Given her ebullient spirit and the overall length and breadth of her catalog, it seems like
Dolly Parton would -- like so many of her country peers -- have turned out a half-dozen or so Christmas albums by this point. She in fact has only two, a 1984 collaborative set with
Kenny Rogers and a fairly standard 1990 album heavy on traditional carols. Returning to the Yuletide arena 30 years later,
Parton is now a bona fide international icon credited in the 2019 NPR podcast series Dolly Parton's America as being a great unifier within an exceedingly divided nation. As with most things, she takes such pressures in stride, and with little left to prove offers up a heartfelt, compassionate, and joyous cup of holiday cheer on
A Holly Dolly Christmas. Of course, the
Johnny Marks-written
Burl Ives classic "A Holly Jolly Christmas" opens the set with a typically folksy mid-song explanation from
Dolly about how much she loves the song and how she eventually decided "why not do a whole album and call it
A Holly Dolly Christmas." Unlike her previous holiday-themed album,
Home for Christmas, this set is loaded with
Parton originals, some of which are quite good. The cheerful Appalachian romp of "Christmas in the Square" is classic old-time
Dolly, while the sweet
Michael Bublé duet "Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas" has the playful spirit of a jazz standard. High-profile guests abound ranging from
Jimmy Fallon (on
Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You") and both
Miley and
Billy Ray Cyrus (on separate songs) to
Willie Nelson (
Nelson's own classic "Pretty Paper") and
Dolly's younger brother Randy Parton. Stylistically, she revisits classic sounds while moving easily between contemporary country's pop and organic elements, all the while chatting and laughing with her duet partners and delivering to those who need it an undemanding and likeable Christmas album. ~ Timothy Monger