Natalie Grant - Winter Wonderland (Review)
| Artist: | Natalie Grant |
| Album: | Christmas |
| Release Date: | October 3, 2025 |
| Genre: | Christmas Pop, Holiday Jazz, Seasonal |
| Original Composer: | Felix Bernard (1934) |
| Original Lyricist: | Richard Bernhard Smith (1934) |
| First Recording: | Richard Himber (1934) |
| Stream/Buy: | Click here |
Review
"Winter Wonderland" marks a delightful shift in Natalie Grant's Christmas album — a moment where the gospel powerhouse known for emotionally charged worship anthems reveals another dimension of her artistry. This sparkling rendition of the 1934 classic showcases Grant's ability to bring elegance, warmth, and sophisticated vocal control to secular holiday material without losing her distinctive musical personality.
The song itself carries a poignant backstory that adds unexpected depth to this seemingly lighthearted winter tune. In early 1934, lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith sat in a tuberculosis sanitarium in Scranton, Pennsylvania, watching children play in the snow from his window. Battling the disease that would claim his life just one year later at age 33, Smith penned lyrics about romantic winter walks, building snowmen, and making promises by the fire — images of the life and love he hoped to return to once healed.
Smith took his lyrics to pianist and composer Felix Bernard, who crafted the buoyant melody we know today. The timing was remarkable — Bernard had already achieved success with the 1919 hit "Dardanella" and would find his greatest triumph in this collaboration. Yet neither songwriter lived long enough to witness the song's enduring legacy. Smith died in September 1935, and Bernard followed in 1944. They never experienced the 1946 recordings by Perry Como and The Andrews Sisters that would cement "Winter Wonderland" as a holiday standard, nor could they have imagined it would become ASCAP's most-played holiday song decades later.
Grant's interpretation honors both the song's romantic optimism and its bittersweet origins. Her vocal delivery maintains a lightness appropriate to the lyrics while adding subtle emotional layers that suggest an understanding of life's fragility and the preciousness of winter moments shared with loved ones. There's sophistication in how she navigates the familiar melody, adding tasteful embellishments without overwhelming the song's essential charm.
The production, overseen by Bernie Herms, continues the album's commitment to authentic, organic instrumentation. The Nashville Recording Orchestra provides lush orchestral support with string arrangements by David Hamilton. The rhythm section — featuring Lyman Medeiros on upright bass, Andrew Synowiec on guitar, Josh Nelson on piano, and Bernie Dresel on drums — creates a swing feel that evokes classic holiday recordings from the golden age of American popular music.
What makes Grant's version particularly effective is how it balances familiarity with freshness. The arrangement respects the song's vintage character — you can hear echoes of big band elegance and mid-century sophistication — while Grant's contemporary vocal stylings and the modern production quality ensure it doesn't feel like a museum piece. This is "Winter Wonderland" reimagined for today's listeners while honoring its 91-year heritage.
The song's structure takes listeners on a journey through winter romance. The first verse paints the scene — sleigh bells ring, snow glistens, and a new bird sings a love song. There's innocence and wonder in these images, and Grant captures that sense of childlike delight even as her mature vocals add depth. The famous "Parson Brown" verse, where the couple pretends a snowman is a preacher asking about marriage, gets a playful treatment that acknowledges both the whimsy and the underlying seriousness of romantic commitment.
Grant's vocal technique throughout the track demonstrates why she's earned nine Grammy nominations and five Dove Awards. Her breath control allows for long, flowing phrases that mirror the gentle fall of snow. Her dynamic range means she can deliver soft, intimate moments and fuller, more exuberant passages within the same song. And her impeccable intonation ensures every note rings true, even during the more complex melodic passages or when she adds ornamental flourishes.
The engineering and production team deserves significant credit for the sonic quality of this recording. Recording engineers Danny Duncan and Steve Genewick captured the live orchestral performance with clarity and warmth. Mixing engineer Andy Selby balanced the various elements — Grant's lead vocal, orchestral strings, rhythm section, and subtle background vocals — creating a cohesive soundscape where each component supports the whole. Bob Boyd's mastering ensures the track translates well across all playback systems, from high-end audio equipment to casual listening environments.
In the context of Grant's Christmas album, "Winter Wonderland" serves multiple purposes. Following the theological depth of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," this track provides a moment of pure seasonal enjoyment. It reminds listeners that Christmas encompasses both sacred and secular joys, both worship and celebration, both the profound and the playful. Grant's willingness to include songs like this alongside explicitly Christian material reflects a mature understanding that God's gifts include the simple pleasures of winter, romance, and human connection.
For Christian artists navigating the Christmas season, Grant's approach offers a valuable model. There's no tension or apology in her delivery of this secular song. She doesn't try to "Christianize" lyrics that were never intended as worship. Instead, she simply performs excellent music excellently, trusting that beauty, joy, and craftsmanship have their own worth within God's creation. This confidence allows her to move seamlessly between explicitly sacred material and secular holiday favorites without seeming conflicted or compromised.
The historical significance of "Winter Wonderland" adds another layer to Grant's recording. This is one of the most covered songs in American popular music history — over 200 different artists have recorded it since Richard Himber's original 1934 version. From Guy Lombardo to Johnny Mathis, from The Eurythmics to Lady Antebellum, the song has been reimagined across every genre and generation. Grant joins this distinguished lineage, adding her voice to a tradition that spans nine decades.
What's particularly interesting is how the song has evolved over time. A 1947 revision included new "children's lyrics" that transformed the romantic interlude into a song about playing in the snow, changing "Parson Brown" to a "circus clown" and replacing promises with frolicking. Some artists, like Johnny Mathis, combined both versions. Grant appears to honor the original romantic version, maintaining the song's integrity as a celebration of adult love and commitment rather than sanitizing it for children.
The placement of this track as the sixth song on the album is strategically sound. Coming after five tracks that have explored various facets of Christmas — from personal emotion to theological declaration to gospel joy — "Winter Wonderland" provides a moment of pure seasonal pleasure. It's a reminder that the Christmas season, while centered on Christ's birth, also encompasses human traditions, celebrations, and the simple beauty of winter itself.
For Grant personally, recording this song likely connected her to the holiday memories from her Seattle childhood. Growing up singing carols around the piano with her four siblings, she would have encountered "Winter Wonderland" countless times. The song evokes a specific era of American Christmas tradition — one that her own family undoubtedly participated in. By including it on her album, she honors those memories while creating new traditions for her own daughters and for listeners who will make this recording part of their holiday soundtrack.
The romantic nature of the lyrics takes on additional poignancy given Grant's own marriage journey. Married to Bernie Herms for 26 years, with twin daughters now in college, Grant understands the promises made "in the meadow" and the lasting love the song celebrates. Her interpretation carries the wisdom of someone who has lived through decades of commitment, raising the stakes beyond youthful infatuation to mature, tested love that has weathered real winters — both literal and metaphorical.
The orchestral arrangement deserves specific attention. The strings provide lush harmonic support without overwhelming the vocal. The woodwinds add subtle color, particularly during transitional passages. The brass section, when it appears, adds just enough presence to evoke big band tradition without dominating the mix. And the rhythm section maintains a steady, swinging pulse that keeps the song moving forward while leaving room for Grant's vocal phrases to breathe.
Grant's phrasing throughout the track shows sophisticated musical intelligence. She knows when to push against the beat for emphasis, when to lay back for a more relaxed feel, and when to align perfectly with the rhythm section for maximum impact. She understands which syllables deserve elongation, which phrases need space, and where the melody can accommodate tasteful variations. This isn't mechanical reading of a chart — it's interpretive artistry informed by decades of professional performance.
For listeners discovering Grant through this Christmas album, "Winter Wonderland" offers an accessible entry point. While her worship anthems showcase raw emotional power and her sacred carols reveal theological depth, this track demonstrates pure vocal artistry and musical sophistication. It's the sound of a mature artist comfortable in her craft, able to inhabit any style with authenticity and excellence.
The technical quality of the recording, available in high-resolution FLAC format at 24-bit/48kHz, ensures that every nuance of Grant's performance and the orchestral arrangement can be appreciated by listeners with quality audio systems. Yet the song also translates beautifully to more casual listening scenarios — playing in the car, streaming through smartphone speakers, or providing background ambiance at holiday gatherings. This versatility reflects excellent production choices throughout the tracking, mixing, and mastering process.
As the holiday season unfolds and families create their seasonal playlists, Grant's "Winter Wonderland" deserves consideration alongside the classic versions that have defined this song across generations. It brings contemporary excellence to a vintage treasure, honoring the past while speaking to the present. And like the best holiday music, it creates an emotional landscape where listeners can find both comfort in familiar melodies and delight in fresh interpretations.
A sparkling, sophisticated interpretation that showcases Natalie Grant's vocal versatility while honoring the romantic whimsy and bittersweet origins of this 1934 classic — proof that excellence in secular Christmas music can coexist beautifully with sacred devotion on a holiday album.
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