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Though Santa Claus hasn’t yet officially kicked off the Christmas season in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, many signs of the season are already here! Mr. Claus is holding court at the mall, radio stations have started their holiday playlists, and Christmas trees are for sale with 49 days left until the big day. We’re certainly ready for Christmas here at Second Disc HQ, as this Friday, we’re celebrating the first-ever holiday releases on our Second Disc Records label! We’re proud to join our friends and partners at Real Gone Music in celebrating the sounds of the season with a newly-remastered and expanded reissue of Lynn Anderson’s long out-of-print The Christmas Album and the first-ever collection of Jim Nabors’ Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings!

Lynn Rene Anderson didn’t have a typical childhood. For the daughter of singer-songwriter Liz Anderson and her songwriter husband Casey, “it was nothing to wake up in the middle of the night and hear Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Freddie Hart or Wynn Stewart” in the living room. Lynn was four years old when her family moved to California, and not long after, she began singing in public. By 1966, the vocalist and champion equestrian had scored her first hit single on Chart Records. Columbia Records came calling, and in 1970, her recording of Joe South’s “Rose Garden” went to No. 1 Country and crossed over to the Top 20 Pop chart. It lingered at the top of the Country survey for fourteen weeks, the longest run atop that chart for any female country vocalist until Shania Twain’s The Woman in Me beat the record in 1995. Lynn Anderson became an overnight superstar. How did she follow up her biggest hit? With a Christmas single! Lynn’s “Ding-a-Ling the Christmas Bell” b/w “Don’t Wish Me Merry Christmas” was followed the very next year by her first full-length Christmas album, featuring a host of Nashville’s finest players under the supervision of her producer husband, Glenn Sutton.

Lynn Anderson’s The Christmas Album, featuring original songs and favorites such as “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” became an instant classic and a perennial for her ever-growing fans. Yet a limited CD release came and went, rendering The Christmas Album out of print. We’ve given it the Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music deluxe treatment, with four mono bonus tracks, all of which make their CD debut: all four sides of the special Christmas Seals promotional singles Lynn recorded in 1971 and 1972 as the charity’s ambassador. On these holiday treats, Lynn offers unique spoken introductions to each track! The Christmas Album has been stunningly remastered with newfound clarity by Vic Anesini at Sony’s Battery Studios, and Claire Morales has designed our yuletide package. Lynn Anderson was just 67 years old when she passed away earlier this year, but her original Christmas Album stands as a happy and spirited tribute to her enduring legacy.

Jim Nabors of Sylacauga, Alabama was discovered by comedian Bill Dana at Santa Monica nightspot The Horn where he was moonlighting from his day job as a film editor at NBC. Dana secured the young man an audition for The New Steve Allen Show, and he promptly landed a spot. He continued to appear at The Horn, though, and soon, Andy Griffith was in the audience. His act, once described as “a mixture of hillbilly monologues and operatic arias,” made comic use of the fact that his real speaking voice (while not nearly as exaggerated as Gomer Pyle’s) varied so dramatically from his legitimate singing voice. “I didn’t know what he was doing,” Griffith later quipped, “but he was doing it very well.” With The Andy Griffith Show as a springboard to fame, Nabors began a recording career for Columbia Records where he released two beloved Christmas albums which we have brought together on The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings.

1967’s Jim Nabors’ Christmas Album – the best-selling Christmas album of 1969 and a chart mainstay for a whopping seven years! – and its more contemporary-flavored successor, 1972’s Merry Christmas, have long been unavailable on compact disc. We’ve paired these warmhearted Christmas favorites with the CD premiere of the non-LP single “I Was a King at Jesus’ Birth” and three more seasonal selections culled from Nabors’ heartfelt gospel recordings. Maria Triana has remastered all tracks at Sony’s Battery Studios, and John Sellards has beautifully designed the period package. Jim Nabors’ timeless holiday recordings, both joyful and reverent, have never sounded or looked better!

Our releases from Jim Nabors and Lynn Anderson join Real Gone’s remarkable Christmas roster which began last month with releases from George Melachrino and His Orchestra, The Three Suns and The Soulful Strings, and continues this Friday with six more releases – five of which feature my liner notes:

• Johnny Mathis, The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2010 (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.);
• Glen Campbell, Complete Capitol Christmas Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.);
• Bobby Vinton, A Very Merry Christmas: The Complete Epic Christmas Collection (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.);
• Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’s Christmas Card: The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings (Amazon U.S.  Amazon U.K.);
• The Living Voices, Sing Christmas Music/The Little Drummer Boy (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.); and
• The Four Seasons, Four Seasons Greetings (Mono Mini-LP Replica remastered from tape; no new liner notes) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) !

All seven titles are available this Friday! We’ve reprinted the track listings for our Nabors and Anderson releases just below along with pre-order links! Happy Holidays!

Lynn Anderson, The Christmas Album: Expanded Edition (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Ding-A-Ling The Christmas Bell (3:00)
2. Jingle Bell Rock (2:02)
3. The Spirit of Christmas (2:41)
4. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (2:42)
5. Soon It Will Be Christmas Day (2:06)
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (2:31)
7. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (2:03)
8. Mr. Mistletoe (2:40)
9. A Whistle and a Whisker Away (2:33)
10. Frosty the Snowman (2:18)
11. Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas (2:11)
12. Ding-A-Ling the Christmas Bell (1971 Promo Christmas Seals Version) (3:17)
13. Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas (1971 Promo Christmas Seals Version) (2:27)
14. Frosty the Snowman (1972 Promo Mono Christmas Seals Version) (2:36)
15. Don’t Wish Me A Merry Christmas (1972 Promo Mono Christmas Seals Version) (2:24)

Tracks 1-11 from The Christmas Album, Columbia LP C 30957, 1971
Tracks 12-13 from Columbia single AE7 1010, 1971
Tracks 14-15 from Columbia single AE7 1056, 1972

Jim Nabors, The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Go Tell It on the Mountain (3:10)
2. Do You Hear What I Hear? (3:35)
3. Three Wise Men, Wise Men Three (2:30)
4. Holy Night (4:08)
5. In A Humble Place (2:50)
6. Come All Ye Faithful (2:34)
7. Jingle Bells (2:23)
8. White Christmas (2:55)
9. Christmas Eve in My Home Town (2:52)
10. Sleigh Ride (2:46)
11. I’ll Be Home For Christmas (2:53)
12. Silent Night Holy Night (2:52)
13. The Lord’s Prayer (2:37)
14. Ave Maria (1968 Version) (2:56)
15. I Was a King at Jesus’ Birth (3:13)
16. (There’s No Place Like) Home For the Holidays (2:48)
17. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) (2:42)
18. A Girl Named Noel (2:50)
19. The Little Drummer Boy (3:28)
20. I’d Like You For Christmas (2:54)
21. Joy To the World (2:20)
22. Silver Bells (3:02)
23. Little Town of Bethlehem (2:45)
24. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (2:57)
25. The First Noel (3:00)
26. Give Me Your Love For Christmas (2:25)
27. Ave Maria (1971 Version) (2:28)

Tracks 1-12 from Jim Nabors’ Christmas Album, Columbia LP CS 9531, 1967
Tracks 13-14 from Jim Nabors Sings The Lord’s Prayer and Other Sacred Songs, Columbia LP CS 9716, 1968
Track 15 from Columbia single 4-45053, 1969
Tracks 16-26 from Merry Christmas, Columbia LP C 31630, 1972
Track 27 from How Great Thou Art, Columbia LP C 30671, 1971