs on each side. It was reissued as a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

by MCA many years later.

Track listing

Personnel

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

– drums * Pete Bordonali – acoustic guitar,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

* Thomas Brannon –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* David Briggs –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, synthesizer * Lori Brooks – backing vocals * James Capps – acoustic guitar * Jimmy Capps – guitar, piano, synthesizer * Phillip Forest – backing vocals * Sherilyn Huffman – backing vocals * David Hungate –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* John Jarvis – synthesizer *

Shane Keister Shane Keister is an American musician. He is known for his work as a studio musician, writer, arranger and producer. He plays synthesizer, piano, Hammond B3, Synclavier, Fairlight CMI, Fender Rhodes, and others. History Keister was born in Huntin ...

– piano, synthesizer * Barbara Mandrell – lead vocals * Farrell Morris –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* The Nashville Horn Works –

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

Nashville String Machine Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians, based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Members of the group have been credited on records dating from 1972 to the present, although the group was formally formed ...

– strings * Louis Dean Nunley – backing vocals * Brent Rowan – electric guitar * Lisa Silver – backing vocals * Diane Tidwell – backing vocals * Bergen White – arrangements, string arrangements

Sales chart positions

;Album

References

{{Authority control 1984 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Barbara Mandrell albums Albums produced by Tom Collins (record producer) MCA Records albums Country Christmas albums