Christmas Duets


Christmas Duets is a 2008 album released by RCA Records, consisting of archival Elvis Presley vocal recordings mixed with completely re-recorded instrumentation and new vocals by contemporary country and gospel singers. Three tracks on the album do not have duet vocals: "The First Noel", "If I Get Home On Christmas Day", and "Winter Wonderland". However, the instrumental tracks for these songs were re-recorded by contemporary musicians, just like on all other songs. Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood duets have both charted on the Billboard country charts, with the former reaching the Top 40.
A second version of "Blue Christmas" was recorded with Martina McBride using mainly acoustic instrumentation in order to obtain a similar arrangement to the one used in the informal segments of Presley's '68 Comeback Special. Also, shots of McBride performing the song were digitally inserted into footage, taken from the original special, of Presley performing the same song, to use as a promotional music video for the album. The second version of "Blue Christmas" was never officially released outside the video.
On March 8, 2018, the album was awarded a Gold certification by the RIAA for selling in excess of 500,000 copies.

List of Songs

  • Unless otherwise indicated, Information is based on Liner Notes
;Notes
  • Tracks 1–6 & 8: Originally recorded on September 5–7, 1957 for Elvis' Christmas Album
  • Tracks 7 & 9–13: Originally recorded on May 15–16, 1971 for Elvis sings The Wonderful World of Christmas
  • The Canadian edition of the album has a duet of "On A Snowy Christmas Night", performed with Renée Martel at track 11 right before the bonus tracks as the rest of the album is in order.

    Personnel

;Original vocals and instrumentation
Partial credits from Keith Flynn and Ernst Jorgensen's examination of session tapes and RCA and AFM paperwork.
  • Elvis Presley – lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar
  • Millie Kirkham – backing vocals
  • The Jordanaires – backing vocals
  • Scotty Moore – lead guitar
  • James Burton – lead guitar
  • Chip Young – rhythm guitar
  • Norbert Putnam – bass
  • Bill Black – bass
  • Dudley Brooks – piano
  • David Briggs – piano
  • D.J. Fontana – drums
  • Kenneth Buttrey – drums
  • Jerry Carrigan – drums
  • Charlie McCoy – harmonica, organ, percussion
  • Charlie Hodge – acoustic rhythm guitar
  • Gene Estes – marimba
  • Eddie Hinton – lead guitar on "Merry Christmas Baby"
  • Larrie Londin – additional drums, additional percussion
  • Farrell Morris – bells, additional percussion
  • Tommy Shepard – trombone
;The Imperials
  • Terry Blackwood – backing vocals
  • Joe Moscheo – backing vocals
  • Jimmie Murray – backing vocals
  • Armond Morales – backing vocals
  • Greg Gordon – backing vocals
  • The Imperials – sampled background vocals
;Overdubbed
Unless otherwise indicated, overdub credits are obtained from the album's liner notes.
;Production
  • Steve Sholes – producer
  • Thorne Nogar – engineer
  • Felton Jarvis – producer
  • Al Pachucki – engineer
  • Mickey Crofford – engineer
  • Chuck Ainlay – record producer, audio mixing, recording engineer
  • Eric Bates – additional vocal recording engineer
  • Jim Cooley – audio mixing assistant, assistant recording engineer
  • Carl Gorodetzky – string contractor
  • Mike Griffith – production coordinator
  • Larry Hamby – record producer
  • Chris Henry – additional vocal recording engineer
  • Ann Mincieli – additional vocal recording engineer
  • Ryan Nelson – assistant recording engineer
  • Bart Pursley – additional vocal recording engineer
  • Bergen White – string arrangements
  • Jeff Wolpert – additional vocal recording engineer

    Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Canadian Albums 33
US Billboard 200110
US Top Country Albums 22

Singles