One of the great things about Christmas is the homespun familiarity of it all; just when you think you’re finally on your last legs, here comes the holiday, looking much the same as last year. It’s no coincidence that they put this one at the end of the calendar. It’s like seeing an old friend when you need him or her the most.

Les Kerr, Gulf Coast native and performer with his backup group, the Bayou Band, knows this, which may be why he enlisted the Jordanaires—that’s right, Elvis’ old backup vocalists, although they were much more than that—to sing along with him on this Yuletide-themed recording. They only appear on four tracks, but they go a long way towards giving a real old-fashioned Christmas feel to these simple country tunes laced with a hint of zydeco, especially Kerr’s charming original title track and John Hartford’s “On Christmas Eve.”

That leaves Les alone the rest of the time, however, and his unadorned voice is shaky to say the least, as is his songwriter’s pen on “Christmas By The Bar-B-Que.” The rest of the album’s a mixed bag: a decent version of Robert Earl Keen’s humorous “Happy Holidays, Y’all,” an odd but welcome accordion-and-mandolin tinged instrumental version of the classic folk song “Wayfaring Stranger,” and Tammy Vice’s pretty yet stiff Biblical ballad “What The King Didn’t Know.” The ’50s stroll of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” a zydeco rewrite of “Jingle Bells” and a recitation of “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus” (with some intrusive typewriter effects) fare even less well. All in all, though, this is a warm and inviting

Christmas disc that’ll reward limited expectations.