“It's the Holiday Season,” and Martina McBride is about to be busier than Santa Claus

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BBR Music Group/BMGIt’s been twenty years since Martina McBride‘s platinum-selling yuletide collection, White Christmas, was released. Today, the companion album, It’s the Holiday Season, comes out.

“I’m super-excited about it,” the four-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year says. “It’s a big band Christmas record, kind of in the Frank Sinatra kind of style. We cut it in L.A. with a big band… at Capitol Records.”

For Martina, soaking up the feel of the legendary studio enhanced the experience.

“Just being in that studio where all those great Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra albums were cut, there was a really cool vibe… and spirit there…” she explains. “Some of the same musicians that played on my record played on their records.”

“And Patrick Williams wrote all the arrangements and directed the orchestra,” Martina continues, “so it was really special. It was just something that I don’t get to do very often.”

In fact, the album is dedicated to the legendary TV and film composer, who passed away last summer.

The release of It’s the Holiday Season kicks off a busy time for Martina. On October 30, her second cookbook, Martina’s Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life comes out, ahead of the launch of her new Food Network series, Martina’s Table, on November 18.

She’ll host ABC Radio’s Holiday Season Serenade, which will premiere Thanksgiving weekend, before appearing on this year’s CMA Country Christmas special on ABC-TV.

On November 23, she kicks off her The Joy of Christmas Tour in Biloxi, Mississippi as well.

“We’re doing dates with symphonies,” she points out. “We’re actually doing three dates in Nashville, my hometown. I’ve really never done a Christmas tour with a symphony before, so this will be all new.”

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