Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas

Last year, Patty Loveless released the Appala-chian ”Mountain Soul,” which — post-”O Brother” — seems less a side project and more a viable career turn. Sticking in that vein, her album, Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas, is one of the most rewarding country Christmases since Emmylou’s — even if it only gets cooking in its last third, when, carols completed, Loveless breaks out some smokin’ Smokey Mountain originals that are like brandy kept back till the kids are asleep.