SPRINGFIELD — She loves Christmas.
She wanted to record a new Christmas album and then go on tour for the holidays.
And that is just what country superstar Trisha Yearwood did.
On Saturday, the Grammy Award-winning Yearwood is bringing her “Christmastime with Trisha Yearwood: 12 Days of Christmas Tour” to Springfield Symphony Hall.
Showtime is 7 p.m.
Featuring local symphonies across the country, including Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the limited run tour began in Nashville and will visit major cities including Newark, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Detroit before wrapping up in Louisville, Kentucky.
The new Christmas album, simply titled “Christmastime,” is produced by Grammy Award winner Don Was and features lush arrangements composed by the legendary David Campbell.
Highlights from the album include a sweeping orchestral update of “Christmastime Is Here” from the classic television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” a soulful new take on Elvis Presley’s classic “Blue Christmas,” and a cinematic reimagining of “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The album also features “Merry Christmas, Valentine,” a heartfelt original she co-wrote with husband Garth Brooks.
“Christmastime” marks Yearwood’s first holiday album since “Christmas Together” with Brooks, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart in 2016. Her first solo holiday project, “The Sweetest Gift,” originally released in 1994 and reissued in 2000, debuted on the Country Albums chart and earned Gold certification.
Tickets, priced at $71.29, $81.54 and $103.46, are available at symphonyhallspringfield.com.
Several weeks before the tour began, Yearwood took time to answer a few questions about the new Christmas album and tour.
Q: Why record a new Christmas album now?
A: In my head, it’s really the first one in 30 years, my second solo Christmas album. I recorded ‘The Sweetest Gift’ in 1994, and I’ve had a running list of Christmas songs to record since. Then I did ‘Christmas Together’ with Garth (Brooks, her husband) in 2016 and that was awesome because there were both duets and some solo songs on the album which I’ve always wanted to record like ‘Hard Candy Christmas.’ But I hadn’t really done my own Christmas record in a long time, and I love Christmas, it’s my favorite holiday. I can’t believe that it has been almost 10 yeas since that Christmas album with Garth and I just thought it was time.
This year wasn’t supposed to be a crazy year. I travel with Garth when he’s touring, and he wasn’t this year. So, I thought this would be a great year for me to do a Christmas record and a tour along with it. What I didn’t know when I planned all of this was that I was going to actually release a regular album around the same time. (Her 16th album, “The Mirror,” was released in July.) It’s been a crazy year, crazier than I could have ever dreamed of. But there was still this running list of songs that I’ve always wanted to record. So, I just went back to that list and then filled it in with some new ideas, including an original song that Garth and I wrote called ‘Merry Christmas, Valentine.’
Q: You recorded “Christmastime” in July in Los Angeles. What is that like to get in the spirit when the holiday is not quite around the corner and it is warm outside?
A: We recorded ‘Christmastime’ at the Warner Bros. Soundstage where they did all the Looney Tunes music, and I thought it would be cool to be on that stage. Everybody shows up in Christmas clothes. Somebody had on a Santa hat. If you’re making a Christmas record, you turn the air conditioning way down and you put up a Christmas tree. You do what you can to get everybody in the Christmas spirit, but I think the music alone does that. Everybody just gets excited. Anybody who has made a Christmas record has probably done it in July or August. So, you just close the door, turn on the string of lights, and you’re in Christmas.
Q: Do you have a favorite Christmas album?
A: That’s a good question. I love all Christmas music. What popped into my head when you asked that question was Emmylou Harris. She has an album called ‘Light of the Stable.’ It’s a really beautiful acoustic record and it is probably the first one I’ll play during the holidays.
I know this may sound like a selling pitch, but what has really become a favorite of mine is the duet album with Garth. He wrote songs for this record that sound like they were written as classics. He wrote a song called ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater’ that I just love. It’s so clever and so well written and really gets me in the Christmas spirit. It’s probably the only record that I’m on that I will actively play. So, we play it a lot during the holidays because we both just love it.
Q: Tell me a little about the selection process for the new album. I noticed that they are all secular.
A: It wasn’t a conscious effort. Again, I had this list of songs that I never recorded and wanted to. Since I was a kid watching the ‘Charlie Brown Christmas Special,’ I have always loved the soundtrack, it’s unreal. When Garth and I got married at home in Oklahoma (they were married on Dec. 10, 2005), I walked down the aisle in the middle of our living room to the song ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ from the soundtrack. I just love that song and always wanted to record it, which is now on ‘Christmastime.’ I’m also a big fan of Elvis and that’s why ‘Blue Christmas’ is on the record. It’s tough when selecting songs because you want to record Christmas songs people know. But how many versions of ‘Jingle Bells’ do you really need? If you are going to record these songs that have been recorded so many times, then you must ask yourself how you can bring something different to the table.
I think the closest to a spiritual song on the record is probably ‘Simple Guest.’ It’s a traditional Shaker song. My mother loved that song and when she passed away, she was a teacher and very organized, she left us a list of all the things she wanted us to do. One thing was to play that song at her funeral. We played the version by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss which is stunningly beautiful. And I thought that would be a great tribute to her on the new record and as close to a hymn as I’d get on ‘Christmastime.’
If you go back and look at my first solo Christmas album, ‘The Sweetest Gift,’ it featured songs like ‘Sweet Little Jesus Boy’ and ‘Away in a Manger.’ I’ve done those songs, so I really wanted to change it up. David Campbell, who arranged every song on the album and conducted the orchestra, was the one who suggested ‘Pure Imagination’ from the ‘Willy Wonka’ film. It’s not a Christmas song, but it works. When I did ‘Let’s Be Frank’ (her 14th studio album devoted to Frank Sinatra), my criteria was that I was going to stretch the record as far as I could. Judy Garland sang ‘Over the Rainbow’ and so did Frank, but he wasn’t really known for that song like Judy was. So, it gave me the license to put it on that record. That was my thinking for ‘Christmastime,’ that if I can make it work, if it can sound like it belongs on the record, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a traditional Christmas song.
Q: Is it true you recorded ‘Christmastime’ live inside the studio alongside an orchestra? What was that like?
A: It’s terrifying and wonderful. I know many of these folks because I’ve worked with them before, and we did the ‘Let’s Be Frank’ album the same way. But you still feel the pressure when going in because these are musicians who are probably the most working symphony in America because they do all the movie soundtracks and television shows and more. They are at the top of their game, and you just want to go in and feel like you can be a part of this group. They’re so wonderful and giving and it was just such a great experience. Your hope is that when you are standing in there singing and they are playing, that you are feeding off of each other. I know for me as a singer, when we make a regular album, most of my vocals with my five-piece band are recorded live. There is an energy in the room when the band is in there, that isn’t in the room once everybody goes home. You feed on that energy and hopefully if you do your job right, they are listening to you singing in their headphones and feeding off of your energy, too. So, it’s really incredible and to hear a full symphony playing behind you, there’s nothing like it. It’s pretty special.
Q: Why go out and do a short tour for the album? And you are playing smaller venues, right?
A: I want it to be intimate. The ‘12 Day of Christmas.’ We are doing 11 cities with Nashville the first two nights. We looked for places that we felt we could enjoy using local orchestras and have an intimate setting for folks to get in the Christmas spirit, if they’re not already, which they should be by the end of the night.
When you make an album like ‘Christmastime,’ a lot of times you don’t tour for it, and I wanted a chance to sing these songs live. I’ve been in planning mode for this tour since we finished the album. We will be doing a traditional symphony show where there are a first and second half plus intermission. In the second half, the plan is to include some Trisha songs that I have orchestral arrangements for. So, in some of my regular material where you would hear one fiddle, now you will get to hear 12 violins playing instead, which is very cool. But the show is mostly Christmas.
Q: How does touring affect your own Christmas celebration?
A: Our Christmas is casual. Thanksgiving is a big holiday in our house where I cook for some 20 people or more. Christmas is a little more low-key. We have three children, and we will get together at some point to decorate the tree together. That is our Christmas tradition, and we just really enjoy it. What is nice about the holidays for us is that the music industry more or less shuts down by the first of December. You’re not getting a bunch of phone calls and texts and emails about business, so you get a chance to really just be at home and do your thing. I’ve never done a Christmas tour, so I’m going to have to figure out how I’m going to celebrate Christmas out there every night. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s the plan.
