Alabama – Christmas in Dixie

“Christmas in Dixie” is a Christmas country song recorded by Alabama and written collectively by band members Jeff Cook, Mark Herndon, Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen. The track was recorded at The Music Mill studio in Nashville and released by RCA Nashville on December 6, 1982 as part of the multi-artist compilation album A Country Christmas. Running about 3:37 (or roughly 3:42 on versions with a spoken outro), it was produced by Harold Shedd together with the group. The recording quickly became one of Alabama’s signature holiday songs and was later included on their first full Christmas album, Christmas (also known as Alabama Christmas), issued in 1985.

The single arrived during a dominant run for Alabama on the U.S. country charts. Beginning in 1980, the band put together a long string of No. 1 country singles; writers and chart historians often note that the 1982 holiday release of “Christmas in Dixie” is treated as a special case that sits outside that uninterrupted sequence of chart-toppers. The song is also notable inside the catalogue because it is the only title credited solely to all four members of Alabama and one of only two compositions to carry a songwriting credit for drummer Mark Herndon, making it a rare full-band writing collaboration.

Lyrically, “Christmas in Dixie” is a gentle celebration of the holiday season across the United States, with a particular focus on the American South. Each verse begins by mentioning locations outside the Southeast—such as New York City, California, Chicago and Detroit—before turning to southern cities including Memphis, Atlanta, Jackson and Charlotte (referred to as “Caroline” in the lyric). The closing lines bring the song back to Fort Payne, Alabama, the band’s hometown. Rather than telling a detailed story, the text strings together place names, winter images and a repeated wish of “Merry Christmas tonight,” emphasizing regional pride and seasonal warmth.

The original version issued on A Country Christmas, and the one most frequently heard on U.S. radio, features a spoken-word greeting from each member of Alabama after the line “And from Fort Payne, Alabama,” before the final sung refrain. Later pressings and some album editions have circulated without the spoken tags, but the radio mix remains highly familiar to country listeners. The 1982 single was part of a double A-sided holiday release from RCA that also featured “Christmas Is Just a Song for Us This Year” by Louise Mandrell and R.C. Bannon; a 1997 reissue instead used Alabama’s own “Thistlehair the Christmas Bear” as the B-side.

On Billboard’s country charts, “Christmas in Dixie” performed respectably and has shown unusual staying power. The original single spent seven weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart between late 1982 and early 1983, peaking at No. 35 in January 1983. It also reached No. 3 on Billboard’s special weekly Christmas Singles chart in December 1983. In the late 1990s, as country radio increasingly recycled older holiday titles, the song re-entered the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart three times, with peak positions of No. 47 (1997–98), No. 40 (1998–99) and No. 37 (1999–2000), confirming its status as a recurrent seasonal favorite.

Beyond its original release, “Christmas in Dixie” has been kept in circulation through albums and box sets. It appears on Alabama’s 1985 Christmas album, on the 2006 career anthology Livin’ Lovin’ Rockin’ Rollin’: The 25th Anniversary Collection, and on numerous country and all-genre holiday compilations. In 2017, the band marked the song’s 35th anniversary by re-recording a more acoustic, “unplugged” version for their third Christmas album, American Christmas. The track is also regularly listed among popular U.S. Christmas singles in reference works and holiday overviews, and is widely regarded as one of the best-known country Christmas songs.

“Christmas in Dixie” has inspired a series of notable cover versions and collaborations. Kenny Chesney recorded it for his 2003 album All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good Tan, inviting Randy Owen to share lead vocals. The a cappella group Home Free included the song on their 2020 release Warmest Winter, again featuring Owen and crediting Alabama as guests. Jason Aldean issued his own version in 2022, and in 2024 Chris Janson released a remake with surviving Alabama members. Taken together, these recordings underline the song’s ongoing influence and its place as a modern standard in the country Christmas repertoire.