Loathe it or not, December 25th is fast approaching so bite your tongue, set aside your shame and open your wallet. Be glad of Jesus and his birth or simply overindulge in turkey and festive cheer. Any way you spend the Christmas season, you’re probably deathly sick of the same old carols and hymns. Step forward Kimmie Rhodes with her album “Miracles on Christmas Day” to bring some sincerity to the festive season.
As a long-time Americana fixture who has never hidden her love for her native Texas, this album comes as somewhat of a departure from her previous efforts. Yet, somehow, it works. Some delicate arrangements and Rhodes’s evergreen voice certainly play their respective parts. From the opening verse of the title track, you could be forgiven for believing that this album was threatening a Daniel O’Donnell duet at some point. However, all being right, you should be firmly at ease by the final chord.
“Little Touch of Christmas” is a lazy-blues effort that serves as a timely reminder that Christmas should be a time for - among other things - relaxation and celebration, while “Wake Up Sleepy Town”, with its prominent accordion, has a Cajun feel to it. No one’s being short-changed as far as variety goes on this album, that’s for sure.
There may be reason to break out the tissues on “Angel Unawares”, a song that seems to embody the redeeming qualities that Christmas seems to instil in some people. Similarly, a beautiful rendition of “What Child Is This” makes for extremely pleasant listening. The album ends on “A New Song” which seems to be incubating hope for the future. Perhaps not the end to the album you’d expect but enjoyable the same.
You don’t have to be an avowed Christian to appreciate the sincere beauty of this album. It helps, of course, but this album truly seems heartfelt in an age when singing about Christmas is almost always a take-the-money-and-run affair. Pleasantly surprising and heart-warming.