Christmas with Chet Atkins is a recording by Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins

Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...

. It is a Christmas album.

"White Christmas" contains Atkins' first recorded use of chordal harmonic

Harmonic

A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...

s.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, critic Matthew Greenwald wrote "His version of "Silver Bells" is, quite simply, one of the best versions of the standard ever, and possibly one of Atkins' most arresting performances of all-time." The album is "Overall, criminally underrated... Gorgeous." Brian Wahlert or Country Standard Time wrote "This is the perfect background music for sipping hot chocolate in front of the fireplace and falling asleep in the warm glow of the Christmas tree lights while the snow falls outside."

Reissues

• In 1997, Christmas with Chet Atkins was reissued on CD by Razor & Tie
  Razor & Tie
  Razor & Tie is a New York-based corporation founded in 1990 by Cliff Chenfeld and Craig Balsam. The company encompasses a record label with major label distribution , a home video company, a media buying company, a music publishing business, a marketing, promotion and sales team, and a direct...
  
  . It differs from the original vinyl pressing as it substitutes alternate-takes for several tracks and has an alternate cover.
• In 2004, RCA reissued Christmas with Chet Atkins on CD.

Side one

1. "Jingle Bell Rock
   Jingle Bell Rock
   "Jingle Bell Rock" is the name of a popular Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas time since then. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal , and James Ross Boothe...
   
   " (Joe Beal, Jim Boothe) – 1:51
2. "Winter Wonderland
   Winter Wonderland
   "Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
   
   " (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith) – 2:49
3. "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" (Traditional) – 2:13
4. "White Christmas
   White Christmas (song)
   "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
   
   " (Irving Berlin
   Irving Berlin
   Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
   
   ) – 2:20
5. "Blue Christmas
   Blue Christmas
   "Blue Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson. The heart-broken tale of unrequited love during the holidays had long been considered a Christmas staple of country music, having been recorded first by Doye O'Dell in 1948 and popularised by Ernest Tubb the next year...
   
   " (Billy Hayes, Jay Johnson) – 2:53
6. "Jingle Bells
   Jingle Bells
   "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
   
   " (James Lord Pierpont
   James Pierpont (musician)
   James Lord Pierpont was an American songwriter, arranger, organist, and composer, best known for writing and composing Jingle Bells in 1857, originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh". He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Winter Haven, Florida...
   
   ) – 1:50
7. "Silver Bells" (Madden, Wenrich) – 2:09

Side two

1. "The Little Drummer Boy" (Davis, Onorati, Simeone) – 2:29
2. "Medley: The Coventry Carol/God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" (Traditional) – 3:25
3. "The First Noel
   The First Noël
   The First Nowell is a traditional classical English carol, most likely from the 18th century, although possibly earlier...
   
   " (William B. Sandys
   William B. Sandys
   William B. Sandys , was an English solicitor, member of the Percy Society, fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and remembered for his publication Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern , a collection of seasonal carols that Sandys had gathered and also apparently improvised...
   
   ) – 1:46
4. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
   Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
   “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is a Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems, having been written by Charles Wesley. This is not the version widely known today. A sombre man, Wesley had requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, not the...
   
   " (Felix Mendelssohn
   Felix Mendelssohn
   Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
   
   , Charles Wesley
   Charles Wesley
   Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
   
   ) – 1:55
5. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Oakeley, John Francis Wade
   John Francis Wade
   John Francis Wade was an English hymnist who is credited with writing and composing the hymn "Adeste Fideles" ....
   
   ) – 2:19
6. "Deck the Halls" (Traditional) – 1:11
7. "Silent Night
   Silent Night
   "Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
   
   " (Josef Mohr
   Josef Mohr
   Joseph Mohr, sometimes spelt Josef was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and composer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night".-Biography:...
   
   , Franz Xaver Gruber) – 2:01