Straight No Chaser, who got their start at Indiana University, are having a very busy and productive 2024, with three tours that are giving the nine-member a cappella group plenty of musical variety. 

Plus, they recorded and released 90s Proof. 

The group kicked things off by bringing back their yacht rock-themed show for a spring tour. Then came a more extensive trek in the summer billed as Straight No Chaser’s Summer: The 90s Tour. 

Now comes Straight No Chaser’s annual holiday tour, which stops at Embassy Theatre on Friday, Dec. 20, and features selections from the group’s deep catalog of Christmas songs mixed with non-holiday material.

“It is kind of the bread and butter,” singer Walter Chase said of the holiday tour. “So, you want to put your best foot forward.”

Making preparations

There’s plenty of planning, preparation, and rehearsals go into each year’s holiday tour, which draws generations of families that have made seeing the show part of their holiday traditions.

Things usually start with the song arrangers in the group, with help from Straight No Chaser’s content director, putting together a setlist. They identify songs that have worked on past tours and sometimes write new songs or change arrangements to existing songs — all with the goal of making at least half of each year’s show new.

A good deal of work also goes into the choreography, which is headed by Jill Hilliard.

“She knows us better than anyone, how to make us look great as guys in their 30s and 40s that are dancing,” Chase said.

The group’s lighting and sound directors also get busy well ahead of the holiday tour, going over the setlist, demos for the songs and the group’s ideas for how the show should look. This all leads up to production rehearsals.

“We always go to the city that we start in first and just hole up for six or seven days and learn the music and learn the choreography, put it together and do our dress rehearsals before we get out there and do it (for real) for the first time,” Chase said.

And once the tour starts, there’s usually additional tinkering to be done.

“Generally, it takes a couple of shows for us to really figure out which songs are hitting and kind of shifting around: ‘Maybe this song should be second instead of seventh.’ or ‘This holiday song maybe should be in the encore after ‘12 Days (of Christmas),’ ” Chase said. “So, even after all these years of doing this (tour) and preparing, it’s really getting in front of the audience for the first time, figuring out if it’s going to work.”

Ghost of Christmas past

The group’s wacky rendition of the aforementioned “The 12 Days of Christmas” is actually why Straight No Chaser exist.

The original 10 singers formed the group in 1996 while attending Indiana University. When the original members graduated, they moved, never expecting Straight No Chaser would be a part of their lives again.

The unlikely return of the a cappella group stemmed from a 10th anniversary reunion of the original collegiate group in 2006. To generate enthusiasm, bass singer Randy Stine made DVDs of a 1998 Straight No Chaser concert and posted a performance of “The 12 Days of Christmas” to YouTube. The clip went viral and became 2007’s most viewed video. 

It caught the attention of Craig Kallman, chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records, who tracked down Stine and signed the group to a record deal.

Thinking Christmas music was the perfect introduction to the group, Kallman and Atlantic Records had the group debut with the 2008 Christmas album Holiday Spirits. 

It was an immediate hit. 

Since then, the group have released four holiday albums, six full-length albums and four EPs.

Filling big shoes

Over the years, several singers have left the group, each replaced by members of later lineups from the college ensemble. 

Today’s Straight No Chaser has nine members — Chase, Seggie Isho, Steve Morgan, Tyler Trepp, Jerome Collins, Michael Luginbill, Jasper Smith, Freedom Young, and Luke Bob Robinson.

The latest change happened before this year’s touring when bass singer Robinson replaced Stine, who left to devote more time to his family.

Chase said it’s been tough to lose one of the original group members, but he likes what Robinson brings to Straight No Chaser.

“He has just been an incredible addition with his stage presence and his professionalism and his ambition,” Chase said. “So, I could not be more excited for everyone to meet Luke Bob Robinson when we come to their town.”