WASHINGTON — This year's National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony will include a diverse selection of performers spanning genres, from the classic folk-rock sensibilities of James Taylor to the New Orleans jazz fusion sound of Trombone Shorty.
And you can catch all the fun here on WUSA9, on Fri., Dec. 20.
Air Force bands will be performing, too. The Airmen of Note, who are deployed around the world, have a jazz sound; and Max Impact, who are based at the Joint Base Anacostia-Boiling in D.C. have rock and pop music.
Muni Long, the three-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter who has written some of the most recognizable R&B and pop anthems of the past two decades like Pitbull's "Timber" and Rihanna's "California King Bed" will be performing there, too.
Four-time Grammy-nominated country singer Mickey Guyton, who sang the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI and the 2023 World Series, will also be at the lighting. Other acts include Adam Blackstone, Stephen Sanchez, The War and Treaty and Trisha Yearwood.
All performers will jam out in front of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, for the couple's final Christmas in the White House.
It's the 102nd tree lighting on the Ellipse. The first National Christmas Tree ceremony was in 1923 when Calvin Coolidge was president. The tree was a 48-foot balsam fir, donated from Coolidge's home state of Vermont.
The ceremony was held each year since, with the exception of World War II.
Since 1954, the National Christmas Tree marked the beginning of the Pageant of Peace which lasts the entire month of December.
