What's In That Bag, Chuck Leavell (Capricorn)

Known for his piano work with the Allman Brothers Band and the Rolling Stones, Chuck stepped up to the mike for this 1998 holiday outing. He's no Greg Allman in the vocal department but he does all right, supported by the Muscle Shoals Horns. He mixes up the styles on "Joy To the World," going from gospel to boogie, duets with Lisa Fischer on "Please Come Home for Christmas," steals Bruce Springsteen's arrangement for "Merry Christmas Baby," goes New Orleans on the original "Hey Santa," and straight blues on "Even Santa Gets the Blues." He also gives us piano instrumentals of traditionals like "O Christmas Tree," "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," "We Three Kings" and several others. "Away In a Manger," surprisingly, is done on guitar. Bob Bailey points out that the album apparently started out as a home-grown project in 1996, as A Homemade Christmas from Charlane Plantation. "That's the name of the Christmas tree farming operation, in central Georgia, that he and his wife run when he's not on the road with the Allmans or the Stones," Bob adds. He notes that some of the songs were re-recorded and a few new ones were added, but the official version is otherwise not too different from the self-produced one.