Sue Sitter/PCT Dressed as a Christmas tree, Kat Perkins sings with her orchestra at Rugby’s Tillman Hovland Auditorium, Nov. 27.

Kat Perkins and her orchestra came home to North Dakota for Christmas when they brought “A North Country Christmas” to Rugby’s Tillman Hovland Auditorium Nov. 27.

Perkins, a finalist on NBC’s The Voice in 2014, brought a high-energy holiday performance to the stage along with her father, Mark, four musicians and two backup vocalists.

Performers changed their costumes several times, moving from cozy checkered flannel in black and red to a gingerbread and Christmas tree motif.

Perkins interspersed stories of her childhood in Scranton among songs such as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Kat and Mark Perkins sprinkled a generous amount of humor throughout the show.

“I’ve been through here a lot,” Mark Perkins told the audience. “Somehow, being here in Rugby, I kind of feel centered somehow.” The audience chuckled.

“It’s nice to see some familiar faces here in North Dakota,” Mark Perkins added as he said hello to three area youngsters who he said attended Kat Perkins’ music camp in Medora.

“Kat was a free spirit. Nowhere was it more evident than how she dressed,” Mark Perkins recalled of his daughter.

He went on to describe how his daughter wore mismatched outfits and, for a while, favored a Spider Man facemask. “And she slept in it, for the better part of a year,” Mark Perkins said, smiling.

Kat Perkins brought her facemask onstage. “I still have it! Here it is!”

“My dad was a music teacher in Scranton, North Dakota. He was my teacher. He was a teacher there for 36 years. I’ve always said he’s taught me everything I know, along with my very musical family – my mother, and my grandmother, his mother and his grandmother, my great-grandmother, they were all very musical and I was very lucky to grow up in that realm of music, everywhere,” Kat Perkins said.

Perkins described how she decided to learn to play the French horn because her father played the instrument himself.

“Every time around Christmas, it was very useful, because the French horn is very holiday-like and Christmas-like. We’d take our act down to the church every single year and we’d play together,” Perkins said before she and her father performed, “Ding Dong Merrily on High” with French horns.

Other favorites in the show included “Hard Candy Christmas” and other tunes with country-western touches.

Perkins invited audience members to learn more the Rising Star Foundation, a charity she founded in 2017.

“We provide scholarships to kids who have musical talent and a financial need,” Perkins said.

“There are two different kinds of scholarships that we provide. One of them is if your child wants to go to music camp anywhere in the country. I also run my own music camp in the Badlands of North Dakota in Medora. We have scholarships available for that camp as well.”

Perkins added, “We also have regular college scholarships for kids who want to move forward with music, whether it be education or performance into any sort of college around the entire United States. And the third scholarship, which is the most fun and unique is we have scholarships for young adults who want to do something crazy like audition for ‘The Voice’ somewhere in the country. Just a couple of years ago, we sent a 19-year-old girl over to Italy to audition for an opera. It was one of my favorite stories that I’ve ever had with my foundation.”

“Just today, I ran into her at the gas station when we were traveling here,” Perkins added. “It just reminded me of how much joy we’ve been able to give to people. She smiled at me and said, ‘hi,’ and just reminded me of who she was and how we helped her.”

Perkins invited audience members to donate or get more information from www.risingstarfoundation.org. Perkins’ helper, Jingles the Elf also took donations for the foundation at the ticket table outside the auditorium door.

Perkins noted performing for those serving in the military overseas was an important part of her work. “We go (to military bases) lot of times around the holidays. We haven’t done that in a while,” Perkins said. “We’re looking forward to our next (performance) and look forward to bringing a piece of home to our men and women serving whenever we can. We will absolutely continue that work no matter when or no matter how.”

Perkins asked audience members who served in the military to “make yourselves known.” They received a round of applause. She asked the audience to keep those serving overseas “near and dear in your hearts.”

The show ended with a rendition of Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” and a standing ovation from the audience.

The performance came to Rugby as part of the Heart of America Concert Series, with shows lined up for Rugby and Bottineau. Next in the series are Barron Ryan, a virtuoso pianist performing March 26; the Alex Meixnar Accordion Duo performing April 23 and the Sons of the Pioneers performing May 10.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 776-5443.