Family ties: Tonic Sol-fa members reflect on being home for the holidays

"As soon as we finish one Christmas season in December," McGowan, a founding member of Tonic Sol-fa, explained, "we're back to the drawing board, come January."

Along with band mates Shaun Johnson, Greg Bannwarth and Jared Dove, he will be finishing Tonic Sol-fa's Christmas a cappella concert tour at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21 at the Orpheum Theatre. 

That will come in handy for McGowan, since Sioux City is also his hometown.

"We play a couple of dates after Christmas," he said, "but Sioux City is traditionally our last stop before Christmas."

This year's Tonic Sol-fa show will feature new spins on old favorites.

"Our audiences expect certain songs but we'll offer different arrangements," McGowan said, adding that "Jingle Bells" will be sung in a much more reflective, wistful manner. "A slight change in tempo can make a lot of difference."

Some things, though,  will never change.

"People always ask will we still have our plastic Santa or will we still be wearing tights," McGowan offered, mysteriously. "Our audience will just have to come to the show to see if either still made the cut."

McGowan's Tonic Sol-fa Shaun Johnson is equally elusive.

"One may be in and one may be out," the Algona, Iowa, native suggested in early November. "We haven't made the decision about our Sioux City show yet."

That's perhaps the only thing the group has left to chance. Johnson said the group tries to nail down its Christmas music list as early as spring.

"Some people prefer our regular musical selections while others prefer our Christmas numbers," he explained. "I think we'll have a bit of both at our holiday show."

With McGowan, Johnson founded Tonic Sol-fa when both were music students at St. John's University in the mid-1990s.

Over the past two decades, the group has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad.

Still, Johnson said there's no place he'd rather be than back in Iowa for the holidays.

"The holidays wouldn't be the holidays if we didn't come back to be with our families," he said.

That wasn't always the case when Johnson was younger.

"When I was a kid, we'd celebrate Christmas by visiting grandparents who lived on the West Coast or grandparents who lived on the East Coast," he remembered. "We spent more time traveling than being with our families."

This all changed when Johnson was 8.

"My dad finally put his foot down and said we'll just be spending Christmas in our own home in Algona," he recalled. "That's the way it has been ever since."

Johnson said this allowed his family to establish a few traditions of their own.

"My dad would always play his Dean Martin Christmas album while my mom would make her oyster stew," he said. "That was Christmas when I was a kid and that's the way it still is."

For McGowan, the holidays mean reconnecting with family.

"I'm the youngest of five kids and I now have five children myself," he said. "When all of the nieces and nephews get together, it's quite a group."

McGowan said music is what brings the family together.

"My children and their cousins love to sing and perform skits together," he noted.

Does that mean there will be a second generation of Tonic Sol-fa in the making?

"That would be awesome but I'll be happy with whatever profession my children choose for themselves," McGowan said.

Johnson said Christmas is a time for togetherness, but it's also about the gifts.

"I spent my entire childhood hoping to get a 'Star Wars' Millennium Falcon but never got one," he said. "I ended up getting one off eBay and giving it as a present to myself. I still love it."

McGowan said his favorite gift was a dump truck toy that picked up real rocks.

"I must've played with that toy all Christmas Day," he remembered.

As important as family is on the holidays, both McGowan and Johnson said Christmas is a good time to reconnect with their fans.

"We love going to meet and greets with people who've been supportive of Tonic Sol-fa through the years," McGowan said. "It's nice knowing that our show has become a holiday tradition for them."

Johnson is equally enthused seeing a few new faces every year.

"Christmas is a great time to start a few new family traditions," he said. "I'm glad when Tonic Sol-fa is a part of those new traditions."