In the spirit of holiday albums I was left a bit disappointed by Sugarland’s Gold and Green. The album is a mix of holiday favorites hit with a country twang and also some originals that are sure to become holiday staples but not as heartfelt and focused as I would have liked.

The album begins with City of Silver Dreams which is made thematic and beautiful by Jennifer Nettles vocal delivery which is strong and acrobatic flitting across the track offering up such a connection you feel almost elated by the tracks narration. Winter Wonderland and Holly Jolly Christmas, the two following tracks, are your basic renditions given a country twist which doesn’t do much for the overall. Coming Home, the fourth track on the album, is given a soulful blues type feel with Nettles offering up a jazzy vocal delivery which only makes the song sound out of place. There has to be some type of psychological block going on here for me for some reason but I just couldn’t feel this track. The title track, Gold and Green, is a track I had to get used to. For some reason Nettles deeper toned delivery overpowers the backing vocals of Kristian Bush which seems like a waste. The tracks saving grace is its execution instrumentally offering up an orchestrated softer tone to compliment Nettles, again, deeper toned delivery. Stand out track, Maybe Baby (New Years Day), which seems like its destined to become a holiday staple, is the only real original track on the album that feels like it was written for itself instead of being oriented around the whole Christmas theme. Narration and story for the track gives it legs to stand on its own and there is a fine balance between Bush’s vocals and Nettles backing vocals. Nuttin’ For Christmas. What can I say? Just listen to it and it will probably be one of your favorites off the album. Aside from the two traditional tracks at the back end (O Come, O Come, Emmanual and Silent NIght) you have Little Wooden Guitar which is yet another example of what the album could have been which is powefully delivered vocally by Nettles and Bush and feels complete intrumentally.

As a seasonal listen its not bad but the direction is less personal and more commercial which takes away from the fun you could be having with this album. A fine example towards the use of companies like iTunes and Napster. Worth grabbing a few tracks but if your like me it just doesn’t feel like a complete album.