Ben Rector Releases First Christmas Album 'A Ben Rector Christmas' (Exclusive)

After releasing his Thanksgiving song, Ben Rector just dropped his first Christmas album, A Ben Rector Christmas, on Nov. 13 and is excited for fans to hear it. While the world has been on "pause" due to the worldwide pandemic stemming from the coronavirus, Rector says it's because things have slowed down a bit that he was able to put the album together. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Rector detailed how much fun he had making it and gave a little insight into a few Christmas traditions he and his family share throughout the holiday season.

"I've wanted to make one for a long time, honestly; I just haven't had the bandwidth to do it until this year with everything being on pause. Christmas songs are so incredible, they've all stood the test of time and I think it's easy to overlook that, that's really just because they are fantastic," the 33-year-old singer explained. "I also love that style of singing, so I did it as much just for fun as for anything. Hopefully, people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!"

Although he's shining a light on Thanksgiving this year with the release of "The Thanksgiving Song," Christmas is still his favorite holiday — which only makes sense to make a Christmas album if that's the case. "I'd have to say Christmas, though I really do love Thanksgiving!" he confessed when asked which is his favorite. "It's tough to beat all of the Christmas traditions and the Christmas season, though. It really feels like something to always look forward to in an otherwise dreary time of year."

Naturally, Christmas songs become an annual tradition every year among millions of families everywhere, but with Thanksgiving being such a popular holiday itself, it's hard to imagine that Thanksgiving songs don't really exist. However, Rector stepped in this year to hopefully change that. "I realized I hadn't really heard any Thanksgiving music, which struck me as odd since — in America at least — it's probably more universal than Christmas," he explained when asked what was his inspiration to make a Thanksgiving song. "And Christmas has an entire genre of music. I decided to do my best to come up with what I thought a Thanksgiving song should be and try to tap into that shared experience that so many of us have."

Rector and his wife Hillary Rector just welcomed twins over the summer and now that they have a little family of their own, Christmas traditions are in the works. Due to the pandemic still being in play, the sweet pair will spend the holidays in Nashville, Tennessee, so how they choose to celebrate this year will be slightly different from in years past. "My family had a tradition of eating a dinner made up of mostly appetizers Christmas eve — nearly all cheese-based, now that I think about it — and honestly that was a pretty great tradition. We also all had to wait at the top of the stairs until my parents said we could come down and see what Santa had brought," the singer shared.

A Ben Rector Christmas was released on Nov. 13 and can be heard on various streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora. For more on Ben Rector, visit his website here.