Wichita theater favorite Steve Hitchcock releases Christmas album

Longtime Wichita performer Steve Hitchcock has released his first holiday album, “Merry Little Christmas.”

The five-song EP includes “Sleigh Ride,” “Christmas Time is Here,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” “The Man with the Bag” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

“Every song that I did really holds some kind of significance to me in terms of what the holiday really is,” Hitchcock said. “The more I thought about the music, I thought about telling a little bit of a loose story with it, that I don’t know if people necessarily will really pick up on.”

Working with guitarist Thor Bonner, Hitchcock said he felt like a special touch was added on two of the songs.

“On ‘Do You Hear What I Hear?’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ we got something that I feel is unique to both of us and something you don’t typically hear when it comes to those songs,” he said.

Recorded at Shocker Studios, the album features Bonner, Dacia Brown, Dan Chisham and Jason Whitmore and is engineered by Josh Cary.

“I’ve been tossing it around in my brain off and on for about 10 years,” Hitchcock said.

The album is available to stream or download on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, iTunes, TikTok and YouTube, or at stevehitchcock.com/merrylittlechristmas, where physical copies can be purchased.

Hitchcock will perform the songs during the Blitzen Bazaar holiday celebration at Wichita Children’s Theatre and Dance Center, 201 S. Lulu, from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.