Southern Rock Christmas, various artists (Cleopatra)

I'd call this a mostly forgotten genre of music, except that its blues-rock-country fusion lives on in Billboard's country charts, even if the classic artists don't appear there. Cleopatra assembled this compilation for 2021 with a collection of artists that go from the classic southern rock genre to country-rock and on to actual country performers. Oddly, they didn't see fit to include (or couldn't license) southern rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band or 38 Special, but you can read about their holiday exploits elsewhere on this site. The Outlaws kick things off with "What Child Is This," the Artemis Pyle Band puts a bluegrass spin on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," Steve Morse does the hard-rock guitar god thing on "We Three Kings," Point Blank does an uptempo blues-rock take on "Merry Christmas Baby," and Charlie Daniels does a John Lee Hooker boogie on "It's Bad To Have the Blues (At Christmas Time)." Georgia Satellites does a typical southern rock take on "Run Rudolph Run," Adam Hood pushes that other Charles Brown classic "Please Come Home For Christmas" uptempo, Paul Nelson Band does a close-to-the-original version of Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," Richie Furay medleys "Come and Praise Him" with the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight," and Blackfoot thrashes out on "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." Sammy Kershaw's "That Spirit of Christmas" is a straight country number, Pat Travers puts the southern rock stamp on "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," Black Oak Arkansas offer a ballad, "Christmas Everywhere," and Oak Ridge Boys wrap things up with "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," combining the Spector arrangement with a country approach. Nothing earth-shaking here, but there are only a few songs I'd personally skip from this collection.