By Brian Mansfield Special for USA Today Sat Nov 23, 2013 7:52 AM
If you want to know what's popular in Christmas music this year, just turn on your television. From singing-competition contestants to bearded duck-call makers, the top new holiday titles come from entertainers with strong ties to TV.
Kelly Clarkson, who rose to fame by winning American Idol in 2002, has released her first holiday album, Wrapped In Red. British singer Susan Boyle has Home for Christmas, her second seasonal set since appearing on Britain's Got Talent in 2009.
Then there's the season's runaway — or, more accurately, fly-away — hit, Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas, from the family that stars in A&E's top-rated cable series Duck Dynasty.
"It reflects the TV show a hundred percent," says Willie Robertson, one of the show's stars. "If you like the show, you'll get a good semblance of it in the album: It's funny, it's serious. There's a prayer and thoughts at the end."
Recorded in Nashville and West Monroe, La., Duck the Halls has already sold more than 196,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, making it the year's top-selling Christmas title. The brainchild of Willie and sister-in-law Missy Robertson, the album includes titles like Ragin' Cajun Redneck Christmas and Camouflage and Christmas Lights, as well as straightforward renditions of old favorites like Away In a Manger and I'll Be Home for Christmas.
Duck the Halls also has Uncle Si Robertson's eccentric interpretations of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch and The Night Before Christmas, along with guest appearances by country singers George Strait, Luke Bryan, Alison Krauss and Josh Turner.
Robertson believes Duck the Halls and albums from TV-created stars like Clarkson and Boyle enjoy a popularity tied to families experiencing both the shows and the music together.
"Our show is watched by so many families," he says. "It's a show kids can watch with their grandparents. The album's the same way. The kids can listen, and everybody can pull something from it. It's a perfect combination to me — that time of year, that group of people."
Clarkson will perform many of the songs from Wrapped In Red during her new TV special, Kelly Clarkson's Cautionary Christmas Music Tale (NBC, Dec. 11, 10 p.m. ET/PT).
Though Duck Dynasty will have its own A&E Christmas show airing opposite Clarkson's, there's one holiday TV special that sets the standard for Robertson.
"Growing up, we only had three channels," Robertson says. "We pretty much got A Charlie Brown Christmas hammered into our heads."
.ob_what
View the
Original article
