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An underwhelming album considering the reputation Texas has for gutsy, edgy music, The Texas Christmas Collection (1991) was largely compiled from three vinyl records released locally in Austin, Texas, in the early 1980's. The LP series, The Austin Christmas Collection, could be a trying listen, in part because it presented such a mixed bag, sampling every local genre this side of punk rock. Further, despite the presence of some big names (Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Eric Johnson in his first solo recording), some of these performances are embarrassingly amateur or ill-considered.

While the CD distillation holds together better stylistically (sticking mainly to country and blues), it disappoints by failing to select some of the best songs from the original records. Nevertheless, Texas music buffs will enjoy most of what these collections have to offer, and the CD throws in rare (if unremarkable) 1979 MCA recordings by B.W. Stevenson and B.J. Thomas - Texans, both. The vinyl records, by the way, were available only in the Austin area and may be nearly impossible to track down. The CD was nationally distributed, so even though it is out-of-print it should be easier locate. [top of page]

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