Smoother than butter. 'Tis the season to fire up the Christmas carols. While Christmas music might not be everyone's cup of tea, we can all agree that a few songs get us in the holiday spirit. One of those songs for me is Dolly Parton's "Hard Candy Christmas." "Hard Candy Christmas" was recorded by the legendary singer in 1982 for her role in the movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and made an appearance in the top ten of the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Songs chart in 1983. If you've never seen the movie, Dolly was BRINGING it. https://twitter.com/NotablePhotos/status/1751072764377633152 It's a Christmas classic, although Parton does not consider it a Christmas tune. “It’s kind of funny that people think it’s a Christmas song, and it’s really not. It’s really just about people having hard times and saying, ‘It’s like a hard candy Christmas,’ like when you’re so poor that all you get for Christmas is a piece of hard candy.” While Parton did not pen the tune, Carol Hall wrote it; she related to the lyrics of not getting much other than a box of hard candy because you were living in poverty hit home. “In the early days we didn’t have electricity so we used to go out I the woods with my Dad in the afternoon, find the best tree that we could and we’d take it back in the house and decorate it with whatever Mamma could (find). Buttons and popcorn, anything that we could have which was great, those days were great. Momma would always tell Christmas stories, read the Bible, then we’d go out to the barn and they would tell us that at midnight the cattle would kneel, like in honor. But we never could stay awake long enough to see it. We could never see that happen. But we always had a little something…. It didn’t matter what we got… it was great for us.” While Dolly's version will always hold the number one spot in my heart, Zach Top covered the track last year, and it's pure country gold. Over the years, "Hard Candy Christmas" has been covered by a handful of artists, including Reba, Caylee Hammack, and more. However, the majority of covers have been by fellow female artists, so when Zach Top dropped his take on the song, my ears immediately perked up. Released as part of his For You For Christmas project, Top did Parton justice with this cover. The lyrics cut a little deeper coming from Top, who often sings about a broken or lonely heart. The soft melody is a change of pace from the honky tonk jukebox melodies we typically see from the Washington native, which allows his vocals to shine. "Hey, maybe I’ll buy some smokes Or Maybe I'll just lie low Maybe I'll hit the bars Maybe I'll count the stars until the dawn Me, I will go on Maybe I'll settle down Maybe I'll just leave town Maybe I'll have some fun Maybe I'll meet someone and make her mine Me, I'll be just..." Zach Top's smooth-as-silk vocals coat your ears, and during the entire song, listeners are dialed in. Since he released this cover, I have found myself reaching for it more than Dolly's version. It's that good. Zach Top does not miss, and this is a cover that Dolly Parton would approve of. If you like a sad Christmas song, fire up this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdEyIcBaJPs Without Dolly Parton's version of the song, we would not be able to enjoy this stellar cover, so listen to hers while you're here, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOzi-gD7-ts