The holiday season is a special time for the Craig Hinchman Trio.
"It's our busiest time," Hinchman said. "We do a lot of holiday lunches and things like that."
The ensemble, which performs at the Municipal Auditorium during Charleston's annual GoodNight Celebration New Year's Eve, was founded during the Christmas season, but not by the trio's keyboard player, Craig Hinchman, but by Ed Pauley, the guitarist.
"Ed was going to put together a little trio for a Christmas luncheon," Hinchman said. "This was probably five years ago."
Pauley asked Hinchman, music director and organist for Canaan United Methodist Church, and his mother, Martha, a flutist, to be part of the group.
The three of them rehearsed a few songs, worked up a set and Pauley considered what to call the group
"Ed was looking for something funny to call us," Hinchman said.
Pauley named them the Hinchman Trio, to deflect any blame.
"He said if anybody didn't like it, they couldn't blame him." Hinchman laughed.
They put together a mix of pop songs, contemporary Christian music and sing-alongs, and people seemed to like them well enough, he said.
The group stayed fairly busy, particularly during Christmas, and a year later was asked to play during GoodNight.
"We played over at the First Presbyterian Church, along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Men's Choir," he said. "It was a really fun evening and the crowd was great."
They played GoodNight three more years and then heard that things weren't going so well for the Community Music Association, which, after decades, was coming to an end. Community Music organized the annual citywide musical event, and some wondered if the end of Community Music spelled the end of GoodNight.
Hinchman said that, while it was sad that Community Music dissolved, plans to switch over control of GoodNight had been in the works for a while.
"The city was already working to keep it going," he said.
Alice Anne Robertson, the last president of Community Music, had already asked Hinchman about taking it on.
"She wanted someone younger to step in," Hinchman said, "but I didn't say yes right away; I really had to think about it."
GoodNight is a vast undertaking. It features 25 groups and solo artists performing, some of them multiple times, at 12 locations around the city.
Hinchman said he and his wife, Amanda, took it on as a team.
"Most of what we had to do was contact performers and venues," he said. "Just put the two together and make sure everybody has what they need."
Hinchman said the pair made a list, divided it up, and then just called.
Finding performers who want to be part of GoodNight wasn't hard, but Hinchman said he stuck mostly to performers who'd been part of it before.
He said they're not the only ones involved with GoodNight. He credited the city and the Mayor's Office with matching them up with FestivALL as a sponsor.
"They were really interested in being part of it," he said.
While Hinchman said they stuck with acts that were tried and true, groups and people who'd been part of the GoodNight schedule in the past, he said that could change. The event could get bigger.
"I've already been contacted by a few groups who want to be part of it," he said. "We might try to find some more venues next year."
What he didn't sound interested in was bringing in ticketed shows or touring acts.
"We want to keep it a Charleston event," he said.
Reach Bill Lynch at lynch@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5195 or follow @LostHwys on Twitter.