It may only have been October, but the atmosphere in Nashville's Quonset Hut Studio on the 19th of that month, way back in 1958, was downright festive.

"We had a Christmas tree up and Christmas lights," recalls four-time GRAMMY nominee Brenda Lee 65 years later, of what would be a fortuitous recording session. "The lights were turned down low. It was wonderful."

Little did she know that one of three songs Lee would cut that day would go onto become an indelible Christmas classic. One of the most instantly-recognizable hits in the holiday music canon, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has only grown in popularity since its initial release.

Most recently, it vaulted to No. 1 status on the Billboard Hot 100 for the very first time, a record for the longest gap between a song's initial release and hitting No. 1. The milestone also minted Lee as the oldest recording artist to ever top the charts.

"It's honestly still surreal to me whenever I hear it on the radio," Lee told GRAMMY.com mere hours after the jolly news was announced. "It's hard to believe. Of all the songs, I could have never thought that I would have a Christmas standard. But I do, and I'm grateful."

Lee may have been only 13 years-old when she recorded the track, but she  was already a veteran singer by the time she hit her preteen years. After belting out songs weekly in church with a voice respectively husky and sweet, she quickly became a regional success and soon inked a deal with Decca Records.

"When it comes to my label, Decca, I don't have the words," Lee says. "They are the best. And the reason they are the best is that, to this day they don't forget who helped build the label. I'm a part of that, and I'm proud to be a part of that."

Along the way, she joined forces with Owen Bradley, a dynamo producer known for his stable of female singers.\
\
"He was such a songman," says Lee of the country music legend who is considered a chief architect of the Nashville rockabilly sound. "I don't know how he did it, but on his roster he had Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells and me; all the girls." Not that there was any competition: "I don't know how he traveled that road without us having a catfight," she adds, "but we didn't, and we all did well."

Another legendary force who took a liking to Lee was Johnny Marks, the songwriting giant behind classics like "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas." "One of the reasons I got 'Rockin'' was that Johnny said, "I want her to sing it. And if she won't do it, send it back to me.'"

Marks and Lee formed a friendship which would last for the rest of his life. "I used to talk to Johnny just about every day. He was precious. He'd get on the phone and here was his opening line from when I was 13 on was, 'Hi Brenda, it's Johnny! Just wanted to let you know there's not a lot of us older folks left!' I'm like, How old does he think I am?'"

For the "Rockin'" session, Bradley set up a session with a murderer's row of session players, also known as Nashville's A-Team. Among them was the seven-time GRAMMY nominee Floyd Cramer on piano (he'd later top the charts as a solo act with the melancholy piano tune "Last Date") and Hank Garland on the guitar (who can also be heard on the Bobby Helms classic "Jingle Bell Rock" as well as a bevy of Elvis records). Meanwhile, it was Boots Randolph, of "Yakety Sax" fame who ripped through on the song's iconic saxophone solo.

"They were the best of the best, and were like all my big brothers," remembers Lee. "With those guys, nothing was ever written. Whatever they played came from their heart, and that's what you hear in those records. We kept in touch and saw each other over the years, but most of them are not here with us anymore."

Bradley also recruited the Anita Kerr Singers for the back-up vocals which listeners hear right away crooning those carol-esque "Ahhs.". Headed by the three-time GRAMMY-winner Anita Kerr, the vocalists were staples on many of Bradley's productions including notable recordings for Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson and Perry Como.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was recorded live, on the spot. "Back then that was the way you did it," Lee says of the method, which amounted to a high-wire act. "I recorded that way until I retired. I never wanted to come in and overdub afterwards. I wanted everybody there." Along with "Rockin'," Lee also recorded the southern Christmas classic "Papa Noel" which boasts mile-a-minute lyrics about a New Orleans-style holiday.

Released the Monday before Thanksgiving in 1958, "Rockin'" was by no means a smash during its initial release; in fact, it barely made a blip. The song  didn't gain popular recognition until the early '60s, as Lee's non-seasonal discography began to grow — including songs like "I'm Sorry" and "Break It To Me Gently" and "Sweet Nothin's."

Lee vividly remembers the moment when the song solidified itself as a Christmas classic. "Somebody called me on the phone: 'Brenda, have you seen that new movie Home Alone?' she said. "I said, 'No, I have not.' They said, 'Your song is all over it.' And I said, ''What song?' And they said 'Rockin!' Well, that was the start of it."

In recent years everyone from Kacey Musgraves and Camila Cabelo to Justin Bieber have released their own rollicking covers. But it's Lee's version that has lasted the test of time. 2023 has not only seen "Rockin'" finally hit No. 1, but this year also saw Lee shoot her first-ever music video for the track.

"What can I say? I want to thank everybody out there who's as big a part of that song as I am," Lee marvels. "It's a testament to good family, good fans, good DJs, good publicist and the list goes on and on. Whenever anybody thinks it's just them, they're gonna look around the corner one day and they're not gonna have a career. You can't get heard if you're not played."

Jessi Colter's New Album Edge Of Forever Is Timeless In Every Sense Of The Word