Bottom Line:
Since "Antsy" McClain has gone solo recently, his name was put on top of the old group, the hilarious and often poignant Trailer Park Troubadours (at least, for this disc, anyway). Doesn't really change anything, though. The guys are still on top of their game as the funniest, niftiest, and gosh-darn white-trashiest rednecks out there, bringing us the holidays as only the gang from the trailer park can do. Merry Christmas from the Trailer Park has all the good stuff you expect from this often crazy duo, and yet still manages to be touching and very reverent at the same time.
One really cool thing about this disc is that it's almost 90% brand-new Christmas music. For the
most part, these aren't songs you'll hear on any old Christmas disc - no, there isn't anyone else
(maybe) who'd record "The King of Christmas" or "She's Underneath the Mistletoe
Again," but that's what makes the Trailer Park Troubadours so darned awesome. Sure, they
give us a beautiful a capella version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and they perform a
fine version of "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day." But the strengths of their holiday
CD are really their wonderful original tunes, most especially the very sweet "Mary Lou's
Christmas List," a song that speaks to anyone who had a mother who carefully scoured every
sale every year to find just exactly that right present - and then, not forgetting they're the
funniest group recording serious music, there's "Frank the Christmas Turkey," the ode to
dinner. Yum! That's tasty listening! They speak to every part of a redneck heart, from Elvis
delivering presents on Christmas Eve to one's girlfriend kissing all the other boys at the
Christmas party, and, of course, those all-important labor issues in "The Elves' Strike"
(which also cleverly pierces the heart of Christmas materialism and commercialism, and
reminds everyone just exactly what Christmas is all about, ala Linus). The Troubadours always
know how to do it just right. I'm pretty sure this may be one of my new holiday favorites, one
I'll listen to for years to come.
Everyone does a Christmas album (even many artists who aren't Christian), but it takes some
real moxy to make one that is wholly and completely new and original. With a little bite here
and there of tradition, the gang from the trailer park comes out nice and strong in their own way
to make for a truly enjoyable new holiday treasure. While some of us may have more Christmas
music than you can listen to in a single season, it's always nice to add another keeper to the
collection. From "Santa Claus Finds a Way" to "Auld Lang Syne Revisited" and
back to "Christmas at the Trailer Park" (a song which could kinda be compared to Robert
Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas From the Family"), there's a song for every redneck on
your Christmas list here.
Song List:
- Christmas at the Trailer Park
- The King of Christmas (Intro)
- The King of Christmas
- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
- Mary Lou's Christmas List
- O Little Town of Bethlehem
- Frank the Christmas Turkey
- She's Underneath the Mistletoe Again
- The Elves' Strike
- Santa Claus Finds A Way
- Auld Lang Syne Revisited
