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Between 1986 and his retirement in 2006, Ricky Van Shelton scored over twenty Country hits on the Billboard chart, including ten Number Ones.  Van Shelton has left behind a relatively small but potent discography of fewer than a dozen titles including three chart-toppers.  Now, Cherry Red’s Morello imprint has collected four of those long-players – two of his core albums and two genre projects – on one 2-CD set: Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas (1989), the gospel set Don’t Overlook Salvation (1992), A Bridge I Didn’t Burn (1993), and Love and Honor (1994).

The Virginia-born artist found success in Nashville with his traditional country sound at a time when pop was beginning to dominate the genre (again).  Morello’s collection isn’t strictly chronological, seeing as it places his 1989 Christmas album alongside his three final studio albums for Columbia Nashville released between 1992 and 1994 (one per year), showcasing his considerable gifts as an interpretive singer in the traditional C&W style.

Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas, produced by Steve Buckingham (Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester), featured a couple of original songs penned by Van Shelton and Don Schlitz (of “The Gambler” fame) alongside an array of holiday staples.  The familiar tunes included country favorites “Pretty Paper” and “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S” and classic pop fare like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Silver Bells,” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”  The album reached No. 32 on the Country chart and was certified Gold.

Steve Buckingham also helmed the first two of the three non-holiday LPs presented here, both of which also went Gold and relied heavily on outside compositions.  1992’s Don’t Overlook Salvation, Van Shelton’s fifth studio album, took the artist into the realm of gospel and included his moving renditions of such familiar songs as “The Old Rugged Cross” and “I Shall Not Be Moved.”  While no singles were released, it became a success on the Christian albums chart.  The following year’s A Bridge I Didn’t Burn went to the top 20 of the Country survey and yielded two hit singles, “Where Was I” (No. 20 – the artist’s final top 40 entry) and “A Couple of Good Years Left” (No. 44).  1994’s Love and Honor marked his first album without Buckingham and his last for Columbia.  The LP was so named for the Merle Haggard song, and also featured tunes by soft-rocker Bill LaBounty and “Burning Love” writer Dennis Linde.  James House and John Jarrard’s “Wherever She Is” and Linde’s “Lola’s Love” were both released as singles but peaked outside the top 40.  “Where the Tall Grass Grows” was a cover of the song popularized by George Jones.

Ricky Van Shelton followed up his Columbia tenure with albums for Vanguard and Koch Records before retiring from music; he’s since concentrated on writing and art.  Morello’s collection has been remastered by Alan Wilson and features an eight-page booklet with two pages of brief biographical liner notes from Tony Byworth.  It’s available at the links below!

Ricky Van Shelton, A Bridge I Didn’t Burn/Love and Honor/Don’t Overlook Salvation/Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas (Morello MRLL90D, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

A Bridge I Didn’t Burn (Columbia Nashville CK 48992, 1993)

1. If They Turn Off Our Lights
2. A Bridge I Didn’t Burn
3. Our First Reaction
4. Where Was I
5. A Couple of Good Years Left
6. I Know the Way by Broken Heart
7. Talking to God
8. Heartache as Big as Texas
9. If It Weren’t for Me
10. Linda Lu
11. Roses After the Rain

Love and Honor (Columbia Nashville CK 55153, 1994)

12. Wherever She Is
13. Complicated
14. Lola’s Love
15. I Thought I’d Heard It All
16. Then for Them
17. Baby, Take a Picture
18. Love Without You
19. Been There, Done That
20. Love and Honor
21. Where the Tall Grass Grows
22. Thanks a Lot
23. Where Was I

CD 2

Don’t Overlook Salvation (Columbia Nashville CK 46854, 1992)

1. Don’t Overlook Salvation
2. To My Mansion in the Sky
3. Family Bible
4. Holy (I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy)
5. Supper Time
6. I Shall Not Be Moved
7. Mansion Over the Hilltop
8. The Old Rugged Cross
9. I Wouldn’t Take Nothin’ for My Journey
10. I Saw a Man
11. Just As I Am/He Smiled as He Ran Out to Play

Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas (Columbia Nashville CK 45269, 1989)

12. I’ll Be Home for Christmas
13. White Christmas
14. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
15. Silver Bells
16. Silent Night
17. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
18. Please Come Home for Christmas
19. Pretty Paper
20. Country Christmas
21. Christmas Long Ago
22. What Child Is This?