If you’re still searching for ways to ramp up your ho-ho-ho three weeks before Christmas, check out Tucson Opry’s idea for holiday bliss.
Beloved pickers Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin are back at the mic to host, crack a few jokes, tell a few stories and sing holiday tunes with nationally celebrated bluegrass singer-songwriter/fiddler Laurie Lewis and the legendary pedal steel guru Jon Graboff for “Tucson Opry: The Holiday Edition” on Saturday, Dec. 10.
Also on the variety show lineup at the Hotel Congress Plaza: Award-winning Tucson bilingual poet Logan Phillips, Davis Elementary’s Mariachi Las Aguilitas de Davis and the Tucson Opry Players house band — Arthur Vint, Matt Mitchell, Nick Coventry, Colin McIlraith and Marco Rosano. Representatives from Mission Garden, a living agricultural museum dedicated to preserving and reviving the region’s rich agricultural heritage through its community gardens program, will be on hand to talk about their mission.
“The variety format is something a bit new here where you don’t just get to hear two good acts, you get to hear four or five,” said Susan Holden of Rhythm & Roots, who teamed up with Hotel Congress entertainment manager David Slutes and Brashear to create Tucson Opry. “It’s just a feel good experience and we want this to feel good in a lot of ways — on a talent level, on a community level and on a diversity level.”
The holiday show comes seven months after Tucson Opry debuted at Hotel Congress last May.
“We had a full house on the plaza and the show went really well,” said Slutes, who described Tucson Opry as the convergence of the Grand Ole Opry and Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” “People were engaged and it was a lot of fun. ... I think we’re onto something.”
Holden said the goal is to do three shows a year, spotlighting local country music talent alongside nationally-known artists. The hope is to show a different side to country music that is often overshadowed by the glitz of Nashville.
“There’s just so much more to country music these days than what you hear on the top 10 radio charts,” she said, adding that she hopes to feature country artists of color at future shows including a rodeo show next February with female country singers.
A little about Saturday’s show:
Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin return to host “Tucson Opry: Holiday Edition” on Saturday, Dec. 10, at Hotel Congress.
Hosts: Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin have a musical relationship going back three decades. Brashear, a former Tucsonan who now lives in Massachusetts, and McLaughlin, a National Flatpicking Guitar Champion who has called Tucson home since the mid-1970s, were founding members of the bluegrass band Perfect Strangers.
Headliners: Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and fiddler Laurie Lewis draws influence from bluegrass and old-time country to Tin Pan Alley, jazz and early rock ‘n roll. Jon Graboff earned the moniker “pedal steel guru” from years of working for everyone from Ryan Adams to Willie Nelson, David Byrne, Carrie Underwood and Yo La Tengo. For Saturday’s show, he’s bringing his “Buck Owens meets Phil Spector” country and pop influenced holiday instrumentals.
Hometown talent: Davis Elementary’s Mariachi Las Aguilitas de Davis is comprised of Davis students in first through fifth grades who perform throughout the community. Poet Logan Phillips, whose resume includes cultural worker, DJ, teacher and author, recently won a 2021 Academy of America Poets Prize.
Saturday’s all-ages show begins at 6 p.m. at the Hotel Congress Plaza Stage, 311 E. Congress St. Tickets are $25 in advance through hotelcongress.com.
