“White Christmas” is a holiday standard and Trace Adkins has the perfect voice to perform it. His smooth baritone flawlessly carries the longing, nostalgia, and Christmas spirit of the song. Watch Adkins deliver a chilling rendition of the classic below.
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The Christmas at the Opry stage looked like a snow-covered field as Adkins took the stage. The country star appeared to be standing on a snowy island in the center of a frozen pond as he delivered a moving rendition of the holiday classic.
[RELATED:Trace Adkins Celebrates Two Decades as Grand Ole Opry Member]
Irving Berlin penned “White Christmas” in 1941 for the movie Holiday Inn (1942), according to SongFacts. Bing Crosby sings the song in the film. His character is a New Yorker who is stuck in warm sunny California for Christmas. Before singing it in Holiday Inn, Crosby did the first public performance of the song on his radio show on Christmas Day 1941 just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Many believe that World War II helped to make the song popular. The lines about longing for a Christmas“just like the ones I used to know” hit harder when one imagines a soldier in a foreign land wishing he was home. Author Mark Steyn wrote about this in his book A Song for the Season.
“Had America entered the war in Europe in 1939, ‘White Christmas’ might have been just a hit record from a so-so movie. Instead, 1942 was the American serviceman’s first Christmas away, in the Pacific, under glorious sunny skies that only made home seem even more distant.”
Since it became a hit in the 40s, countless artists have recorded renditions of the song. The Drifters, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Lady Gaga, and many more have made “White Christmas” their own over the years.
Trace Adkins’ Country Album
Adkins turned in a soulful performance of one of the first secular Christmas songs in history tonight. Ten years ago, though, he released an album of religious hymns for the holiday. The King’s Gift featured ten classic Christmas hymns.
The religious aspect of the album wasn’t the most interesting part, though. The King’s Gift saw Adkins showcasing his range as a performer. He performed most of the songs on the album in the style of Celtic folk music. He even enlisted Celt folk mainstays The Chieftains for “I Saw Three Ships.”
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