Christmas Spirit, Los Lonely Boys (Epic)

The Tex-Mex trio who are one of Willie Nelson's favorite bands dropped their first Christmas CD for 2008, and if you're familiar with their close harmony and solid guitar playing, you'll be happy to hear that style applied to a CD's worth of holiday tunes, including two originals. "I've Longed For Christmas" starts things off well, even if they resort to the kiddie choir on the very first song, and "She'll Be My Everything For Christmas" is a solid midtempo ballad with a touch of Everly Brothers vocally. Rudolph makes two appearances, once with his red nose in a nice rocked-out rhythm and again in the Chuck Berry classic. Their "Carol of the Bells" is a witty amalgam of the standard arrangement with an overlay of Mexican folk playing and Spanish percussion, with just a touch of the Santana sound on lead guitar. Given their background, you'd probably be disappointed if they didn't do "Feliz Navidad," which they do in a nice shuffle, the same arrangement as the single demo they did a couple years ago but a more finished-sounding version. All told, a nice rocking holiday disc.