Entertainment Weekly (12/10/99, p.108) - "...confidently mixes standards and new material while staying true to twangy form....just the ticket for blubbering in your 'nog." - Rating: B
Country Music People (1/00, p.30) - 4.5 out of 5 - "...Reba ho-ho-hoes her way through the uptempo 'Up On The Housetop' [and] turns pensive on 'The Secret Of Giving'....a wonderful album that shows just how a Xmas album should be made..."
Personnel: Reba McEntire (vocals); B. James Lowry, Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Jeff King, Brent Mason, Jerry McPherson (electric guitar); Terry Crisp, Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Will Smith (auto harp); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Jimmy Nichols (keyboards, background vocals); Glenn Worf (acoustic & electric basses); Richard "Spady" Brannan (bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Liana Manis, Joe Chemay, Mrs. Northcutt's Third Grade Music Class (background vocals).
Engineers include: Kevin Beamish, Steve Marcantonio, Derek Bason.
Includes liner notes by Reba McEntire.
SECRET OF GIVING is Reba McEntire's first holiday collection since 1987. McEntire has created a holiday album that includes only two standards: "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus" (customized for her son, Shelby) and "Up On the Housetop." The rest of the songs all date from the '90s, from goosebump-inducing "Mary Did You Know?" to the rousing "One Child, One Day."
The best songs are two that perfectly capture a modern woman's struggle to make Christmas special. In "The Angels Sang," a harried working mom struggles to make it to her son's Christmas pageant, only to have her faith restored unexpectedly. In "Santa Claus Is Coming Back to Town," a divorcee deals with conflicting emotions after her ex announces he wants to come over and play Santa for their kids. But it's the inclusion of "This Christmas," a special prayer of hope noting that 2000 is the 2000th birthday of Christ, that makes SECRET OF GIVING the perfect holiday CD for the new millennium.
