PictureThe Christmas Jug Band performing in San Rafael in 2010.

Local music fans and patrons of the old Sweetwater have a pair of chances to take a holiday-oriented trip in the wayback machine this weekend.

The Christmas Jug Band, the “irreverent crew of stalwart purveyors of the jugabilly mystique” that started as the Monday Night Wild Turkey Jug Band in Mill Valley in the mid-1970s at venues like the Old Mill Tavern and the old Sweetwater, is playing shows at the Sweetwater Music Hall on Friday and Saturday.

The band, whose ever-evolving lineup over the years has included local legends like Dan Hicks and Austin DeLone, is a “seasonal assemblage of misfits of Commander Cody alumni and others from notable Bay Area musical aggregations such as Those Darn Accordions, The Moonlighters, Jesse Colin Young, and Elvis Costello.”

“What started as Wild Turkey-inspired momentary lapse of sanity is now five albums (over 25,000 sold) and 35 years of fruitcakes later, an unconventional tradition of highly skewed merriment,” according to the group’s website.

The 411: The Christmas Jug Band performs Friday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21  at 8 p.m. Friday tix are $24 and $15 for anyone under 12 or over 65. Saturday tix are $24. Click here for more info or to buy tickets.


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