Arkansas-reared, avant-roots/RnR raconteur Tav Falco is set to make the holidays merry with his first collection of Christmas standards, A Tav Falco Christmas. A fixture on the international music scene since 1981, Falco has been described by The New York Times as “A singer, guitarist and researcher of musical arcana who hasn’t let his increasingly technical expertise and idiomatic mastery compromise the clarity of his vision.” At the start of a scorching hot July in Memphis this year, Falco and his distinguished group of American/Euro vagabonds ensconced themselves at Sam Phillips Recording Service studios in Memphis. The lineup includes bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, the Stooges), guitarist Mario Monterosso, and drummer Toby Dammit (currently the touring keyboardist in Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds).