Woody Guthrie wrote Hanukkah songs, and his evocative lyrics proved to be a great match for the music of the Klezmatics, who recently finished work on an album of newly recorded Hanukkah songs titled “Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah.”

The Klezmatics, along with special guests Susan McKeown and Boo Reiners, will perform songs from the new CD, and from their CD “Wonder Wheel,” —  also with lyrics  by Guthrie —  at the Napa Valley Opera House on Sunday.

Guthrie’s Jewish lyrics (previously unknown prior to the CD release) can be traced to the unusual collaborative relationship he had with his mother-in-law, Aliza Greenblatt, a prominent Yiddish poet and confidant of Guthrie during his tenure in Coney Island. Guthrie’s Jewish lyrics came as a surprise to Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter, the producer of the CD, who learned of Guthrie’s Jewish connection in an encounter with the Klezmatics and Itzhak Perlman after a concert when she was introduced to Perlman as “Aliza’s granddaughter.” She recalls, “All my life, I’ve been introduced as Woody’s daughter, but this was the first time I’d ever been introduced as ‘Aliza Greenblatt’s granddaughter.’”

Guthrie’s lyrics are in good hands with the adventurious Klezmatics. Trumpeter Frank London said, “The words are all his, but the diversity of musical styles is quintessentially Klezmatic.”

London said some songs lent themselves to overtly Jewish klezmer music, others to more American forms, like classic dust-bowl country tunes. The band’s influences in setting the lyrics to music ranged from sacred — Hasidic nigunim, the wordless tunes often used in prayer and Gospel — to secular, traditional dance music, from freylekhs to hoedowns.

They perform at the Opera House Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 and $30.

The Klezmatics

Sunday, Dec. 17, 2 p.m.

Tickets, $30 and $35.

The Napa Valley Opera House Box Office, 226-7372, www.nvoh.org