Elvis Christmas Duets album will be released on December 1 thanks to those lovely people over at RCA. It will be the first ever album of Elvis Presley duets, and the his first Christmas compilation too! To produce this collection of 11 new recordings, RCA have revisited the original studio masters to painstakingly separate Elvis’ vocals from the instrumentation, allowing contemporary artists to duet with Elvis on these ledgendary recordings.
This release marks yet another milestone in Elvis Presley’s legacy, 31 years after his death, and the limited deluxe edition CD, beautifully presented in a die-cut soft pack is the perfect gift for all Elvis fans.
To give Elvis Christmas Duets a continuity of sound and quality RCA has secured the vocal talents of the some of the best known and biggest selling cotemporary Nashville stars. From Martina Mcbride who’s duet of Blue Christmas is incredible through to LeAnne Rimes, Carrie Underwood & Olivia Newton John… this is truly the most impressive collection of female contemporary country artists you’ll find on one album. Not only that but they’re dueting with the King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll Elvis Presley!
"We are so pleased that these accomplished artists are collaborating with Elvis in this unique way to make exciting new versions of his Christmas songs. I am sure Elvis would be proud to have worked with them," says Priscilla Presley.
RCA have also created a stunning video for lead album track “Blue Christmas†featuring Martina McBride. The country superstar was just shy of two when Elvis Presley filmed his 1968 "Comeback" TV special. This year, she steps back in time forty years to join the King of Rock 'n' Roll on stage.
Video producer George Flanigen comments, "There's a spot between (guitarist) Scotty Moore and Elvis that's open, like somebody should have been sitting there," says Flanigen. "We're like, 'We could probably figure a way to put her with Elvis.' We scoured the footage and picked shots of Elvis throughout the whole special to be able to put them together. There are shots where he and Martina share the frame, where he looks over at her, where she looks back at him and sings and smiles."
McBride filmed her parts in front of a green screen. "It took four weeks" to piece together, Flanigen says.
In order to create these classic 'duets' Sony BMG used the most advanced and sophisticated audio technology available. For songs that were recorded on one track, mono, musical beds were created to perfectly match the instrumentation and arrangements contained on the originals. In the case of songs that have been recorded in multi-track where Elvis' vocal is isolated on a single track, the vocal was simply dropped for a given verse or chorus, making room for the duet artist. To be as faithful as possible to the original recordings, the fabled RCA Studio B in Nashville - the same studio that Elvis recorded the 1971 original Christmas session in, was used.