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Keith Urban’s ‘Romantic’ Christmas Song

Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group

Keith Urban already rang in the holiday season on Tuesday night (12/5) when, during his “All For The Hall” benefit concert in Nashville, he donned a Santa hat and red sweater and brought out surprise guest Brenda Lee, who sang her classic “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.” The song is the number one song on the Billboard 200 chart for the first time this week, sixty-five years after its release.

After the show, chatting with one of Keith’s reps, she said that she was most excited about booking Lee for the show. The audience was, too, and it undoubtedly put the packed Bridgestone arena in the Christmas spirit.

Urban has a Christmas song of his own, “I’ll be Your Santa Tonight,” which he released in 2019. Keith told us of the romantic holiday tune, “I wanted to write a song that could kind of just travel anywhere really, I guess, and be also about the sort of the romantic side of this particular Christmas Eve.”

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He added, “The idea that this girl is about to have the bleakest Christmas ’cause there’s too much fog, there’s no snow, her mom’s not going to be able to make it, her sister can’t come, it’s all going to be a complete mess. And the guy steps up and says it’s gonna happen. ‘I’ll bring the magic.'”

In the same interview, Urban told us about his holidays growing up when Christmas comes in the middle of an Australian summer. He said, “We still love going to the beach at Christmas time, as long as we’re in Australia because it’s like the Fourth of July. It’s huge. Everybody’s out. It feels very celebratory. It’s in the ’90s. It’s crazy.”

Top Five Country Christmas Songs Of All Time

  • 5. Carrie Underwood - "Little Drummer Boy"

    With a cameo by her young son Isaiah singing adorably on this classic remake, it is no wonder this has quickly become a holiday favorite and makes his famous mom proud.

    Underwood is playing shows and has added Christmas song to her Las Vegas residency which she wraps up next week (12/16).

    Carrie told us recently about decorating early for Christmas this year (2023), “There’s nothing sadder than a Christmas tree up with no presents underneath it, so I don’t really think that you want to get your Christmas tree up too early, but this year, I was a little earlier than normal because we had Thanksgiving and then head out to Vegas for my Reflection shows, and I had to get everything up before I left.”

  • 4. Gwen Stefani (Featuring Blake Shelton) - "You Make It Feel Like Christmas"

    A wonderful song that puts you right into the holiday spirit. Gwen and Blake do this song beautifully together and seem to have fun with every word they sing.

    On the footnote version of the title song’s music video, Stefani said, “The idea of getting to be a part of people’s holidays through music is one of the greatest gifts. Christmas music lives forever.”

    She also noted in the video footnotes that the video idea was inspired by the 1960s TV show Bewitched, a show both of them loved as kids. Gwen and Blake co-wrote the song “You Make It Feel Like Christmas.”

  • 3. Brad Paisley - "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy"

    This is an excellent take on the 1960s original Christmas song by country music icon Buck Owens. Brad does this to perfection honoring his late friend. Garth Brooks also covered this song on his first Christmas album, Beyond The Season.

  • 2. Dolly Parton - "Hard Candy Christmas"

    Not initially known as or written as a Christmas song, this song comes from the soundtrack of Dolly Parton’s 1982 movie Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. The song has become a classic and has been covered by many after Dolly, including her friend Reba.

  • 1. Brenda Lee - "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"

    Possibly one of the best holiday songs in any genre; not a year goes by that we don’t spin this record on repeat. In 2023, sixty-five years after its first release to radio, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time ever.

    By hitting the No.1 spot, Brenda Lee breaks several records. Many of those records were held by Mariah Carey and “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which Lee beat out for the top spot.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.

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Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group
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