Mannheim Steamroller - A Fresh Aire Christmas 1988 320v0 (Big Papi)

Beginning in 1984 Steamroller found its greatest fame. Davis released his first holiday album, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, featuring modern contemporary interpretations of Yuletide favorites. This was followed by A Fresh Aire Christmas (1988) and Christmas in the Aire (1995), which showcased creative approaches to old carols, as well as some new carol-like compositions. Steamroller had now become one of the most requested Christmas music artists of all time, in part by adopting a very radio-friendly approach. (In addition, their music was featured around Christmastime by Rush Limbaugh, whose conservative talk radio program was gaining popularity around this time.) By the end of 1997, they had released a live album of Christmas music, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Live. 2001 saw the release of their fourth all-new Christmas album, Christmas Extraordinaire. However, sales of Steamroller's third and fourth Christmas releases had dropped dramatically, falling far short of the massive sales of Christmas and A Fresh Aire Christmas. Christmas Celebration, a compilation of favorite tracks from the previous studio albums (with one new song), was released in 2004. The studio album Christmas Song was released in late 2007 and features guest vocals by Johnny Mathis and Olivia Newton-John. However, co-founder Jackson Berkey is absent from the lineup. 2008 saw the release of the CD "Christmasville." Their newest release is a 25th anniversary Christmas box set consisting of previously released material.