This isn’t exactly a normal Christmas album, the kind that a lot of artists use to fulfill label contract requirements, for instance, and the husband-and-wife duo Joey + Rory haven’t filled it with traditional holiday songs, but opted instead to include several new and original songs in the set, and the covers they’ve selected aren’t exactly the usual Christmas songs either. The result is a charming and quirky holiday album that features the Garth Brooks and Kent Blazy-penned “I Know What Santa’s Getting for Christmas,” the fun “What the Hell (It’s the Holidays),” the playful (and probably truthful in most cases) “Let It Snow (Somewhere Else),” and a wonderful cover of Merle Haggard's timeless “If We Make It Through December,” which isn’t exactly a holiday song, although it sort of is, and this version features a duet appearance from Haggard himself. Warm and fun, A Farmhouse Christmas is as unassuming as it is a breath of fresh December air.
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