“What’s better than doing a Christmas record?” Clay Walker asked when he announced his new holiday album this fall. Then he answered his own question: “recording it with your family!”
That album, “A Clay Walker Family Christmas,” comes out tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 6, on Maven Records. Clay made it with his wife Jessica and their five children: Will (18), Mary-Elizabeth (16), Eli (13), Ezra (8) and Christiaan (5).
If the name rings a bell, it should. Clay grew up in Beaumont, Texas. His very first single, “What’s It to You,” went all the way to No. 1 in 1993. Five more No. 1 hits followed. He still works hard, too. This year he played more than 70 shows, including a headline night at the Ryman Auditorium and a set opening Nissan Stadium at CMA Fest.
For the new album, he brought in Keith Stegall, the Nashville producer best known for his long run of records with Alan Jackson. The songs are mostly old favorites, the kind a family hums while the tree goes up.
Music has filled the Walker house for years. In one of his own short videos, Clay summed it up in a single line: “We’ve come a long way from me singing Christmas tunes to my kids.”
He still carries a good share of the album himself. Clay sings lead alone on “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “Feliz Navidad” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.” He also sings the lead single, “All Wrapped Up in You,” which is already out.
That leaves six songs where the kids step up to the microphone.
Will, the oldest at 18, takes “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Eli, 13, sings “Please Come Home for Christmas,” the old holiday blues tune many fans know from the Eagles.
Mary-Elizabeth is the one who sings on three. She has two solos, “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Then she teams up with her little brother Ezra, 8, on “Little Drummer Boy.”
The last song brings everybody in. It’s “O Little Town of Bethlehem (The Christmas Story),” and Clay sings it with Jessica and all five kids, right down to 5-year-old Christiaan.
Clay sounds every bit the proud dad. “I’m so incredibly grateful for and proud of my kids for their involvement in this project,” he said in the album announcement. “The memories we made creating this will last forever, and I’m glad I get to listen to them every Christmas from now on.”
His own YouTube channel shared a short look inside the recording sessions this week. It runs about 25 seconds, with Clay laughing in the studio and two of the kids singing at the microphone with headphones on.
Clay Walker’s kids singing in the studio
The family won’t stop at the record. “A Clay Walker Family Christmas Tour” opens Nov. 27 at Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio. The kids will be on stage with their dad. Select shows will hold a toy drive, where fans are asked to bring a toy for a child who needs one. “Christmastime is all about family, and it’s our favorite season to come together,” Clay said on his website when he announced the tour.
Mary-Elizabeth already knows her way around a stage. In a short Clay posted last week, she sings out front while he plays guitar behind her, and he wrote that he “can’t wait for y’all to hear more” of her on the album.
Mary-Elizabeth sings on stage with her dad
When the finished CDs showed up, the kids piled onto the couch with their dad to look them over.
Clay and the kids open the new CD on the couch
The tour runs through Dec. 20 in Lynn, Massachusetts, with stops in Denver and Torrington, Connecticut, along the way. Clay’s website says more dates are still to come, so the Walker kids may be singing in a town near you before Christmas.