The Sweetest Gift (Trisha Yearwood album)

The Sweetest Gift
Studio album by Trisha Yearwood
Released	September 13, 1994
Recorded	1994
Genre	Christmas
Length	32:32
Label	MCA Nashville
Producer	Garth Fundis
Trisha Yearwood chronology
The Song Remembers When (1993) The Sweetest Gift (1994) Thinkin' About You (1995) Alternative cover 2000 re-release

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	(favorable)[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]

The Sweetest Gift is the fourth studio album (and first Christmas album) by country singer Trisha Yearwood.

Yearwood sings a mixture of familiar traditional and popular material, along with more recent compositions such as "It Wasn't His Child" and "There's a New Kid in Town". Two of its tracks managed to achieve positions near the lower end of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart: "It Wasn't His Child" peaked at #60, and "Reindeer Boogie" at #63. The album rose to the #17 position in the Country Albums chart. A re-release of the album in 2000 has a different album cover, a promotional photograph taken during the Real Live Woman promotional period.

Yearwood covers a series of Christmas standards in a country music format. The album was a given a positive review by Allmusic, receiving 4 out of 5 stars.^[1]

Track listing

1. "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" (Bob MacGimsey) - 2:42
2. "Reindeer Boogie" (Charlie Faircloth, Hank Snow, Cordia Volkmar) - 2:38
3. "Take a Walk Through Bethlehem" (Ashley Cleveland, John Barlow Jarvis, Wally Wilson) - 3:49
4. "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 3:00
5. "It Wasn't His Child" (Skip Ewing) - 3:54
6. "Away in a Manger" (traditional) - 2:39
7. "The Sweetest Gift" (James Coats) - 3:02
8. "There's a New Kid in Town" (Don Cook, Curly Putman, Keith Whitley) - 4:27
9. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) - 2:26
10. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells) - 3:58

Personnel

Musical

• Bobby All — acoustic guitar
• Sam Bacco — percussion
• Eddie Bayers — drums
• Ashley Cleveland — harmony vocals
• David Davidson — violin
• Stuart Duncan — fiddle, mandolin
• Connie Ellisor — violin
• Paul Franklin — dobro, electric guitar, steel guitar
• Garth Fundis — harmony vocals
• Johnny Garcia — electric guitar
• Carl Gorodetzky — violin
• Jim Grosjean — viola
• Jay Hager — bass
• Aubrey Haynie — fiddle
• John Hobbs — string arrangements
• Dann Huff — electric guitar
• Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson — harmonica
• Lee Larrison — viola
• Brent Mason — electric guitar
• Robert Mason — cello
• Rick McClure — drums
• Nashville String Machine — strings
• Steve Nathan — piano, keyboards
• Scott Paschall — production assistant, assistant producer
• Dave Pomeroy — bass
• Becky Priest — piano
• Heather Risser — fiddle
• Matt Rollings — piano
• Pamela Sixfin — violin
• Alan Umstead — violin
• Mary Kathryn Vanosdale — violin
• Billy Joe Walker, Jr. — acoustic guitar
• Biff Watson — acoustic guitar
• Kristin Wilkinson — viola
• Trisha Yearwood — vocals, harmony vocals

Technical

• Katherine DeVault — art direction, design
• Garth Fundis — producer, engineer, mixing
• Carlos Grier — digital editing
• Jerry Joyner — design
• Gary Laney — design
• Senor McGuire — photography
• Scott Paschall — assistant producer, production assistant
• Denny Purcell — mastering
• Randee St. Nicholas — photography
• Dave Sinko — engineering, mixing
• Virginia Team — art direction
• Debra Wingo — hair stylist

Chart positions

Album

Singles

References