with Chad Rex, Kristie Stremel, Mark Stuart, John Stubblefield and Howard Iceberg. Friday, December 22, at the Hurricane.
Gathering a bunch of blue-collar songwriters together for a show billed as "An Acoustic Christmas" can mean one of three things: (1) a bunch of grandma-pleasing anthems in the vein of "Silent Night," (2) an uproarious evening of actual classics such as Weird Al Yankovic's "The Night Santa Went Crazy," or (3) no one playing any Christmas songs because they were too hung over to learn 'em. Then again, if a pill-popping Johnny Cash could upchuck four albums of timeless Christmas hits, who's to say a sober and focused Chad Rex can't do the same? The versatile songsmith will be joined by Kristie Stremel, MarkStuart (of San Diego's red-dirt country act the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash), JohnStubblefield (of the Gaslights) and the always entertaining HowardIceberg. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and a late show follows with Arthur Dodge and the Horsefeathers and In the Pines.