Finis Smith’s cover of “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas” won’t make anyone forget George Strait. It isn’t the young Texan’s intention. Nor is it a tribute. Smith’s version of the classic Strait Xmas track reclaims the song as his own rather than merely regurgitating Strait’s original. It’s amazing to hear how confidently Smith steers this single despite his relative inexperience and how he infuses his take on “When it’s Christmas Time in Texas” with a young man’s brio, rather than attempting to mimic Strait’s measured delivery. Smith honors the past with this cover but likewise rejuvenates the song for a new generation.
It isn’t a song announcing itself with figurative chest-thumping or overwhelming listeners with sonic muscle. Smith’s version of the song gets under your skin from the first note through artistry rather than forcing itself upon listeners. His affable approach to this venerable chestnut never treats it like a hoary classic that needs redressing, but instead as an ongoing lively musical work just begging for someone to give it a whirl. Smith gives it the desired spin, and the results are memorable.
Its musical arrangement is an important reason why. Two crucial elements, guitar, and fiddle, vie for the listener’s attention and reach an entertaining stalemate. Each player of those respective instruments elevates the other. The fiddle powers many of the musical flourishes, and the guitar maintains a near-constant presence that layers warm melodic phrases throughout the entirety of the song. It’s a full band performance, and each part strengthens the overall presentation. However, there’s no doubt that the fiddle and guitar are set apart, and for good reason.
Smith’s voice effortlessly glides and never glosses over the deceptive amount of emotion informing “When it’s Christmas Time in Texas”. This is celebratory Yuletide music, but the effect is never shallow. Smith’s take on the Christmas classic finds a rewarding middle ground between the need to entertain and the duty to impart musical substance to what might be disposable in lesser hands.
Instead, he makes listening essential.
You’ll hear a lot of Christmas songs this month. You always do. It’s a time of the year bursting with traditions. The music world’s contributions to the holiday sweepstakes are countless songs bemoaning, rejoicing, making fun of, and even sometimes dismissing the holiday season. Finis Smith sets his Christmas single apart for two main reasons. The first is how he chooses material that hasn’t been exhausted by countless other singers. Strait’s presence looms large, without a doubt, but the song hasn’t been covered as much as other venerable Xmas gems. The second, less intangible reason is how it offers evidence of Smith’s budding vocal genius.
Let’s hope it finds an audience in a world far less enamored of his vocal strengths than earlier generations were. Perhaps they just need to be reminded. He’s the sort of singer capable of conveying such a reminder. Finis Smith hasn’t reached his peak yet, he isn’t even close, but his cover of George Strait’s timeless “When it’s Christmas Time in Texas” gives us a peek of what he’ll sound like when he gets there.
Mindy McCall
