Some of the biggest names in country music came together in celebration of the most wonderful time of the year for an epic performance of the Christmas classic, “Deck the Halls.” Country music legends Clint Black, Barbara Mandrell, Lorrie Morgan, Patty Loveless, Hank Williams Jr., LeAnn Rimes, Marty Stuart, Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd joined forces for a 1996 special festive video to wish their fans a happy holiday season.
Each artist took turns singing a verse of the ultra classic holiday song, before signing off with a personal note from themselves to the fans. “Merry Christmas everybody,” “God bless you and all of your loved ones this beautiful Christmas,” and “Santa, you’re really cute!” are among some of the messages found within the festive video.
The youngest member of the group, LeAnn Rimes, was only 14 years old at the time of the recording. While she may have been drastically younger than her fellow country singers, the young artist had already charted a No.1 album which was certified multi platinum by the Recording Association of America. Following the massive success of her debut album, Blue, she became the youngest artist to win a Grammy, taking home both “Best new Artist” and “Best Female Country Performance.”
“Deck the Halls” is a traditional yuletide carol dating all the way back to the sixteenth century. While the song is most widely used in celebration of Christmas, the song has also been know to be sung for New Years as well. The song is of Welsh origins first found in the manuscript of decorated harpist John Parry in the 1700s.
“Deck the Halls” began to spread wildly in the eighteenth century, prompting Mozart to allegedly use the melody in his 18th violin stanza. The festive song has been covered numerous times, by people of all ages and origins due to its easy nature and rhythm.
Traditionally, Christmas carols were not sung, but rather danced. The lyrics were typically only sung as a musical companion to the compliment the dance, instead of the other way around.
Country stars are notorious for getting extremely spirited when it comes to the Christmas season, with almost every artist releasing their very own Christmas album. Country artists have often been known to even go on Christmas tours and even host their very own holiday television specials.
Such an amazing Christmas tribute by a group of amazing vocalists! You can watch their performance of “Deck the Halls” in the video below and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!