’Tis the season for Toolshed Jack’s annual Ugly Sweater Holiday Party, set for Saturday at Tamaqua Arts Center, located on Pine Street, Tamaqua.

The party band, based in Schuylkill County, first performed its holiday show at the center in November 2017.

“It’s one of those gigs that we look forward to and make a day out of it,” said Joel Digris, the group’s guitarist, backing vocalist and sole remaining founding member. “We have our own little interband boilo contest.”

Aside from the boilo contest, Digris added, “we dress up for the occasion, as does the audience, and it’s just a big, loose party.”

Toolshed Jack which played its first public gig in 1997, also includes lead vocalist Michayla Dougherty, originally from Palmerton, and bassist/vocalist Stephen Ulicny, a social studies teacher at Tamaqua High School, who has lived in Tamaqua for 24 years.

Drummer Jeff Klein and Brian Legutko, a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist with the band for nearly its full existence, round out the Toolshed Jack lineup.

A lifelong Schuylkill County resident, Digris, who started Achieva Rehabilitation in 2010, provides in-home physical therapy in Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties. While his company keeps him busy, music - which Digris has loved since his early teens - has remained a constant.

“When I was younger, I probably did ask for a guitar or drums at least once, but my time was more spent in sports and outside activities with friends,” Digris said.

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Pride and Joy” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” pushed him toward guitar.

After obtaining a guitar and starting to play in grad school, Digris emailed best friend Steve Babinchak, who had stopped playing drums as a youth and considered starting up again.

Initially, “it was just the two of us goofing around in a shed, trying to learn songs,” Digris said. “The first time we played out was as a four-piece band: singer, guitar, bass, drums.”

When the group started, skill-level limitations influenced the music played. Taking a cue from other area bands, “it was a lot of classic rock and newer songs on the radio that would appeal to a block-party crowd,” Digris said.

The band’s musicianship improved as time went on, opening up a wider pallet that includes older classics. Toolshed Jack, Digris said, chooses music “90% to guarantee the crowd wants to dance and 10% for our own enjoyment. Some songs, we stick to the letter, but a lot of tunes become our version.”

Starting out, Toolshed Jack played anywhere the band could get a gig.

“There was a much more bustling music scene back then, so there were quite a bit of bars in Schuylkill County that had regular entertainment,” Digris said. “The Brass Tap in Pottsville was one of our favorites. There were fire houses that gave us opportunities.”

Over the years, challenges have included “the imbalance between where you think you are as an entertainment asset,” Digris said, “versus where you are in the eyes of those bigger, better rooms we’re always striving toward.”

The biggest challenge, he added, was finding the formula “that gets us to where we are today.” Digris attributes the band’s success to a lot of hard work and cover-band research.

Upcoming gigs for the band include the Diamond Fire Company Festival in Walnutport on Sunday, plus the Dec. 16 Jingle Ball at Palmerton’s Blue Mountain Ski Area.

Digris would like the band - which has played as far away as Maryland and Pittsburgh - to play Seacrets in Ocean City, Maryland, plus the Borgata’s Gypsy Bar in New Jersey and Xfinity Live! in Philadelphia.

While Toolshed Jack has pondered recording original music, “on a priority list, that has not come to the top yet,” Digris said. Legutko, he added, has written songs “which have become somewhat folklore in the area. Search YouTube for ‘Don’t You Spoil My Recipe for Boilo.’”

If he had more time, Digris would have more music goals, though he’s content playing with his best friends in Toolshed Jack.

“We’re fortunate to have families that allow us to steal away some of our time to be selfish to partake in the band,“ he said. “The band is a huge aspect of my life that gives me an outlet so I am able to give 100% to the other aspects of my life that are important.”