When Martina McBride appears beside Elvis Presley singing “Blue Christmas,” the footage can fool you for a moment.
Elvis looks toward her.
Martina smiles back.
They appear to be sitting together on the same tiny stage.
There was just one impossible problem.
Elvis filmed his part in 1968. Martina filmed hers 40 years later.
The original Elvis footage came from his legendary ’68 Comeback Special, where he performed “Blue Christmas” during one of the intimate sit-down sessions surrounded by musicians and audience members.
Elvis’s official site dates that live recording to June 27, 1968 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California.
Then, in 2008, producers found a clever way to revisit it.
Martina recorded a new performance connected with Elvis Presley Christmas Duets, an album that paired Elvis’s archival vocals with contemporary singers including Martina, Carrie Underwood, Sara Evans and others. Sony released the album on October 14, 2008, 31 years after Elvis’s death.
But the video required something much more complicated.
Producer George Flanigen explained that the team discovered an open space between Elvis and guitarist Scotty Moore in the original 1968 footage.
That gave them an idea.
Put Martina there.
She filmed her performance separately against a green screen, while editors searched through footage from Elvis’s television special looking for angles that would make the illusion believable.
According to Flanigen, assembling it took around four weeks.
Elvis Presley & Martina McBride – “Blue Christmas”
The official Elvis Presley upload has now been viewed more than 56 million times, showing how strongly the unusual duet has continued connecting with fans.
What makes the finished video special is the attention to tiny details.
Martina appears to walk out of the audience before sitting beside Elvis.
Editors selected shots where Elvis naturally turns in her direction, then matched them with Martina looking back toward him.
For a few minutes, it genuinely feels as though she somehow stepped into 1968.
Martina later said she loved being able to share the video during her own concerts, describing Elvis appearing on the large screen as “larger than life.” She also noted how fortunate they were that the surviving Christmas performance contained that perfect empty space beside him.
And that is why this duet remains more interesting than a normal remix.
Martina McBride never actually stood onstage with Elvis Presley.
Technology brought her into one of his real performances instead — creating a musical meeting between two artists separated by four decades.