The Tucson Opry: Holiday Edition!

Celebrate the season, Sonoran style! Doors at 5, houseband at 5:30, show at 6:00. $25 tickets here. 
Hotel Congress and Rhythm and Roots ring in the holiday season with “The Tucson Opry: Holiday Edition.” Hosted by Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin, the “opry style” variety show will take audiences on a journey of joyous holiday favorites and originals. Featured will be bluegrass singer-songwriter LAURIE LEWIS pedal steel guru Jon Graboff, Davis Elementary’s Mariachi Las Aguilitas de Davis, bilingual poet Logan Phillips, and community spotlight partner, Mission Gardens. The event takes place Saturday, December 10th on the Hotel Congress Plaza. Doors open at 5:00 pm and the music starts soon after. (preshow house band starts at 5:30)

HOSTS, Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin. Chris Brashear and Peter McLaughlin combine three decades of musical camaraderie with a love of the American southwest and “the Old Pueblo.” On stage or running rivers, hiking slot canyons or climbing desert mesas, these two Tucson trailblazers always add stellar picking and great songs to the journey.

LAURIE LEWIS. As an award-winning fiddler, teacher, producer and singer songwriter steeped in bluegrass tradition, Laurie’s songwriting and emotive voice demonstrate her ability to surpass the limitations of the bluegrass genre. Her works reflect her wide range of influences: from old time and country to Tin Pan Alley, jazz standards and early rock ‘n roll. Lewis has twice been named Female Vocalist of the Year and she won Song of the Year for her rendition of the now-standard “Who Will Watch the Home Place?” She has been nominated for several Grammys got her own projects and has been prominently featured on several Grammy-winning works and recordings.

Jon Graboff. Pedal steel guru and sideman on demand, Jon Graboff is bringing his “Buck Owens meets Phil Spector” country and pop influenced holiday instrumentals. Best known for his work recording with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Graboff has also recorded or toured with Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, David Byrne, Carrie Underwood, Joan Osborn, Yo La Tengo, Ben E. King, and many others.

Davis Elementary’s Mariachi Las Aguilitas de Davis is a performing Mariachi group made up of students from grades 1-5. The group plays in schools, nursing homes, for public functions and has had the honor of playing for leaders in our state and community. Members of are expected to maintain above average grades throughout the school year and serve as positive role models for other students at Davis  as well as in the community.

Tucson Opry Players.  The house band for the night includes Arthur Vint, Matt Mitchell, Nick Coventry, Colin McIlraith and Marco Rosano.

Logan Phillips, Poet, cultural worker, DJ, teacher and author. Phillips co-directed a youth-centered arts and social justice organization whose programs included the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona where his recent work won a 2021 Academy of America Poets Prize

Community Gardens. The community spotlight focuses on Southern Arizona’s Mission Garden, a living agricultural museum dedicated to the preservation and revival of  our regions rich agricultural heritage by growing garden plots representative of more than 4000 years of continuous cultivation in the Tucson Basin.