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Blues Songs of Christmas with Big Hank and the King Pins
Friday, December 17, 2021 - 7:30PM
Big Hank has his “Ho Ho working” and the highly regarded, veteran bluesman and bandleader is certain “it’s going to work on you.”
Big Hank has been touring his Blues Songs of Christmas show for a number of years now and this unique, variety filled program of blues-basted Yuletide tunes is one that has left audiences drenched in the Christmas spirit and coming back for more when the next holiday season rolls around.
Touring from Vancouver Island to the snowbound prairies of Alberta, this Christmas show has consistently tied together a variety of classic blues styles, some r&b and a touch of soul. Blues Songs of Christmas is a show where every song puts a different spin on the season and everything that goes with “the most wonderful time of the year.”
He’s armed with a muscular voice, one that can be as warm as the hearth surrounding a well-stoked winter fire, and one that can alternately rattle the rafters and shake the snow off a 30 foot Christmas tree.
This refreshing take on holiday concerts finds the singer and his talented, veteran band rolling through music that includes tunes going back a century to Christmas blues tunes that have been favourites of the boomer generation that grew up listening to B.B. King and Eric Clapton.
Tunes from the books of Big Joe Turner, Charles Brown, Etta James and Louis Jordan also find their way into the festive mix that has received rave reviews.
It’s been quite the road for Big Hank who cut his teeth on the prairie cabaret circuit early on in his career. He immersed himself in the blues with two of the best blues bands to have come out of western Canada in the seventies and eighties, those being the Edmonton-based Hot Cottage and Victori’s Uncle Wiggly’s Hot Shoes Blues Band. The latter group signed with RCA, sold an impressive number of albums and opened for the greats like Muddy Waters, Joe Cocker, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield and Koko Taylor.
His love of blues has also been the foundation of acts like The Toasters, A Fistful of Blues and The Kingpins that were also regional favourites.
The Kingpins are:
Big Hank Lionhart- vocals / Steve Cross-guitar / Mick Woodhouse-bass / Dennis Meneely-keys / Dave Babcock-sax
See of the previous concert halls and venues over the years:
Mary Winspear Charlie White Theatre - Victoria BC
Festival Place - Sherwood Park AB
The Old Bailey Theatre - Camrose AB
The King Eddy - Calgary AB
The Ironwood - Calgary AB
Performing Arts Centre - Stettler AB
Dream Cafe - Penticton BC
First United Church - Salmon Arm BC
Heritage Theatre - Gibsons BC
Horizon Stage - Spruce Grove AB
Vernon Jazz Club - Vernon BC
Hermann’s Jazz Club - Victoria BC
Alex Goolden Performance Hall - Victoria BC
Sid Williams Theatre - Courtney BC
Blue Frog Studios - White Rock BC
Some of the songs on the set list:
Lonesome Christmas Blues - Blind Blake
Cryin Christmas Tears - Eric Clapton
Please Come Home for Christmas - Charles Brown
Blue Decorations - BB King
I Told Santa - Fats Domino
Good Mornin Blues - Room Fun of Blues
Christmas Date Boogie - Big Joe Turner
Santa Claus Santa Claus - Louis Jordan
Christmas Comes But Once a Year - Amos Milburn
Everyday will be like a Holiday - William Bell
Please Let me be your Santa Claus - William Clarke
Merry Christmas Baby - Etta James
Plus a number of original songs