Christmas albums: first exposure to country, maybe gospel

While my mother considered records a luxury, she seemed to think Christmas records were a necessity, so we always had a large collection of them. Maybe she bought them on sale at Sears: the sort of albums with covers that featured celebrity faces peering out of christmas tree ornaments. Virtually the only country music among my family's records appeared on Christmas records. (There were a handful of country songs on some of the religious records they had as well, but I think they tended to be watered down, and at any rate, not by top performers.)

The only Johnny Cash recording I remember being played in my home was one of him reciting a Christmas poem ("Then a kind old man at a chestnut stand. . ."). I can remember many of these songs, but I don't know who the singers were; however, I'm pretty sure that they were mostly famous country performers. Maybe this was the point at which I learned to regard country music as something kind of funny, because my brother and my sister tended to make fun of these songs, even when they liked them. I think even my dad used to imitate Johnny Cash.

These Christmas records were also one of the only times I heard gospel in my house (though my parents were definitely more favorable about gospel than country). I am completely unfamiliar with Mahalia Jackson, aside from remembering her singing "Go Tell It On the Mountain."

Ah, here we go:

http://www.vepo-music.com/gr/qx/XM-063.JPG