Just in time for the holidays, Steve Wariner and SelecTone Records will make his <em>Guitar Christmas</em> album, available October 12. Originally released in 2003, the instrumental collection of Christmas standards arranged, recorded, and produced by Wariner was previously available only through his Web site. Allegro Media Group, one of the largest independent distributors of music in North America, will handle distribution for this project.

"I absolutely loved recording this album," Wariner says. "The initial idea came about as I was thinking of the wonderful gatherings that Chet Atkins would host in his office around the holidays. Everyone would sing and play and remember those beautiful melodies from our childhood.

"I wanted the album to convey the warmth and intimacy of those picking parties, so the listener will feel as if I’m sitting in their living room playing for them. That’s the reason I left some imperfections in there, because I wanted it to be real."

Among the holiday standards included on the CD are "White Christmas," "Silent Night," "Winter Wonderland" and "The Christmas Song." Wariner, who was born on Christmas Day, previously released one Christmas album on MCA Records, but this is his first all-instrumental holiday collection.

A Grammy-winning guitarist, Wariner played several different guitars on the CD, matching certain guitars with particular songs and musical styles to create a broad landscape of aural textures and colors. Among the guitars he used are a handmade Hascal Haile classical guitar, the Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman model (1989), which had belonged to Chet, an Olympia dulcimer, a Tacoma Papoose, and Wariner’s own model Takamine acoustic guitar. The package includes Wariner’s notes on the guitars selected for each track. He also created the CD cover artwork.