The Season for Romance

1	The Season for Romance 4:09
2	Baby, It's Cold Outside / Rob Mounsey 3:45
3	Let It Snow/Winter Wonderland 4:23
4	Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 4:29
5	Silent Night 2:30
6	White Christmas 4:25
7	Forever Christmas Eve 4:28
8	The Man With the Bag 2:31
9	The Christmas Song 4:01
10	What Are You Doing New Year's Eve 4:31

Barnes & Noble

On a set of mostly seasonal standards, Lee Ann Womack goes deeper into the fully orchestrated pop of her recent albums, further distancing herself from the country chanteuse she once was. In keeping with its title, the beautiful The Season for Romance is replete with lush string arrangements and dreamy orchestral arrangements worthy of Nelson Riddle or Gordon Jenkins. Womack's version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" is a marvel of reinvention, as its layered strings and evocative woodwinds buttress her torchy reading. A small combo with strings cooks up a cozy, easygoing shuffle for her blues-inflected take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," but a medley of "Let It Snow/Winter Wonderland" gets a big, brassy, Billy May–style arrangement as Womack swings the lyric gracefully while investing it with a chipper attitude. Harry Connick Jr. joins the festivities on a sensuous, swirling version of "Baby It's Cold Outside," on which the artists' frisky repartee is anything but cold -- there's heat here, low key and warm, well worthy of a return engagement somewhere down the line. Rich and mellifluous, the pop-blues of "Forever Christmas Eve" offers a dollop of wishful thinking about time standing still at a moment of perfect bliss. And in the season for romance, what better way to sign off than with a big-hearted, classic pop treatment of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," Frank Loesser's philosophical exhortation to go for it when the pheromones kick in. Short and sweet, The Season for Romance gets its message across in memorable fashion. David McGee

All Music Guide

Cardinal rule number one for introducing new holiday songs amidst a sea of newly arranged classics: Make them compelling! No doubt she hopes that listeners will slow dance to the title track of her first holiday offering, but, despite its sweet sentiment, it's one of the handful of bland tracks amidst many that are far more interesting. The most unique choice Lee Ann Womack makes is moving away from her comfy country roots and doing a traditional jazz/big band-flavored party for the season at hand. Her wry duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside" with Harry Connick, Jr. is fully of sultry cool and sassy personality -- qualities the disc's other ballads could use more of. The medley of "Let It Snow/Winter Wonderland" is rendered in a classic '50s crooner fashion, with rising splashes of horn section complementing her lush vocals. That same tenderness serves her well on a sparse, folksy arrangement of "Silent Night," a mood she balances with sassy swingers like "The Man With the Bag." Even if there's some unevenness here, the disc in general lives up to its title concept. ~ Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide