A holiday loop has historically played in Critter Country. The earliest I have found concrete evidence for the loop is from Christmas season in 2000, in which a home video shows that the exterior of the Country Bear Jamboree (CBJ) is silent but the interior CBJ queue plays a few upbeat holiday tracks. These same tracks can be heard on a recording or possible reel transfer of unknown vintage. That recording runs 35:27 with 14 tracks, and is usually labeled along the lines of “Critter Country Christmas BGM”.
Based on a reference recording by pixelated in 2008, the most recent iteration runs 29:52 and omits “Jingling Brass,” “Christmas Cheer,” and “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.” The loop replaces the queue loop for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
The loop has previously been discussed several times here in the forums:
The most complete tracklist was posted by IHeartGaming in **Re: Disneyland Resort Christmas Loops 3.0.**
Also see Re: Critter Country Christmas BGM - unknown tracks identified
and Re: The DL Christmas Loop Thread
It is likely that this loop was introduced around the same time that the Country Bear Christmas Special debuted in Winter of 1984 given that some of the source albums were released in 1983.
With the great resourcefulness of IHeartGaming and pixelated, we have managed to pin down the vinyl albums that these tracks were sourced from, as well as their digital counterparts for 13/14 tracks. All tracks were verified with their vinyl and digital counterparts unless otherwise specified. A complete tracklist, with sources, is as follows.
Gary Parker tracks as referenced below can be downloaded here.
(AKA Country Bear Jamboree Christmas Special Queue BGM)
Loop length ~35:19.326
Note, this track was released on CD several years ago, and digitally by the same name. The CD has substantial noise reduction that degrades the track’s listening quality, but the digital release avoids this. Loop playback rate was 1.010x the digital source track. 2. Christmas Cheer - Charlie McCoy - Christmas (Monument, ZX 33176) [1974]
Note, this track was released digitally by the same name. Track fades at 01:54.466 and ends abruptly at 01:55.928 in loop, after two bars of “Carol of the Bells”. Loop playback rate was 0.990x the digital source track. Digital track timing deviates slightly from vinyl but returns to normal by end of track. 3. Jolly Old St. Nicholas - Chet Atkins - Christmas with Chet Atkins (RCA Victor, LPM-2423) [1961]
Note, this track was released digitally as Jolly Old St. Nicholas (1976 Version), which has the non-guitar instruments mixed down significantly compared to the alternative modern release. Loop playback was 1.012x the digital source track. Vocal portion removed from 0:49.152-1:14.039. 4. Upon the Housetop - Gary Parker & His Studio Sidemen - Country Christmas With Nashville Musicians (Halo Records, HALO 1008) [Unknown, likely 1970s]
Note, this track was released digitally as “Up on the Housetop” by The Fun Street Gang on the album Frosty and the Fun Street Gang (1979). The track is audibly identical to the version released by Gary Parker on his now-defunct website, albeit sped up significantly. The first several seconds of the digital track involve dialogue which also obscures the first ~4 seconds of the music, which is unobscured starting at 0:58.586 (I replaced the first few seconds with the lower-bitrate version from Gary Parker’s site). Loop playback rate is 0.743 of the digital source track. Using the Fun Street Gang version, edited to include 0:58.586 -1:37.541, 1:55.121-end with fade out around 2:10.777. 5. Jingle Bells - Charlie McCoy - Christmas (Monument, ZX 33176) [1974]
Note, this track was released digitally by the same title. The first 59 seconds of the source track featuring Charlie McCoy's introduction to the album were removed. Edited to include 0:59.227-2:02.649, 2:33.490-3:34.700, and 4:02.609-end. Loop playback rate is 1.005x the digital source track. 6. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful - John Fahey - Christmas Guitar, Volume One (Varrick, VR-002) [1982]
Note, I was unable to check this specific album on vinyl, although I was able to verify that this track is not the same as the one on “The New Possibility.” This track was released digitally by the same title on the album “Christmas Guitar” by John Fahey. Loop playback rate is 1.011x the digital source track. 7. White Christmas - Charlie McCoy - Christmas (Monument, ZX 33176) [1974]
Note, this track was released digitally by the same title. Loop playback rate is 1.003x the digital source track. 8. Medley: Christmas Time's a-Comin'/Rudolph the Red-Noes Reindeer - John Fahey - Popular Songs Of Christmas & New Year's (Varrick, VR-012) [1983]
Note, this track was released digitally by the same title on the album “Christmas Guitar” by John Fahey. Loop playback is 1.007x the digital source track.