While
Bobby Helms had a handful of hits on the country charts during the 1950s and '60s (most notably "Fraulein" and "My Special Angel"), by a wide margin the man's best remembered song is "Jingle Bell Rock," which was released in late 1957 and has been a perennial holiday staple ever since.
A Little Darlin' Christmas features
Helms' biggest hit along with 11 other Yuletide-themed tunes; these tracks have bounced around on several labels over the years, and sound like the work of a journeyman country singer knocking out a Christmas album with a full measure of professionalism but without a lot of enthusiasm. Still, if you're looking for "Jingle Bell Rock" and would like some like-minded songs to go along with it, this should fill the bill, and his version of
Johnny Paycheck's "The Old Year Is Gone" conjures up a fair bit of honky tonk soul. Added as a bonus on this release are four Christmas songs from
Paycheck himself, from sessions for a Christmas album that was never completed. Apparently recorded during his early days for Little Darlin' Records, these tracks include
Johnny's own recording of "The Old Year Is Gone" (which is significantly more effective) and suggest he could have made a satisfying hard country holiday LP if he'd had the chance to finish the project. This set makes an odd match, with
Paycheck's tougher and more passionate style facing off against
Helms, whose material is much more pop oriented, but then again maybe that's all part of the magic of the holiday season bringing people together.