INTERVIEW: Jennifer Nettles On 'To Celebrate Christmas'

After being the host of CMA Country Christmas show for years, Jennifer Nettles has finally released a Christmas album of her very own. The country singer/songwriter recently released her new record To Celebrate Christmas on October 28th via Big Machine Label Group, which includes ten holiday songs to celebrate this most wonderful time of year with. This is Jennifer's second album released this year following her top 10 US album Playing With Fire, which featured her hit country song "Unlove You."

To Celebrate Christmas includes traditional and nontraditional Christmas songs, in addition to collaborations with Idina Menzel ("Little Drummer Boy") and Andra Day ("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). The album also features a song written by Dolly Parton called "Circle of Love."

Jennifer recently told us all about her new holiday album -- her very first -- during an exclusive interview. We learned about what it was like working with Andra Day and Idina Menzel, her Dolly Parton-penned song, her favorite songs on the album, plans for the new year, and more.

[Buy To Celebrate Christmas on iTunes]

To Celebrate Christmas is Jennifer's very first Christmas album, despite the fact that she has been the host of the CMA Country Christmas special for seven years. She has released only two solo records prior to her new Christmas album; Playing With Fire, which she released back in May of this year (2016), and 2014's That Girl. Before that, she released five albums while she was the lead vocalist of Sugarland, her duo with Kristian Bush. 

On what it was like putting together her first Christmas album

"I loved putting this new Christmas album together. After hosting CMA Country Christmas for seven years, I felt it was about time I put together a collection of all my favorites. I've had the opportunity to sing so much fantastic Christmas music over the course of those years, and really had a chance to audition those songs, and see which ones I liked the best. So, putting this collection together was fun for me, and an opportunity for my fans over the years, who've come up to me and said, 'Oh, your show is really how my family kicks off the holiday season' -- it's a chance to give them this collection as well."

On what it was like collaborating with Idina Menzel & Andra Day

Jennifer collaborated with several talented artists on To Celebrate Christmas. She teamed up with soulful songstress Andra Day on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," which she says the arrangement for was so "fun and so jazzy" and enjoyed singing that way. She adds, "For me to get to sing a song stylistically that way, and to get to do it with her was just such a pleasure."

The country singer/songwriter also joined forces with Idina Menzel on the Christmas classic "Little Drummer Boy." Jennifer has been a fan of Idina for a while after seeing her on Broadway, and the two have performed together previously on CMA Country Christmas. She tells us of the song and working with Idina:                                  

"I have been a fan of Idina Menzel for years, ever since Rent and then Wicked to follow that, and what a powerhouse of a vocalist she is. We had the pleasure of singing together a couple years ago on CMA Country Christmas; a little song of hers called called 'Let It Go' from Frozen, and I loved singing with her. I just love her voice so much, so to get to sing 'Little Drummer Boy' together with her was such a treat for me. And I love the story of that song because that's what the Christmas spirit is about -- the spirit of giving. It doesn't have to be something fancy and materialistic, but rather something that's from the heart."

"Circle of Love," written by Dolly Parton and featured on To Celebrate Christmas, comes from Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love, the sequel to Coat of Many Colors. The movie is based on Dolly's life and in it, Jennifer reprises her role as Avie Lee Parton -- the country icon's mother.

On "Circle of Love" and working with Dolly Parton

"The song 'Circle of Love' is the only new original that shows up on my Christmas album. The rest of the album is either traditional songs, or already previously penned from years ago. For example, 'Celebrate Me Home' by Kenny Loggins, that would be original. 'Circle of Love' is the only new one, and it is written by a little lady named Dolly Parton. She wrote the song inspired by the story in her life, the movie Christmas of Many Colors that I star in as her mother Avie Lee Parton. The movie's name is Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love and it is a story from her childhood of when her family really almost died in a blizzard, but survived. And she wrote that song about that time in her life and about that story. I had to sing a bit of that song in the movie, my character did, so when I heard it, and had to learn it for that part, I fell in love with it. When I knew I was going to be doing a Christmas record, I reached out to her and said, 'Would you at all consider doing me the honor of letting me record this on my album?' And, and she very graciously said yes."

On her favorite songs on To Celebrate Christmas

"I have two favorite Christmas songs in general, if I had to pick a favorite. My favorite traditional [song] would be 'Oh Holy Night.' I love that song. I love the chorus and how powerful it is. I think it is such a beautiful song. And then my favorite nontraditional would be 'Celebrate Me Home' by Kenny Loggins. It is so supremely soulful, such a joy to sing, and for me and being a professional musician, for my whole my adult life, the idea of being able to be home when I'm typically traveling and touring for work is even that more special."

Aside from ringing in the holidays with her new Christmas album, 2016 was great year for Jennifer Nettles. She released her solo album Playing with Fire back in May, which hit No. 2 on the US Top Country Albums Chart and No. 10 on the Billboard 200. And with the year winding down and the new year approaching, it sounds like Jennifer has some big plans for 2017.

On her plans for 2017

"I'm going to be going out and doing a few dates here and there. Tour wise I'm going to be going over to the UK for the first time in a long time for their C2C festival, so that excites me very, very much. Beyond that I'm sniffing around the Broadway, and film, and television world doing some auditions and reading some scripts here and there to see what I might be interested in. And I've also gotten the writing bug again. For me, the record Playing With Fire came out just in May, but when I started writing those songs, it's been a couple years since then, and I'm in a different place now as an artist, and feeling inspired to start doing some more writing again, so you can expect a little bit of all that."

Listen to Jennifer Nettles & Idina Menzel's "Little Drummer Boy" below.