The DePue Brothers brought bluegrass music to Eastern with its “Magical Grassical Christmas” performance Tuesday night in the Dvorak Concert Hall.

The group members, who performed at Eastern in 2011, was brought back as part of Doudna’s “Best Of” series after concertgoers voted for them to be a returning artist.

The band started off the concert thanking those in attendance for bringing them back for a second year.

The audience heard the band perform a handful of selections from its own Christmas album, “When It’s Christmas Time.”

Alex DePue introduced his own composition to kick off the concert, a song titled “The Fat Man” about Santa Claus.

Following that, banjo player Mike Munford kicked off a medley of Christmas Carols he had arranged, including “Sing We All of Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells.”

Munford is a Grammy-nominated banjo player who has toured with various bands for the last 35 years.

Tuesday night’s performance was notable in that the band members announced they would not be performing the set list printed on the concert program.

“Just ignore that page for tonight, we’re going off the cuff,” said lead vocalist and oldest brother Wallace DePue.

The variety of the songs highlighted the classical and rock influences of the band’s sound, in addition to more obscure influences.

Before the first intermission, Wallace showcased his ability to yodel on a traditional Bavarian Christmas song.

“That’s what got him the girls in high school,” brother Alex said after the performance.

Aside from Wallace, Munford and guitarist Mark Cosgrove, every member of the group performed on multiple instruments: Alex DePue played guitar, brother Jason played mandolin, drummer Dom Liuzzi played vibraphone and French horn for “Oh Holy Night” and Kevin McConnell alternated between upright and electric bass.

Having three violins in the group allowed for a wider variety of melodic parts; the brothers took to playing unison rhythms, with one playing higher in pitch and one lower, and other times two brothers would play a simple harmonic pattern while the third would solo.

In contrast to the more up-tempo, loose bluegrass style of playing, the brothers also showcased their ability to play in the more rigid, formal classical style of violin, and plucked their strings to provide a wide variety of sounds out of each instrument.

Following the intermission, the band jumped into a version of “Sleigh Ride” that mirrored the original Leroy Anderson arrangement, complete with whip cracks from Liuzzi.

Toward the end of the concert, Cosgrove performed lead vocals on the gospel song “Can I Get an Amen.”

Following that, the band went into a rendition of “Joy to the World” complete with a melodic nod to the popular song by 1970s group Three Dog Night with the same name.

The set closed with  a traditional bluegrass standard song titled “Orange Blossom Special,” known as the “fiddle player’s national anthem.”

The band performed the song notably faster than any other bluegrass song of the night and upon ending received a standing ovation from the Dvorak Concert Hall crowd.

Following the song, Wallace jokingly said “I think we played it a little slower than last time, guys.”

After the backing band members had left the stage, the DePue brothers performed a slower, somber rendition of Ave Maria with Alex playing piano.