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In July 2012, Scotty McCreery revealed that he was working on a Christmas album.[3] He indicated that he had always wanted to make a Christmas album, and had talked about it for about a year before it was given the go-ahead by his label.[4][5] The album contains many of the standard Christmas songs, as well as two original Christmas songs - "Christmas in Heaven" and "Christmas Comin' Round Again".[6][7] He described "Christmas in Heaven" as his favorite song on the album.[8] McCreery revealed that he was writing a song called "Christmas in Heaven" about his grandfather, who died while he was getting ready for the album, but received a song with the same title and opted to record that instead.[7][9]
The album was produced by Mark Bright, who was also the producer of McCreery's first album, Clear as Day.[10] The Christmas album was released on October 16, 2012 in the United States. It was included in the Scotty McCreery QVC Bundle, which also contains Clear as Day, and was released on October 23 through QVC.[11]
The album received generally positive reviews by the critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic thought that to release a Christmas album at this point of his career "may be a tad speedy but a festive collection is a softball pitch up the middle for McCreery, one that the cornpone singer can hit clear out of the park."[12] Billy Duke of Taste of Country considered it a "consistent project that takes few chances, but offers 11 pleasant recordings to easily slip into one's yearly holiday playlist."[13] In similar vein, Matt Bjorke of Roughstock thought the album is "largely as warm and familiar as a cup of Hot Cocoa. That is, it's not the kind of groundbreaking all-new Christmas recording but it is well-made and should be an easy addition to any Christmas music fan's collection of yuletide music."[14]
Chart and sales performance
Christmas with Scotty McCreery debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 41,000 copies.[15] It also charted in No. 2 in the Top Country Albums and No. 1 in the Top Holiday Albums charts.[16] As of December 2013, the album has sold 382,000 copies in the US.[17]
The Scotty McCreery QVC Bundle released through QVC sold 5,000 copies the first week and reached No. 93 on the Billboard 200.[18]
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