Alyssa Gafkjen
To put it mildly, country singer-songwriter Brett Eldredge loves the Christmas season. Like, a lot.
Despite a handful of non-Christmas Number Ones and almost 4 billion global career streams to his credit, he’s spent the last seven years focused on the year’s end like no one else. Through annual Glow tours and two previous holiday albums – both of which highlight his boisterous, classic croon and earnest Midwestern charm – he’s arguably grown into the king of country Christmas, the wintertime work becoming Eldredge’s own personal tradition.
But for his third holiday album Merry Christmas (Welcome to the Family), this year’s tradition came with a twist. Out now and featuring eight new tracks – all originals he co- wrote himself – the set does embrace the classic magic of every Christmas season. But it’s also fun, celebrating our Christmastime quirks.
“We live in a world where it feels like traditions become less and less a priority, but I feel they’re really important,” Eldredge explains. “It makes us who we are, and I think Christmas music really shows that. Now, I get to tour in a new way with new originals and still have the classics people love. And I think that’s just a beautiful combination.”
Eight years after his “whole crazy Christmas journey” began, Eldredge says Merry Christmas (Welcome to the Family) started immediately after last year’s Glow tour wrapped. So really, he’s been in the spirit all year long. The tours have grown bigger than he ever dreamed, and though he still had yet to record hundreds of Christmastime classics, Eldredge figured album three should be something different. So, he took off for New York City with a goal: to make classic-sounding, all-new music for a new generation, which could stand alongside the standards. And that is a high bar to clear.
“I think because I’ve recorded a lot of the classics, I wanted to take a shot at fully going 100 percent original and making them worthy of sitting on a playlist next to something classic,” he says. “It’s been a really fun challenge, but also it’s something that comes naturally in a way because I just love Christmas music. It’s just something I love to do, so it feels like what I’m supposed to do. And to be able to share that with people? I want to do that.”
The set is led by its title track, with Eldredge making his intentions clear. Boasting a classic jingle-soul presentation of brass instruments and solid rhythms – plus the roaring fire beneath the star’s warm baritone – its lyrics find a couple coming home for the holidays, and a new member getting introduced to the “wackiness” of the family. Eldredge says his own beloved kin were the obvious inspiration, but he speaks to the unique characters found in any family unit. Along with their love and kindness.
“We all come from different places and travel and do all this stuff, but we get together every year despite our differences, despite everything,” he explains. “We come together and share love and music and hardship and just our lives, like, ‘OK, this is where we are and we’re going to keep this together, because tradition still matters.’”
That fusion of deeply felt purpose and lighthearted fun is everywhere on Merry Christmas (Welcome to the Family). And for good reason.
“The world feels so heavy and I’m very aware of that,” Eldredge says. “I’m a very sensitive, creative human to where I feel a lot of what’s going on in the world, and so I think the escape of the holiday season is such a needed thing. It always comes at the end of the year – and comes this year after a really long one for a lot of people – so I think some lightheartedness and some fun is a good reminder of what really matters.”
Other standouts like “Sweet December” (feat. Kelly Clarkson) capture the cozy feel of not only Christmastime but a whole snuggle season with the one you love. And elsewhere, the ballad “Season of Lights and Wonder” gets serious for a piano-led spiritual recharge. “It encapsulates everything I want to say with Christmas music, about just having each other during this time of year,” the star says. “You never know when it’s your last holiday with certain people. That really puts everything into perspective.”
Eldredge finishes the album on a reprise of the title track, this time asking his ace band to paint sonic portraits of the Eldredge family members, “like they used to do in the old Disney movies.” And over the last month, he’s been bringing it all to the Glow tour once again. But this one will finish bigger than ever.
After winding its way across America through November and December, this year’s Glow tour ends December 20 (with the show beginning at 8 p.m.) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, marking the biggest Glow show of Eldredge’s life. It’s something he always thought possible – even when he first started doing Christmas shows to ugly-sweatered crowds of less than 100 fans in random basement venues. As word got out and his Glow concept progressed, the shows moved into theaters and eventually multi-night stands at the Ryman Auditorium, but Eldredge had his eyes set across the street.
“It’s really surreal because I always wondered if that would be a possibility,” he admits. “There’s a moment now where this journey is just continuing to grow, and lots of people are coming. It’s like, ‘I want to put this Glow show on bigger than ever and have an even bigger spectacle, while still keeping the heart of the stories and also making people feel like they’re in my living room, in an arena.”
It may be the pinnacle of excitement for Eldredge, but when fans walk through those Bridgestone doors, he wants them to feel at ease. To leave the year behind and remember what it felt like to be a kid. To cry if needed, laugh, and dance for sure. And just remember what makes Christmas special. That’s what this adventure has all been about.
“I want people to feel like they’re sitting around the tree with their family. I want them to play back those memories, like this moment of transporting you to a different world for a little while that we all could use a little taste of,” he says. “I want them feeling at home, feeling at peace, feeling reminded that it is a beautiful life, even when it’s tough.”
See Brett Eldredge in concert on December 20 at 8 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena. Tickets can be purchased here.