Originally released as a Hallmark exclusive for the holiday season of 2008,
Home for Christmas
was expanded by a single cut for its exclusive 2010 for Target:
"Long Road Home,"
taken from
Sheryl Crow
's fine 2010 tribute to Southern soul,
100 Miles from Memphis
. This may be a secular tune, but it fits snugly next to the rest of
, as that holiday record was designed as a slow, soulful stroll through seasonal classics,
Crow
turning in excellent versions of tunes as diverse as
"Go Tell It on the Mountain,"
"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),"
and
"I'll Be Home for Christmas."
doesn't necessarily reinvent these songs --
"Merry Christmas Baby"
is taken at a slightly faster gait than usual,
"White Christmas"
grooves like classic
Stax
-- but she does inhabit them and her band is tight and dexterous, giving this Christmas album some unexpected and welcome soul. It's a good enough holiday album that it shouldn't be thought of as a thrown-off exclusive: it's one of the better pop Christmas records of the last half of the 2000s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine