Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Country singer Linda Davis expects a close setting, acoustic setup and community outreach at a holiday concert Saturday to produce “a big ole love fest.”

Davis, family members Lang Scott and Hillary Scott, and Nashville, Tenn., guitarist Brent Rowan join forces for a Community Acoustic Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Priest Creek Ballroom at The Steamboat Grand.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. A portion of the ticket proceeds will go to LIFT-UP of Routt County. The nonprofit organization assists Routt County residents in need with programs including three food banks, a thrift store, rent assistance and utilities assistance.

Davis, Lang Scott and Hillary Scott will perform some of their Christmas favorites and will likely include hits from their individual careers. The show will be in an acoustic setting, with everyone taking turns talking with the audience and singing, Davis said.

“It’s just a natural thing, and that’s what makes it beautiful,” Davis said. “You let it breathe, and you let it be what it needs to be. And for the audience in the room it makes it uniquely special for that occasion.”

Rowan shared a similar sentiment in a November interview and said he and his friends hoped Saturday’s show would “feel like we’re in the den or the living room, passing around the guitar or the piano.”

Davis has been working in Nashville, Tenn., since 1982. She has released several full-length records, in addition to working with heavy-hitting country stars. She won a Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration with Reba Mc­­En­tire for the 1993 recording “Does He Love You.”

Lang Scott is a guitarist and president of the artist branding company Music City Networks. His performance Saturday will be a rare chance to see him play live, Davis said.

Hillary Scott plays with the contemporary country music trio Lady Antebellum. The band’s song “I Run to You” is up for two honors at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards. On Tuesday, “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum sat at No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart and No. 16 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

Along with Rowan’s three-decades-running career as a respected guitarist, vocalist and acoustic presence in the Music City, the family offers substantial experience in its performance. Still, Davis expects Saturday’s concert to be accessible and low-key.

“We’re not overly stiff or overly fancy people,” she said. “We just kind of come with our honest nature and our real down-home Southern feel, and that’s what we bring. It’s about the music; it’s about family and enjoying each other and hopefully conjuring up good memories through these songs.”

Advance tickets for the concert are available through Steam­boat Central Reservations at 970-879-0740 or 800-922-2722, www.steamboat.com, All That Jazz and the Travel Center at Steamboat at 1475 Pine Grove Road, Suite 205. Sundance at Fishcreek, The Steamboat Grand and Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. are sponsoring the concert.

— To reach Margaret Hair, call 871-4204 or e-mail mhair@steamboatpilot.com