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Don’t be afraid of getting the blues for Christmas from Uncle Wiggly

IN CONCERT What : Uncle Wiggly’s Tribute to the Blues Songs of Christmas When : Friday, 7:30 p.m. Where : Charlie White Theatre, 2243 Beacon Ave., Sidney Tickets : $24 at the Mary Winspear box office, tickets.marywinspear.
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Uncle Wiggly's Hot Shoes Blues Band, including Hank Leonhardt, third from the left.

IN CONCERT
What: Uncle Wiggly’s Tribute to the Blues Songs of Christmas
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Charlie White Theatre, 2243 Beacon Ave., Sidney
Tickets: $24 at the Mary Winspear box office, tickets.marywinspear.ca, or by phone at 250-656-0275
Note: The show is also being held Sunday at Duncan United Church and Dec. 15 at Hermann’s Jazz Club

Some of the most memorable Christmas songs — be it Bing Crosby’s White Christmas or Dean Martin’s Let it Snow — have little to do with the blues.

In fact, short of Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers’ Merry Christmas Baby and Charles Brown’s Please Come Home for Christmas, the canon of popular Christmas songs is almost entirely devoid of traditional blues songs.

Hank Lionhart, of local group Uncle Wiggly’s Hot Shoes Blues Band, is doing his best to swing the pendulum back in the direction of what was once among the most popular musical forms. Uncle Wiggly’s Tribute to the Blues Songs of Christmas is on tap for three upcoming performances.

In addition to shows on Friday in Sidney and Sunday in Duncan, the tribute will be at Hermann’s Jazz Club in Victoria on Dec. 15.

The shows are Lionhart’s bid to introduce lost classics into the Christmas conversation.

“The one thing we hear from everybody that comes to the show is: ‘Man, I didn’t know what to expect, but this is the most refreshing Christmas show I’ve ever seen,’ ” he said.

“They come in thinking they are going to hear a blues band play Silent Night, but that’s not the case.”

Lionhart hatched the idea for the project when he was living in Edmonton and singing with the band Fistful of Blues.

He convinced the band to learn a set of Christmas blues songs., which went over well with the audience.

Though it was started as a one-off enterprise, his tribute became an annual event seven years ago. The more word spread about what he was doing, the more Lionhart kept hearing about the uniqueness of the event he was planning.

“You go to kids’ Christmas concerts, and then you go to the adult Christmas shows, and 90 per cent of them are playing the same songs,” he said.

“You would see a blues band in a bar and they might do one or two Christmas songs, but there was nobody doing two hours of solid Christmas blues.”

Seasonal material from the 1920s through the 1960s by Louis Jordan, Etta James, Asleep at the Wheel, Big Joe Turner, Eric Clapton and “the Three Kings,” as Lionhart calls them — Freddie King, Albert King, and B.B. King — will bring an air of quality to the proceedings.

And with an expert collection of musicians (trombonist Randy Oxford, trumpeter Bryn Badel, drummer Andy Graffitti, bassist Lonnie Glass, guitarist Mark Comerford, saxophonist Wayne Kozak, and keyboardist Steve Ranta), Lionhart feels he’s offering a show of quality that is well above the average at this time of year.

He took the show back to Alberta for the first time in years two weeks ago, a four-gig itinerary that included one in his hometown of Stettler.

Seven years into its run, Uncle Wiggly’s Tribute to the Blues Songs of Christmas appears to have no expiry date, as Lionhart has collected a vault of Christmas songs in the key of blue during his 55-year career.

“Google ‘blues Christmas’ and you’ll see a lot of really amazing stuff come up,” he said. “Each year, we change it up and add a few new tunes.”

mdevlin@timescolonist.com