Parksville's Zachary Stevenson is taking his new Christmas album on the road this December.

Best known for his award-winning performances in The Buddy Holly Story, the Ballenas Secondary School graduate is now based in Chicago.

鈥淚鈥檓 playing several songs off the record. They鈥檙e mostly in the rock and roll spirit sort of, almost like if Buddy Holly did make a Christmas record 鈥� I imagine it would sound like this,鈥� Stevenson said. 鈥淚 think it turned out really well. The aim was to have a kind of retro rock inspired holiday album with some unique twists and turns on it.鈥�

One of his favourite songs is a "surf noir" rendition of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'. Stevenson shifted the familiar classic into a minor key and likens his version to something you might hear in The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

"I just thought that song has always been kind of funny. Lyrically there鈥檚 no change," he said. 鈥淏ut you put the little minor key underneath it and it creates this whole foreboding sensation about Santa鈥檚 arrival."

Stevenson had fun experimenting with the chords and arrangement and figured it was something he would play live a few times. When he included it in a performance last year, the crowd "went nuts for it", much to his surprise, so he decided to include it in the 10-track album, titled Holly Jolly Christmas.

He recorded half the songs in a studio in Burnaby and the rest in Chicago.

鈥淭here鈥檚 something about making a Christmas record, I think, because it鈥檚 a joyful kind of experience," Stevenson said.

The album includes an original song by Stevenson called 'It's a Wonderful Life', which is based on some travel woes he and his wife experienced a few Christmases ago. 

"There were a lot of flight cancellations and everything. I had to readjust the plan, so it was sort of a semi-autobiographical song and a lot of people go through that at the holidays," he said.

Stevenson's band will be joined by the Chicago-based trio The Lovettes and their salute to the female icons and girl groups of the 鈥�50s and 鈥�60s.

鈥淭he Lovettes are a blast," he said. 鈥淢y wife Molly is a member of the Lovettes so that鈥檚 a huge bonus for me.鈥�

Interested in music from a young age, he took piano lessons in Qualicum Beach before taking on the saxophone in middle school and high school, where he also discovered a love for the theatre.

Entering high school, Stevenson was shy and hesitant to audition for the musical Oklahoma!, but his older sister encouraged him to give it a shot.

"I managed to get a role in it," he said. "I realized it was more fun than it was scary, to perform, and had a really good time."

He credits his band teacher Rick Robson as well as theatre teacher and Whalebone Theatre director Doug Campbell for inspiring his interest in performance.

"In my senior year I performed in Grease and that was my first stab at being a fifties rock 鈥檔鈥� roll guy and it obviously had a little bit of an impact on me," said Stevenson, who played Danny Zuko that year.

Holly Jolly Christmas is available on all music streaming platforms.

After he wraps up the B.C. tour, Stevenson will play some more shows in the U.S. and the Netherlands.