GAC's Christmas Get-Together Finds Time for Music, Too

GAC Music Beat

By Ronna Rubin

Bill Cody

Suzanne Alexander

Kylie Harris

Dec. 4, 2006—It takes more than a bit of schedule juggling and all but an act of Congress to get all of GAC's on-air talent together for a holiday taping. Fortunately, the stars aligned, and Suzanne Alexander, Bill Cody, Lorianne Crook, Kylie Harris, Nan Kelley and Storme Warren were able to get together to share holiday stories and memories for Holiday Wrapping Party, which debuts at 8 pm ET Wednesday, Dec. 13.

It's no surprise, though, that music always has been an integral part of their individual holiday celebrations. "I can't remember a holiday season without music," Warren says. "Mel Torme's 'Christmas Song' is one of the fondest memories I have of childhood Christmases. And as much as I love the classics, I always look forward to that new song that makes you feel something new about the season."

Lorianne Crook comes clean, too, admitting, "I am a holiday music maniac! My collection includes everything from country to opera to symphonic. I even have two Liberace holiday albums and one by Mario Lanza. Of course, nothing can beat the Chipmunks Christmas album."

Several of this year's new holiday releases already have earned top of the pile status in Suzanne Alexander's home. "I love 'Brad Paisley's Christmas,' especially his dry sense of humor," she explains. "On 'Winter Wonderland' he includes the lyric 'We can build a snowman and pretend that he is (Opry great) Jim Ed Brown.' Now that's funny!"

Growing up in New Zealand, Kylie Harris celebrated Christmas in the middle of their summer season. "The funny thing is, even with Christmas in the middle of summer, we'd still be singing along to 'White Christmas,' 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Jingle Bells,' " she remembers.

Nan Kelley and husband Charlie make holiday music an important part of their celebration as well. "We have a special collection of Christmas CDs that stays beneath our stereo—and I've just added the Burl Ives classic, 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' and Johnny Mathis' Christmas CD to that collection," Kelley says. "We always have them playing when we're making dinner or just sitting by the tree."

In addition to the reminiscing and storytelling, the group does manage to include some classic holiday music videos into their special. Hits like Vince Gill's "Blue Christmas," Martina McBride's "The Christmas Song," Billy Gillman's "Warm & Fuzzy," Alan Jackson's "The Angels Cried" and Trisha Yearwood's "It Wasn't His Child" are woven nicely throughout the special.

(Ronna Rubin, a 21-year veteran of the music industry, can be contacted at ronna@gacmusicbeat.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)