The Chetboard

Does anyone know who sang the lead vocal on Chet's version of "East Tennessee Christmas?" A number of different singers are credited for their work on the EAST TENNESSEE CHRISTMAS album as a whole, but the album's credits are not specific as to just which musicians performed on which songs. Thanks!

That's Chet singing on East Tennessee Christmas. Chet recorded me singing some background vocals but I'm betting he kept me down in the mix. That's hard work. There was a TV special called "Christmas On The General Jackson" and they sang it as "It's a Riverboat Christmas."

John

John, thanks for your reply. You know, I just pulled out my CD copy of "East Tennessee Christmas" and listened to it -- it seems to me that it could well be Chet singing on one channel, but the other channel definitely has someone else singing in unison with him. Randy Goodrum was listed as one of the vocalists on the album -- could he possibly be the one who is singing this part? The even mix between the two voices definitely keeps it from sounding like a "pure Chet" vocal.

One of the things I'm anxious to point out in my book is that Chet was nowhere near as poor of a vocalist as people joked about -- including Chet himself! It made for a good joke that someone who played the guitar so beautifully could only croak like a frog when he sang -- but the truth of the matter is that Chet recorded some wonderful vocal numbers. I don't include a ton of his singing work in the book, but I still firmly believe that any comprehensive overview of his recorded work should contain some of his best vocals.

I've always thought that if anyone wanted to argue this point with me, I could win the argument in only five words -- "I Still Can't Say Goodbye." I will always believe that Chet made more of a mark as vocalist than people give him credit for. Sure, nowhere near as much of a mark as he made as a guitarist, but a mark nonetheless.