Personnel: David Archuleta (background vocals); Jeff Archuleta (vocals); John Lee Hancock (guitar, synthesizer, programming); Michael Dowdle , Scott Wiley, Rich Dixon (guitar); Emanuel Kiriakou (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, keyboards, percussion, programming); Lysa Rytting (harp); Jim Hardy (cello); Jeff Bova (strings); Daron Bradford (woodwinds); Doug Petty (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, keyboards); Richard Parkinson, Kurt Bestor, Sam Cardon (piano, synthesizer, programming); Jimi Englund, Todd Sorensen (drums, percussion); Dorian Crozier (drums); David Osmond, Jenny Frogley (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Mike Roskelley; Michael Greene; Pat Thrall; Scott Wiley.

Recording information: Counterpoint Studios, Salt Lake City, UT; Rotosonic Sound, Salt Lake City, UT; Smecky Studios, Prague Czech Republic; Studio E, Chalice Recording, Los Angeles, CA; Tritone Studios, Salt Lake City, UT.

Editors: Scott Albert Johnson; Craig Miner.

Photographer: Jason Imber.

Translator: Stana Vomachova.

Arrangers: Doug Petty; Richard Parkinson; Emanuel Kiriakou; John Lee Hancock ; Jeff Archuleta; Kurt Bestor; Sam Cardon.

David Archuleta's anachronistic jazz-pop vocals sufficiently charmed the AMERICAN IDOL watching world in 2008 that the teen singer made it to the final two. Fittingly, he wastes no time to release his first holiday celebrating LP one year later, a comfortable collection of (mostly) well-traveled standards. Archuleta joins forces with another youthful pop singer, as Filipino internet sensation Charice Pampengco adds her voice to the ever-duet-ready classic "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

In a sense, David Archuleta should have skipped his awkward contemporary pop album and jumped right into Christmas from the Heart: he was born to slickly sing sentimental standards, which is all he does here. Apart from one song sung in Spanish and "Ava Maria," in Latin, there are no surprises here either in song selection or execution, but Archuleta is comfortable in such a familiar setting, singing in a friendly, eager-to-please fashion that will win him no new fans but will surely please all the old ones, especially those who loved him on American Idol and wondered why there were so many drum loops on his 2008 debut. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine