A Merrie Christmas To You, Blue Rodeo (Blue Rodeo)

Blue Rodeo is a long-running Canadian country-rock band, very successful in their home country but with a fan base in the US as well. This is their first Christmas album, a 2014 release, and the country and folk side get more of the listening time than does the rock side, although the fact that the band has a full-time steel guitarist does color that perception a bit. Rock fans will be happy that the album opens with a strong version of Big Star's "Jesus Christ," and "O Come All Ye Faithful" has a solid 70s rock-style arrangement. Paul Simon's "Getting Ready For Christmas Day" is a lively cover, leaving out the sampled preacher of Simon's original, and the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight" is a worthy version as well. The Band tune, combined with the Gordon Lightfoot cover "Song For a Winter's Night" and a countrified version of Joni Mitchell's "River," show the band's Canadian roots well. Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the band's original "Home To You This Christmas" weigh on the country side of the equation, and an older Blue Rodeo tune, "Glad To Be Alive," is more of a rock ballad. Country and rock fans alike will find things to like about this album, but I suspect they'll just download the cuts they like in this day and age.