One of Long Island’s own will be back spreading holiday cheer this year when legendary guitarist Brian Setzer and the Brian Setzer Orchestra hit the road this fall with the 12th Annual Christmas Rocks Tour.
Setzer, a Massapequa native, and Co. will make a local stop on Sunday, Nov. 29 at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury.
Their 12th annual tour will feature music off the new album, “Rockin’ Rudolph,” due out Friday, Oct. 16, plus music their three previous best-selling holiday albums; and some of Setzer’s original material.
“It’s always exciting to add new songs,” Setzer said in a press release about the set list. “I’m thinking about opening with ‘Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.’ We have never done that one before.”
Produced by Peter Collins, who has also worked with the likes of Rush, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, and recorded in both Nashville, Tenn. and Hollywood, Calif., the 12-track new release will include highlights such as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Yabba-Dabba Yuletide,” and “Rockabilly Rudolph,” among other notable Christmas classic tunes.
Setzer is a three-time Grammy award-winner and is often credited with resurrecting two genres of music; rockabilly in the ‘80s with his breakthrough band The Stray Cats, and swing in the ‘90s as a solo artist. Along the way he has scored chart-topping hits, sold 13 million records and received the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Consistently cited as one of the world’s greatest living guitarists, Setzer has a successful line of Gretsch signature model guitars bearing his name and appeared in the 1987 film, La Bamba, portraying rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran.
In 2002, he earned the privilege of being one of the few musicians to be animated in an episode of “The Simpsons,” alongside Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Tom Petty. That same year, Setzer was personally requested to induct Chet Atkins into the 17th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2014, Setzer was asked by the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. to donate a replica of his original 1959 Gretsch 6120 “Stray Cat” guitar, joining an elite collection of musical instruments at the museum including Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet and John Coltrane’s saxophone.
The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Tour at the on Sunday, November 29th at 7 p.m.
Tickets for show on November 29 are on sale now and range in price from $129.50, $39.50 and $29.50 and are available online at www.ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000 or at the Westbury box office.
