It's the Holiday Season

2018 studio album by Martina McBride

Studio album by

Martina McBride

Released

October 19, 2018 (2018-10-19)

Recorded

Capitol Studios (Los Angeles, California)
Blackbird Studios (Nashville, Tennessee)^[1]

Genre

Country, Christmas

Length

26:15

Label

Broken Bow

Producer

Martina McBride^[2]

Martina McBride chronology

Reckless
(2016)

It's the Holiday Season
(2018)

It's the Holiday Season is the fourteenth studio album and second Christmas album by Martina McBride. It was released on October 19, 2018.^[3]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Holiday Albums chart, with 1,400 copies sold in the first week.^[4]^[5] It has sold 15,100 copies in the United States as of January 2019.^[6]

This was the last recording composer Patrick Williams contributed prior to his death. The album is dedicated in memory to him.

Track listing

CD
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"	John Frederick Coots; Haven Gillespie	2:47
2.	"It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"	Edward Pola; George Wyle	3:31
3.	"Winter Wonderland"	Felix Bernard; Richard B. Smith	2:56
4.	"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"	Meredith Willson	2:39
5.	"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"	Johnny Marks	2:38
6.	"Happy Holiday / It's the Holiday Season"	Irving Berlin / Kay Thompson	2:15
7.	"Home for the Holidays"	Robert Allen; Al Stillman	3:15
8.	"Frosty the Snowman"	Walter E. Rollins; Steve Nelson	3:02
9.	"My Favorite Things"	Richard Rodgers; Oscar Hammerstein II	3:12
Total length:			26:15

Personnel

Vocals and Rhythm Section

Martina McBride – lead vocals
Tom Ranier – grand piano
Graham Dechter – guitars
Chuck Berghofer – bass
Peter Erskine – drums
Daniel Greco – percussion
Mark Ivey – backing vocals
Marabeth Quil – backing vocals
Kira Small – backing vocals
Bergen White – backing vocals, vocal arrangements

Orchestra

Patrick Williams – arrangements and conductor
Elliot Deutsch – additional arrangements (6)
Joe Soldo – contractor
Ralph Morrison – concertmaster
Gordon Berger, Bill Edwards, J.B. Griffiths, Daniel Perito and Terry Woodson – music copyists

Horns

Dan Higgins and Don Shelton – alto saxophone
Gene Cipriano – baritone saxophone
Jeff Driskill and Bob Sheppard – tenor saxophone
Ben Devitt – bass trombone
Charles Loper, Bob McChesney and Charlie Morillas – trombone
Wayne Bergeron, Chuck Findley, Rob Schaer and Michael Stever – trumpet

Strings

Timothy Loo, Christina Soule and John Walz – cello
Amy Wilkins – harp
Andrew Duckles, Matt Funes and Carolyn Riley – viola
Darius Campo, Neel Hammond, Carrie Kennedy, Johana Krejci, Joel Pargman, Alyssa Park, Radu Pieptea, Neil Samples, Mary Sloan, Jenny Takamatsu and Ina Veli – violin

Production

Martina McBride – producer
Al Schmitt – recording, mixing
Steve Genewick – recording assistant
Chandler Harrod – mix assistant
Allen Ditto – vocal recording
John McBride – additional mixing
Jory Roberts – additional mix assistant
Chris Small – digital editing
Ryan Smith – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York)
Glenn Sweitzer – package design
Joseph Llanes – photography
Courtney Kivela Robinson – wardrobe stylist
Lindsay Doyle – hair, make-up

References

^ Casey, Jim (August 13, 2018). "Martina McBride Reveals New Christmas Album and Tour". Nash Country Daily.
^ "Martina McBride – It's the Holiday Season (2018, CD)".
^ "Martina McBride Details Holiday Album and Tour". Cmt.com. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ "Holiday Albums". Billboard. November 3, 2018.
^ Bjorke, Matt (October 30, 2018). "Top 10 Country Albums: October 30, 2018". Roughstock. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
^ Bjorke, Matt (January 7, 2019). "Top 10 Country Albums: January 7, 2019". Roughstock. Retrieved January 10, 2019.