While many people spend their youth wishing to live anywhere else and to move away as soon as they’re able, Stigers has only the fondest memories of growing up in Boise and attending Capitol High School; he even credits many of his earliest music experiences to the Boise School District. In school, he studied clarinet, saxophone and voice, amassing five music classes and only one academic by the time he was a senior in high school. As a teenager, he also attended Tuesday night jam sessions at the Idanha Hotel run by famous jazz pianist Gene Harris, who had somewhat temporarily retired to Boise at the time. Harris would become a mentor and friend to Stigers, the first in a long line of musicians to have an impact on the 30-year-and-counting career in jazz that he would go on to have, and continues having.

At the age of 21, in 1987, Stigers moved to New York City. Just three short years later, after playing blues clubs in Greenwich Village, he got a record deal and put out his first record, a self-titled album that sold 1.5 million copies and jettisoned him onto the music scene. “I got incredibly lucky,” Stigers says of this time. “I was on The Tonight Show, Letterman, I toured all over the world, met my heroes, opened for Eric Clapton, Prince, Bonnie Raitt. It was this wild, heady time.” Over the next decade, Stigers recorded more albums, changed record labels, and shifted from recording pop hits as determined by “the suits” and shifted to jazz, a genre he has called home for the last two decades. In addition to original songs, Stigers is known for creating jazz versions of songs by artists not usually associated with jazz — artists like Tom Waits, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson.

Attendees of Stigers’ December concert performances will hear mostly songs from his 2022 album, “This Life,” a 30-year lookback of the artist’s career, though rather than greatest hits, the songs are new versions of previously recorded songs. The new versions of these songs are performed live with a jazz quintet, breathing new life into them.

For those looking for a musical performance with more holiday flair, Stigers and his wife, Jodi Peterson-Stigers, will be hosting the 17th Annual Xtreme Holiday Xtravaganza, a holiday variety show and fundraiser. The event started as a fundraiser for a local Boise State Public Radio DJ who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer; Stigers’ now wife, Jodi, did the marketing and Stigers performed. After the success of the event, Stigers had the idea to do a holiday show fundraiser like he did back in New York with the likes of Patti Smith and John McEnroe. The event has now been running for 17 years and features roughly 20 acts featuring singers, musicians, dance groups, and the occasional comedian. Raised funds go to Interfaith Sanctuary Homeless Shelter, of which Jodi has now been the Executive Director for seven years.

“I’ve been raising funds for this shelter for 17 years, and I put together a show every year with about 20 acts — it’s really fun,” says Stigers. There is also an auction in addition to the lineup of performers, which this year will include Stigers, Bill Coffey, Jake Stigers, Minor Paradox, Steve Fulton, Eilen Jewell, Belinda Bowler, Andy Byron, Emily Tipton, Steve Baker and the Lonesome Jetboat Ramblers, Anuma Says No, and many more.

While it’s a lot of work to not only put on an event like this, but to do so in a lineup of consecutive concerts and shows during the holidays, Stigers doesn’t mind — it’s the kind of life he’s happy to have. “I don’t have the upside of selling zillions of records, but I make a living on the road touring in Europe, and I get to do what I want to do because I produce my own records and write most of my songs and pick the others,” says Stigers. And living in Boise is a part of that freedom as well. “I love living here. It’s my home, it’s where my friends are, it’s where I can ski and mountain bike every day and then just hop on a plane and fly to Europe!”