"Something similar is happening Friday at The Soapbox, when Johnny Irion – husband and musical partner of Sarah Lee Guthrie, who's the daughter of Arlo and granddaughter of the late Woody – performs as part of an Americana extravaganza with Zeke Hutchins and Jay Brown of singer-songwriter Tift Merritt's band. (Hutchins, whose brother lives in Wilmington, is Merritt's husband.) Headlining the bill is acclaimed Raleigh-based bluegrass act Chatham County Line.
"Zeke and Jay have played on all of my records and Chatham County Line has played on most of them," Irion said during a phone interview from The Berkshires in western Massachusetts, where he now lives. "I feel real lucky to still have that connection."
It's all part of a four-date regional tour of holiday shows. Irion will open with a solo set, followed by a few songs with Hutchins and Brown; an acoustic set by CCL; and then a more rocked-out finale where everyone will join together. It'll be the first time the gang's all been together in about three Christmases, Irion said: "We started doing this in like 1999 or 2000. I would come up from Columbia, (S.C.), where I was living at the time, and every Christmas we would do a couple of shows and either record or do jam sessions in the Triangle … It was always a challenge to be ready for that, like, a whole year has passed and what have you learned? And can you hang?"