'James Taylor At Christmas,' At Last

James Taylor has won five Grammy Awards and sold more than 40 million albums, but it took him until now to put out a Christmas CD.

The legendary singer/songwriter put some of his favorite holiday songs in the album "At Christmas.

"It was a long time in coming," Taylor admitted to Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Friday. "Actually, there had been, over the years, from record company and other quarters, there had been a lot of interest in doing a Christmas album. You know, it just fell into place."

Taylor told Smith, a longtime, ardent fan, the album has "songs I've been living with for a long time that I've always been around, you know, every year. And you get to -- in a way you get to know them. By listening to them, you get to sort of try them on, and it wasn't a difficult stretch, really, picking them and arranging them and then doing it."

"At Christmas" includes secular songs, Smith pointed out, such as "a bluesy 'Jingle Bells,' but there's also a gorgeous version of Joni Mitchell's 'River.' Man, you do it justice!"

"It's a lovely tune," Taylor replied. "It's sort of a sad Christmas song, like 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Smith told Taylor the album brought tears to his eyes.

"One of the things that struck me," Smith later observed, " … is that your voice is still so clear. It sounds as beautiful as it's ever sounded."

"Well," Taylor said, "I think a lot of it is luck, and also the material that I sing is not abusive. It didn't tear up your throat. It's not like shouting at a football game or something. It's musically sort of sustaining.

"You know, you also have to keep fit and keep your instrument in shape, and, you know, I take my lead from people like Tony Bennett or Ray Charles or Ernest Tubb or people who've been around for a long time, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, people who sang right through, right until the end."