Bluegrass Underground - The Tim O'Brien Band. (l-r) Dennis Crouch, Tim O'Brien and Bryan Sutton Photo by Collin Peterson Photography.

Bluegrass Underground - Kindling Stone. Photo by Collin Peterson Photography.

Bluegrass Underground - The Tim O'Brien Band. (l-r) Danny Barnes, Tim, Bryan Sutton. Photo by Collin Peterson Photography.

Bluegrass Underground - The Tim O'Brien Band. (l-r) Dennis Crouch and Tim O'Brien. Photo by Collin Peterson Photography.

Photos courtesy of Collin Peterson Photography.

Tim O’Brien’s recent holiday show at perhaps Tennessee’s most unique concert venue, Bluegrass Underground, will be aired Friday and Saturday (Dec. 26 and 27) on WSM 650 AM, XM/Sirius and various other local affiliates.

“I thought the band Tim brought was one of the best he has ever played with, with Danny Barnes, Dennis Crouch and Bryan Sutton,” said Nashville-based sound engineer Phil Harris, who Produced, Recorded, and Mixed O’Brien’s concert for broadcast.

Bluegrass Underground is taped live 333 feet below ground at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville Tenn., inside of what was named by the first people to behold the natural amphitheatre, The Volcano Room.

“Here water and time entwined 3.5 million years ago to create one of the most acoustically pure natural spaces on earth,” according to the venue’s Web site. “No man-made sound reaches the Volcano Room and the living rock hued amid the eons is jagged and uneven, providing limited echo.”

Concerts from the Bluegrass Underground are recorded and broadcast on WSM 650 on the last Friday night of each month from Midnight until 2:00am (central).

Harris said O’Brien performed Christmas tunes at the concert, including “Making Plans,” a Tim O’Brien original that Harris requested.

“He might have played (the song) three or four times in the last 20 years, but he did this at my request. Thanks, Tim,” said Harris. “(It was) the first time he has ever played it with a band since he recorded it for Sugar Plums, the Sugar Hill Christmas Collection back in the 80’s. He wrote out the chart right before they took the stage.”

Tim O’Brien also shared some thoughts about Christmas during a short interview at the concert. Although his children are grown, O’Brien said they return back to the nest every year for Christmas.

“I stay home,” he said.

Tim O’Brien said Christmas holds different meanings for him.

“It’s about getting together,” he said. “Christmas just makes you feel better. … The spirit of giving is a wonderful one. It’s contagious. … The message of Christmas is love and peace.”

Phil Harris operates Battle Ridge Studios in Nolensville, Tenn.

(Photos courtesy of Collin Peterson Photography.)