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Kerby shares his wisdom on delectable Deserter

Kevin Kerby’s new album is Your Loyal Deserter.
Kevin Kerby’s new album is Your Loyal Deserter.

A Kevin Kerby

Your Loyal Deserter

Max Recordings

The fourth track on this new solo album by Little Rock's Kevin Kerby sounds like a midlife reckoning.

It's called "Who I Thought I Was" and features a simple snare drum shuffling beneath guitars, keyboard and bass in an arrangement that sounds almost like a sketch of a song and clocks in at just under 2 1/2 minutes. Still, there is a lifetime behind it. "I'm not who I thought I was," Kerby sings, sounding a bit relieved at the discovery.

It's excellent, as is the entire album. Kerby saunters along in a country-folk vein, often with son Gus on fiddle, filtering subjects like faith, persistence and confusion through his own, wry, sometimes goofy lens.

"This Wilderness" is an acoustic rumination on religion, where Kerby finds his own brand of belief apart from the crowd. He takes aim at greedy Christians on the country gospel romp "Everything You Give Away," while the title track is a ridiculously catchy rocker that ends way too soon.

"You Get the Point" is a folksy, funny recollection of things gone wrong and trying to figure out what to do. "You can move where roads are wider/or celebrate the fact that you're stuck," Kerby sings over acoustic guitar and aching fiddle in one of the best lyrics on an album full of little nuggets of wisdom.

Hot tracks: The ones mentioned above, "Beat This Rap," "Don't Look Down" and "Learned How to Beg"

-- SEAN CLANCY

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

C Gwen Stefani

You Make It Feel Like Christmas

Interscope

Gwen Stefani's Christmas album could have been delivered with a little more of her signature sass, but it's a solid release nonetheless.

Clearly, Stefani is comfortable with a standard rendition of Christmas classics. There is no real effort here to depart from the standard delivery on songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Let It Snow."

Stefani fronts a big band approach on the album. Aside from a few lighthearted yelps here and there, the tracks are routinely rendered and somewhat punchless.

The only song that reveals any of the hollaback girl's heart is "When I Was A Little Girl," which she co-wrote. More tender, personal tracks like this would have been a present indeed.

Hot tracks: "When I Was a Little Girl," "Let It Snow"

Note: See information on Gwen Stefani's Christmas TV special in the TV Column on Page 2E.

-- RON HARRIS

The Associated Press

A- Elvis Presley

Christmas With Elvis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Sony Legacy

It isn't really Christmas without the King crooning "Blue Christmas" so we welcome a clutch of classic holiday songs by Elvis Presley, nicely augmented by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The 13 songs are pulled from Elvis' Christmas Album (1957) and Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas (1971), and they haven't been messed with except for the addition of strings and horns, often employing admirable restraint.

There's danger messing with these gems but the new orchestral parts blend tastefully. If the originals were a little spare with a honky-tonk feel, they're now lusher and virtually cinematic. Most come out better, including such fragile beauties as "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Silver Bells."

The orchestra-approach has been done before with some of Presley's non-holiday songs and didn't always work, often overpowering the tunes and sounding forced and excessive. This time it's different. Maybe Presley's Christmas songs are hearty enough to lend themselves to more sweeping arrangements. Whatever it is, giving the King the royal treatment works beautifully.

Hot tracks: "Silver Bells," "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem"

-- MARK KENNEDY

The Associated Press

C- Various artists

Holidays Rule Volume 2

Capitol Records

Early into Holidays Rule Volume 2, you start to wonder if the album's theme was annoying songs by really talented people.

It begins with a remake of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," with Sir Paul, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots. It's a recorded version of a mix first performed on Fallon's show that demonstrates the band's talent but can't save an annoying song that earns McCartney royalties every time it's played in a grocery store.

There's a gimmick calypso number by the supremely talented Lake Street Dive called "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that we can only hope won't enter the permanent holiday canon.

But there are gems here, too. "A Winter Romance" by Vera Blue, and Muna's version of a better McCartney composition, "Pipes of Peace," stand out on a collection that mixes hits, misses and blunders.

Hot tracks: "A Winter Romance," "Pipes of Peace"

-- SCOTT STROUD

The Associated Press

B+ Smokey Robinson

Christmas Everyday

Amazon Originals

Smokey Robinson's first solo Christmas album is a fine addition to the Christmas music canon.

The Smokey Robinson-penned title track dates to 1963, its Motown roots ringing out clearly with help from husband-and-wife team Us The Duo, while New York soul traditionalists the Dap-Kings spice up "You're My Present," another Robinson composition.

There are a few songs you'll find on nearly all Christmas albums, some given not-so-usual arrangements. "White Christmas" undergoes a very danceable Brazilian makeover and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" includes its seldom-sung jazzy introduction and a fun solo by Trombone Shorty.

Versions of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" and Charles Brown's "Please Come Home for Christmas" further amplify the soul quotient.

Hot tracks: "Christmas Everyday," "White Christmas," "This Christmas," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"

-- PABLO GORONDI

The Associated Press

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Album cover for Gwen Stefani's "You Make It Feel Like Christmas"

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Album cover for Elvis Presley's "Christmas With Elvis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra"

Style on 12/12/2017

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