One of the Best Christmas Albums of 2011
On “The Christmas We Hoped For,” Texas-based indie singer-songwriter Vanessa Peters serves up a fresh, yet accessible collection of Christmas songs. Most are familiar tunes, but a cover of the Weepies “All That I Want,” and Peters original title song are highlights. Peters has a strong, appealing voice, and she approaches her material in a direct, unpretentious manner. She gets creative on “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year,” reinventing it as a German carousel song. It works! Peters has excellent taste in covers. Her “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is not a cover of the overexposed 1994 Mariah Carey song, but of the Vince Vance and the Valiants tune that came out in 1993. “All That I Want” is an underappreciated gem, and Peters version might be better than the original. It might be an indie release, but with high-end production by Rip Rowan and featuring Grammy-winning guitarist/producer Joe Reyes, “The Christmas We Hoped For” sounds like a major label project.
