Sunday evening, Americana country artist Kelly Willis returned to the Washington area, bringing to her DC fans the “Holiday Show” that she and her singer-songwriter husband Bruce Robison have been throwing to the delight of Austin music fans for over a decade. In Sunday’s Washington Examiner, Nancy Dunham dubbed it a “homecoming” for Willis, who spent a few of her high school years here in Annandale. She has been returning Alexandria to play the Birchmere since the early 1990’s when the venue was housed in more cramped quarters a few blocks down Mount Vernon Ave.
The Birchmere’s former space is now a Salvadoran cantina, and it felt like an classic honk tonk, a venue perfectly-suited for the hard driving country and rockabilly bands that backed up her early shows here. Along the walls outside the new concert hall, you can find a publicity poster from those early Nashville major label days, featuring Willis’ form head to toe, topped crimped tresses that the PR hacks demanded Willis do up.
Willis has retrained a loyal following in DC as her music style as evolved over the years, and the crowd was eager to welcome her back. A few of her songs from the early 2000’s, when she recorded for the “adult Americana” Rykodisc label, are now clearly old favorites, drawing applause of recognition as the band fired up the first chords. Another pleasant update: in the Holiday Show, Willis played along with the band, strumming a mandolin. Years ago, Willis would stand alone, clutching the microphone as she belted out the vocals.
Willis no longer headlines, finally able to share the bill with her husband Robison. The show traded off tunes written or recorded by each, but some of the better tunes were those, like Willis’ minor alt.country hit “Wrapped,” that they were borne of their collaboration.
The “holiday” segment was judiciously understated. Christmas-themed tunes were sprinkled throughout the their regular set. “Santa Baby” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” featured Willis formidable vocals with a playful lilt set to jazzy snare drums and an organ. Pedal steel licks leavened the numbers with a subtle country flair.
Robison sang “Oklahoma Christmas,” a tune he penned recounting his awkward fit at the first holiday spent with Willis’ family. The song rivals Robert Earl Keen’s Americana holiday classic “Merry Christmas From the Family” in its affectionate send-up of mild Middle American familial dysfunction. Robison’s tribute to the rake of a grandfather he never met, “My Brother and Me,” was rendered more poignant when he sang these lines at a “Holiday Show:” “Most every year on Christmas Day/My dad and me go down where he lay.”
As the show wound to a close, Willis facetiously ordered the Birchmere’s staff to lock the doors. She was ready to inflict the obligatory family slideshow that every family gathering seems to require of attendees. No one seemed to mind; the audience was tickled by the montage of holiday antics over the years from Robison, Willis and their four telegenic kids.
Audiences in Austin, Texas have been treated to Bruce Robison’s and Kelly Willis’ Holiday Shows every Christmas time since 1999. Here’s hoping for many happy returns for Robison, Willis and their “Holiday Show” to the DC area in Christmases to come.
