Classic Christmas

1	White Christmas 4:06
2	Warm and Fuzzy 3:14
3	Winter Wonderland 2:43
4	The Christmas Song 4:01
5	There's a New Kid in Town 4:13
6	Jingle Bell Rock 2:15
7	Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree 2:18
8	Angels We Have Heard on High 2:54
9	Silent Night 2:25
10	Away in a Manger 2:36
11	Sleigh Ride 2:30
12	O Holy Night 3:56

Barnes & Noble

The pubescent pinup gets a chance to employ his keening tenor on mostly standard seasonal fare, with a few contemporary holiday songs sweetening the Yuletide mix. One of the latter is "There's a New Kid in Town," co-written by Keith Whitley, a lilting, country-pop reimagining of the Christmas story in contemporary language; Gilman handles the lyric with admirable restraint while still delivering the appropriate feeling of wonderment. Otherwise, the material is straight-ahead holiday fare, from secular beauties such as "White Christmas," "Winter Wonderland," and a jaunty "Jingle Bell Rock," to spiritually oriented standards such as "O Holy Night" and "Angels We Have Heard on High." Good humor and bright spirits attend the jolly tunes, hushed sincerity the meditative ones. Through it all, Gilman once again proves himself an interpreter wise beyond his years. David McGee

All Music Guide

Striking while the iron was hot and before the 12-year-old singer's voice changed, Epic Records rushed back into the marketplace with the second Billy Gilman album to be released within six months, this one a holiday collection. The title suggests that standards will make up the fare, which turns out to be true, mostly, though co-producers Don Cook and David Malloy were not able to resist the temptation to throw in a couple of little-known songs with their names in the songwriter credits. But they did resist the temptation to make Gilman sing anything specifically child-oriented, such as "Nuttin' for Christmas" or "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth." No, what you get here are Christmas classics like "White Christmas" (complete with introductory verse), "The Christmas Song," and "Silent Night." Gilman acquits himself well, still possessed of his pure, elastic tenor and brassy, unabashed style. He even stands toe to toe with fellow child prodigy Charlotte Church, probably because they have been assigned "Sleigh Ride" rather than something on which the classical singer might have been expected to snatch away the spotlight, such as "O Holy Night." There is little to suggest that Gilman's appeal will last beyond its pre-puberty novelty value, but this is a pleasant effort, even given the overly familiar material. William Ruhlmann