Rhonda Vincent isn't just one of the best singers in bluegrass--she can hold her own against any singer in popular music today. Her first Christmas album confirms her crossover potential, with as much laid-back swing and soft acoustic garlands as throw-down bluegrass. Her touring band, on the whole, get the holidays off, as Nashville vets Bryan Sutton and Stuart Duncan as well as brother (and coproducer) Darrin Vincent provide slick support for her impeccably pitched, cozy alto. The song selection is pleasant, if somewhat predictable, and the sole surprise (and sole Vincent original), "Christmas at Home," is little more than a string of Norman Rockwell clichés. "Oh Christmas Tree" finally kicks up some tinsel and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" sashays nimbly, even if it never quite rocks. The hokey, deliberately off-key round of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the kiddie singalong on "Jingle Bells" are just cloying--hot picking aside, you've heard this shtick before. Still, Vincent sounds soulful on the ballads, especially "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night"; one only wishes she'd played the arrangements less conservatively. In the end, these sessions would have benefited from a little less reverence and a few more stiff swigs of home-brewed holiday punch. --Roy Kasten