Country music star Clay Walker celebrates the holiday season with his wife and children on a new family Christmas album, sharing the music, memories, and traditions that make this time of year special. 

Texas native Clay Walker has been a mainstay in country music for decades. If you grew up listening to country music in the 1990s or early 2000s, chances are Clay Walker was on your playlist. With hits like “What’s It to You” and “She Won’t be Lonely Long”, Walker has built an impressive career with multi-platinum sales and 11 No. 1 hits.

This holiday season, Walker is bringing something a little more personal to his fans. His new Christmas album, “A Clay Walker Family Christmas,” is scheduled for release on Friday, Nov. 6 and features Clay, his wife Jessica, and their five children, Will (18), Mary-Elizabeth (16), Eli (13), Ezra (8), and Christiaan (5). The album’s lead single, “All Wrapped Up in You,” is available now and can be listened to HERE.

“What’s better than doing a Christmas record?” asks Clay. “Recording it with your family! I’m so incredibly grateful for and proud of my kids for their involvement in this project. The memories we made creating this will last forever, and I’m glad I get to listen to them every Christmas from now on.”

Texas Lifestyle Magazine recently caught up with Clay Walker to talk about recording this new Christmas album with his family, holiday traditions in the Walker household, his Texas roots, and what’s next for the country music star.

A Clay Walker Family Christmas: Making Music and Memories Together

You’ve spent decades making music for your fans, but this album is something your family gets to keep forever. Does that make this project feel different from anything else you’ve recorded?

To have a career this long has been a joy that is hard to express. My family, including my children, have seen a large part of that. I thought about making this particular Christmas album for a few years now. I knew it would be special, but I had no idea that the gifts would just keep on coming. It is obviously much different than anything I’ve ever done before and in a direction that I’m super pleased with. When we finished recording and I was leaving the studio, my producer Keith Stegall said to me ‘This is so special. One of these days your kids are going to understand just how special.’”

Christmas music is often tied to memories and traditions. What is one Christmas memory from your own childhood in Southeast Texas that has stayed with you over the years?

When I was about six or seven years old, I remember getting a black bicycle with mud grip tires on it for Christmas. That bicycle was probably my favorite Christmas present I ever got. It represented freedom and I remember riding around with other kids and just being so proud that I had that bike and a lot of memories were created on it. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve always gotten my children bicycles for Christmas because I know that if it meant that much to me when I was a kid, it would have some value to them as well. 

Your children each bring something different to the album, including taking the lead on songs of their own. How did everyone decide which songs to sing, and did any of your kids surprise you in the studio?

Each one of my children decided what songs they would sing on the album. I’ve never been the kind of parent that tried to push my kids to be singers or musicians or even dictate what instruments or particular style of music they needed to sing. The thing that you never know about when you go into the studio is if the emotion is going to translate into the songs so that it touches people’s hearts. It’s really not something that’s predictable in their cases. Each one delivered that magic that you hope to attain in each and every recording. I know about this because I have recorded songs that never made it onto an album because they didn’t have that spark that would move people. I’m so proud of each of my children. They are as unique as fingerprints. 

Christmas Traditions, Family Fun, and a Little Texas Flavor 

What does Christmas look like at the Walker household when you’re not onstage or in the studio? Are there any family traditions that are nonnegotiable?

I feel like our family is very normal in our traditions surrounding Christmas. We all love to decorate the Christmas tree and play Christmas music. It’s one of the most fun times of the year. It’s always sad to take the tree down. I don’t think anyone likes to do that. 

We also love most of the traditional food that many people all over the country and all over the world enjoy. Celebrating with Turkey is always a must. I always cook some steak because, of course, I’m from Texas. We start on Christmas morning with all the excitement that most homes experience. The kids are always looking for presents and can’t wait to tear into them. Then we have a nice Christmas dinner that we enjoy with a couple of neighbors that will come over, namely Janet and Keith Stegall (my producer) who live across the street from me. 

What was the most memorable or funniest moment from recording this album with your family? Was there a moment when things got a little chaotic?

I was really impressed with how comfortable all of the kids were in the studio, even though they’ve never recorded in a studio before. They really understood what they wanted to hear in their headphones and delivered beautifully with their voices. The funniest moment for me was standing beside my 13-year-old son Eli and he had his notes for singing his song “Please Come Home For Christmas” and at the top of his note sheet he wrote and I quote ‘no scooping or whining sounds like Dad’. I almost lost it laughing out loud. 

Southeast Texas has a strong sense of community and tradition. How do you think growing up in that part of Texas shaped the way you approach family, music, and the holidays?

It’s difficult to put into words how wonderfully different it is growing up in the great state of Texas and especially in southeast Texas. I’ve always said that people from southeast Texas ‘speak Texan’. In a more simple way of putting it, people from that area recognize other people from that area and less words are needed to get a point across. I would not trade growing up in southeast Texas for anything in the world. It has definitely shaped the way I view myself and the world and has defined how I write and sing music. There’s also a very strong sense of family and I see that all over the country, but especially in Southeast Texas. 

From Southeast Texas to Country Music Stardom

You received your first guitar from your father when you were nine. If you could sit down with that young boy in Vidor today, what would you tell him about where music would take him?

I still remember my first guitar my dad ever got me. It was a very cheap Catalina guitar. It hurt my fingers and made them bleed but I understand that he knew that if I had to fight through that cheap guitar and the pain, that I would probably make it. So for that, I’m very grateful.

Texas has produced so many influential country artists. What do you think makes Texas country music and the people who grow up around it so distinctive?

I have seen so much talent in the state of Texas. Growing up there I saw people who were way more talented than I am and also seeing people who never got the chance to make it that probably deserved it. I think that making it in this business has so many elements and not the least of which is talent, but there has to be a team around you that helps you get there.

What has it been like watching your children discover their own musical personalities? Do you see parts of yourself in any of them when they perform?

Watching my family excel in their talent is super rewarding. I’d like to believe that watching me over the years in different aspects of the business, including stage performance, has given them confidence that they could do it too. I do see some of my better attributes in each one of them. When they perform, I think mostly what I see is confidence and that comes from a deep place inside and it’s imperative that you have it.

Family First: Life Beyond the Spotlight 

Between recording, touring and raising a family, life can get busy quickly. How do you and Jessica protect family time when your schedule gets demanding?

My wife has done an incredible job in keeping things sane in our household. I’m a tough person to corral and she’s exactly the opposite. She keeps things balanced and demands that we have dinner together as a family every evening when we’re home. I cherish that time for so many reasons, but mostly because we are sitting down as a complete family. 

When your children look back on this season of life years from now, what do you hope they remember most about making this album together?

I think that years from now when the kids look back at making this album together and touring to support it, they will realize how big of an influence it had on their lives and I hope that they get to play this album for their own children and see their reactions to it. One of the things I am looking forward to as we tour together, is the kids getting to see the joy that they bring to other people as they perform these songs on stage. 

Your music has been part of people’s lives for more than 30 years. What is it like knowing that you may now be creating Christmas memories for an entirely new generation of fans?

This touring season is going to be very different for the obvious reasons that we are adding a huge Christmas show or should I say incorporating a huge Christmas show into our normal performance. I’m looking forward to helping people kick off their Christmas season with the songs, the performances, and all of the enhancements to the stage like the video wall, as well as giving out presents to kids, free stuff, and really cool Christmas merchandise. Overall, it is going to be a wholesome family Christmas experience for the family to come out. 

Clay Walker on Life, Legacy, and What’s Next 

You have navigated significant personal challenges while continuing to perform and raise a family. Has your understanding of what matters most in life changed over the years?

Most of my fans know that I have battled MS for years and it’s always been challenging. At this stage of my life, I’ve learned how to navigate it pretty well, but it never is easy. Having MS most of my career has really helped me put things into perspective, prioritizing my family above everything and believing in God as the one who is in control, which brings a lot of peace. 

Do you approach making music differently now than you did when you were first starting out in the early 1990s?

The difference for me making music now versus making music in my early 20s is that I can make more decisive selections on the songs that I’m going to record and I feel like I have a better understanding of what really works. I have a new studio album that will be coming out next year and I think lifelong fans are going to find it to be the best record I’ve ever made. It has a lot of the great flavors that propelled me through the early years of my career and the flavors that people have shown that they love by their downloads or streams.

You’ve spent much of your career singing songs that become part of people’s personal stories. What does it mean to you when a fan tells you that one of your songs has been part of a major moment in their life?

This is the part of my career that brings the most joy when I know that I’ve recorded a song that helps people through a tough time or a song that just brings so much joy into their life that they have no words to express it. I love watching people sing the songs live in concerts and just see the joy on their face as they relive memories that they’ve made with each song. That is why we do it. 

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Cover Photo Jeff Fasano.

Emily Hord is the Assistant Editor of Texas Lifestyle Magazine and a native Texan. She graduated from Texas A&M University, and in her free time she enjoys going to see live music and spending time with her friends and family.