When Jamie O’Neal started recording her first Christmas album in July 2021, she already had a mix of original holiday songs and classics. Originally scheduled for release during Christmas 2021, everything was put on hold when O’Neal lost her sister, Samantha Murphy, in August 2021. Later revisiting the holiday songs, O’Neal released three songs now, with the full album You Were Christmas To Me (BFD/The Orchard) out in 2022.
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“I didn’t want to have to wait until 2022 for the album to come out, so I asked the label if we could put out a couple of songs,” says O’Neal. “We put out a few songs just so people would know what was coming.”
Produced by O’Neal and husband Rodney Good, the album was written during the summer of 2021. Co-written with Corey Lee Barker, there’s the upbeat country croon of “Christmas You”—C’mon darling it’s mistletoe time / You light the fire and I’ll pour the wine / Let’s make a moment we can melt into / Cus’ I’m loving this Christmas you—through her take on Irving Berlin’s classic “White Christmas,” in memory of her late sister, along with a soulful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s Blue track, “River.”
“‘Christmas You’ is fun, uptempo, and a bit jazzy,” says O’Neal. “There’s a little bit of a jazz tinge to ‘White Christmas’ as well.”
Working with Barker, who O’Neal calls “Mr. Christmas,” helped her get deeper into the holiday spirit while writing. “He writes so many Christmas songs,” says O’Neal. “It’s his favorite thing to do, and he really has that great spirit that is just so fun to write with, because he’s not afraid to say anything, and nothing is off-limits when it comes to Christmas references.”
A follow up to O’Neal’s fourth album Sometimes—a 20th-anniversary celebration of her debut Shiver, which includes a reimagined version of her hit, “There Is No Arizona 2.0,” featuring Lauren Alaina and the new track “Someone’s Sometimes,” featuring John Paul White as well as other duets with Sara Evans, Martina McBride, and O’Neal’s daughter Aliyah Good—the Christmas songs set the scene for 2022 and will follow more original music released next summer.
“I can’t wait to release my full Christmas album in 2022,” says O’Neal. “The album also includes some fun original Christmas songs and some classics we all know and love to hear every year.”
The forthcoming album has songs scrolling varied sentiments—and locales—including a more uptempo track about being in the Gulf of Mexico during Christmastime. The title track is a more personal one for O’Neal, touching on the loss of a loved one and carrying on the traditions you once shared with them.
“It’s a variety of emotions,” says O’Neal. “It’s some of the classics, and then there’s a more poignant, melancholy songs. I’ve always gravitated to those kinds of songs because of Christmas feels and that kind of thing, so that’s what I wanted to do with this album.”
Photo courtesy Adkins Publicity
