Sarah Conway Sings Her Way Into the Holiday Spirit

In some circles, Sarah Conway is known as “The Christmas Queen.”

But she wasn’t always.

Nearly 10 years ago, the Montauk-based musician stumbled across a great, relatively unknown Christmas song, and knew she had to sing it but didn’t know where.

She was already a fixture at the Lighting of the Lighthouse’s festivities — where she annually performs holiday classics — but this required a certain type of stage.

She found it at The Stephen Talkhouse.

On Saturday, December 16, Conway and her band, The Playful Souls, will return once again to the Amagansett venue for their annual “Revel in Your Spirits” Christmas show, featuring a mix of rock, country, blues and a dash of gospel — three weeks after her holiday debut at the Montauk Lighthouse on Saturday, November 25.

“Christmas means so much more to me since I’ve been doing these shows, delving into the music,” she said. “For all the songs that I actually pick for the show, I have listened to hundreds and hundreds of different Christmas songs.”

Conway’s holiday season technically begins in October, she said, when she dusts off her Christmas sheet music and starts reviewing the songs — even singing them. They transport her to a time of wonder and joy, with imagery of angels and elves, mistletoe and shining stars. “It’s really fun singing about the different aspects of it,” she said.

At the lighthouse, donning her now-famous bright red down jacket, Conway sings popular Christmas tunes — “Let It Snow,” “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” come immediately to mind, she said — a tradition since the lights first turned on in 2008.

“The first year, they said, ‘So, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna have live music, and we don’t know if there’s gonna be 100 or 1,000 people coming,’” Conway recalled. “And I think that four or five thousand people came the first year. It was completely mobbed. We’ve been doing it ever since.”

Inside The Talkhouse, the musician sheds a few layers and taps into the other side of her Christmas spirit for the “Revel in Your Spirits” Christmas concert, “which is a totally different show with a different energy,” she said.

Interspersing fun facts about the holiday — the history of mistletoe, how Christmas Island got its name, and what the “X” in “Xmas” means, for example — Conway sings tunes like “Run, Run Rudolph,” “Christmas in New Orleans,” “Christmas Must Be Tonight” and an original by bassist Klyph Black called “Santa’s Dilemma.”

Joining them on stage are Dan Koontz on keyboard, Bosco Michne on guitar, James Benard on drums, and a saxophone player.

“It’s legendary,” she said. “People come every year. It’s rock, country, blues — what I call it is ‘Gems of Christmas,’ songs that are less known. It’s fun, uplifting, and just a really unique and wonderful Christmas show that people come to and rave about, and have a great time.”

Conway expects the band to play several other concerts this winter season — and, after each show, she said her holiday feels more complete.

“Now, it really is Christmas for me, doing all of this,” she said. “And people who come to the Christmas show, that’s their annual getting-the-Christmas-spirit event. We bring the Christmas joy.”