Jim Watson is a modest man. To hear him tell the story, he started singing some carols one night and everything else just fell into place. 

Others describe the story, and its importance, differently. 

One dark night, long ago, in a small and humble space, something out of the ordinary happened. It seemed like not much at the time, but has grown through the years and rooted itself into the community as real tradition. 

That night 20 years ago, Watson, a member of Robin and Linda Williams' Fine Group and one of the original Red Clay Ramblers, set down his guitar at The Cave and walked out among the beer drinkers to hand out sheets of music. On the sheets were lyrics. To Christmas carols. 

"It wasn't a huge crowd that year," Watson said, "and I think a lot of people were surprised when, after the first set, I started going around the bar asking people if they wanted to sing some carols and handing them the music. People would just sort of look at me and say, 'Well, yeah, sure.' And there were people who actually would sing along, around their sips of beer." 

There was only a handful of people that night. Nowadays, the annual Jim Watson sing-along event is filled "to the brink of capacity," said Mr. Mouse, owner of The Cave, with men, women and children. "It's fuller every single year." 

This year, The Cave experience will be even more welcoming to carolers -- the club recently became smoke free. 

"Back then, you would play three sets," Watson said. "That first year, I think I had the whole set to be Christmas songs, and the second set was the sing-along carols, and then the third set was some of my regular stuff, although I stayed away from the cheatin' songs and the murder ballads. It being Christmas and all." 

Now, it's all Christmas music. 

"A lot of the people leave after the Christmas carols," he said. "But my wife actually says she likes the third set best." 

The tradition has spread, not only through the town, but also to Hillsborough. This week, Jim will lead the carol sing-alongs at The Cave on Thursday night at 7:30 and 10. Then on Friday night at 8, he will perform in Hillsborough at the Masonic Lodge at 142 W. King St., in an event sponsored by the Arts Council. Tickets at the door are $7.50 for adults and $4.50 for children under 12. 

Watson's actions are said to be typical -- for him, anyway. 

"Jim is seriously a part of the community," said Meg Rose Sorrell, former owner of The Cave. "His whole family comes and his little nieces are in the corner leading rounds. It's really a sweet tradition. And it brings in lots of people I don't ordinarily see." 

A show like Watson's has been important for a town that is in a state of transition, said Sorrell, who still attends the events. 

"Chapel Hill really has changed," she said. "The little businesses are gone. People used to walk up and down the street and shop at Christmas time, but now the rents are sky high, and people just can't keep their stores open any more. So this is just a little space of tradition you can come back to year after year." 

Rooted in the past

Watson, a Durham native and Duke University history major, has his own traditions to uphold. 

"We pretty much just celebrated in the standard way," Watson said of his childhood Christmases. 

But his sister Patricia Bartlett describes it this way: 

"We had a very set pattern about celebrating Christmas when we were children, and much of it centered around church. We attended St. Philip's Episcopal Church and my father and brothers and I were all in choir. My father was sort of the stalwart of the bass section of the choir and Jim, Rick, and I were in Junior Choir. 

"Jim was the 'star' in that he had an absolutely lovely boy soprano voice and kept it for a long time. He was always the cantor, always got the solo parts, especially at Christmas." 

Sometime before Christmas, the church would have a service of lessons and carols. Bartlett said the family loved it because there was no sermon and they got to sing their favorite carols. 

"Our father went to the midnight service, leaving us behind," she said. "We tried to stay up until he came back, and usually were very successful. We had a vow of trying to catch them putting presents out." 

At the midnight service, the church was darkened and everyone had tapers that were lit at the end of the service, Bartlett said. "Dad would bring the tapers home and we would light the tapers and go around the house singing this hymn from Dad's childhood, called 'Traveling Far From Bethlehem to Judah,'" she said. "We loved to do it because we got to carry the lighted candles." 

Watson says the church shaped him as a singer. "It helped me learn to work with other people, and just in terms of technique, I guess," he said. 

These days the shows at The Cave also have grown to be important to the Watson family. 

"I remember when we had three generations of my family, and three generations of my wife's family -- all here in one room. So that was a really great night for me," Watson said. 

"I had a show the night before my mother's memorial service," he added. "My dad was here and my brother and his family came from Rocky Mount, as they often do, and my sister and her family. So that was sort of a special night, just because of the situation." 

Branching out 

A new tradition begins on Friday, as Watson's Christmas show comes to Hillsborough. 

"This show will be different in that there will be two sets," Watson said. "There will be the Christmas songs and the sing-along. I think that probably there won't be as much conversation, because it will be set up like a concert. So I may be getting more attention than I'm used to. Though I'll try to keep it as informal as I can." 

As to The Cave, "it's almost like a party, in a way, because there's always a certain amount of conversation going on. It's been really crowded in the past couple of years. But it's like a party with live music that people actually pay attention to. 

"And so, it's sort of a joyous atmosphere, which I guess it should be." 

Sorrell agrees. 

"It's a time at Christmas when it's very easy to step back from what we're doing and just sing," she said. 

Will there ever be sing-alongs at other times of the year? This music is unique, according to Watson, who counts "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," as his favorite. 

"The thing that's great about Christmas music is that there is a body of songs that are actually a part of a lot of people's lives" he said. "And you can pick a dozen or so of those and most everybody will know how the song goes. Most everybody knows the first verse, and then I pass out the words so everybody can sing all the way through. But that's the thing that's different about Christmas music -- most people just have it in the back of their brains, and it doesn't take much to bring it to the front." 

Mouse says people worry that they can't sing well enough. 

"I tell them they can just whistle or hum," he laughed. 

Watson doesn't feel that way. 

"Oh, I don't care," he said. "People say, 'What if I can't sing?' That's not the point, to me. Part of the show is the group thing. That's just not what's important here." 
 

Roses to Jim Watson, the former Red Clay Rambler who last Thursday played his 20th annual Christmas show at The Cave and the next night took the show on the road, sort of, playing in Hillsborough.

There are many around here who don't really consider it the holiday season until they go to enjoy Watson's joyous sing-along show. He passes out lyric sheets so everybody can keep up, and his infectious good humor fills the room. The Cave is small, low-ceilinged and windowless, but when the place is full of people singing "Joy to the World," it feels as big as all outdoors.

It's a relatively small thing, perhaps. But small things matter, too.

When Jim Watson handed out sheets of lyrics for Christmas carols 20 years ago, he didn’t realize that he was establishing a tradition.