The Mainstay goes to Betterton as Betty and the Baby Boomers, a folk quintet from the Catskill Mountain region of New York bring their soaring folk harmonies and well-crafted songs to the Betterton Community Center, 100 Main Street in Betterton, Md. on Saturday June 10 at 4:00 p.m.
The concert is free and seats will be available first come first served at the door. Donations will be accepted and appreciated. It is a joint project of The Mainstay and the Betterton Community Development Association. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website.
With a sound reminiscent of the enthusiastic harmonies of folk groups like Peter, Paul & Mary and the Weavers, Betty and the Baby Boomers draw material from traditional folk music, contemporary writers and classic folk writers. Their outstanding three and four part harmonies are coupled with impressive instrumental work on guitars, Dobro, bodhran, and kazoo though they sometimes sing unaccompanied letting their voices fly freely a capella.
Based in the Hudson River Valley, the four met while singing on the Hudson River sloop Clearwater. The Clearwater organization was founded by Pete Seeger and is dedicated to environmental causes.
Betty Boomer, Jean Valla McAvoy, Paul Rubeo, and Steve Stanne have been singing together for more than twenty years not to become folk stars— they all have had satisfying careers in teaching—but, as Sing Out! magazine noted, for the love of making good music. Recently Robert Bard has joined the group on bass to round out the quintet. The group’s name, a play on Betty Boomer’s name and the fact that all four original members are children of the baby boom seemed like a good idea when they began performing together. They’ve had second thoughts since, but two decades, three CD’s and countless concert appearances later it’s too late to change.
Betty and the Baby Boomers draw inspiration from the extremely popular folk groups of the fifties and sixties such as the Weavers and Peter, Paul and Mary, material from traditional American music, the British Isles and Celtic lands, contemporary artists like Bruce Cockburn and Dougie Maclean, and classic folksinger-songwriters like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Phil Ochs. Their take on this music is suggested in a review of their second recording, Tumbling Through the Stream of Days, in Sing Out! magazine, which described the group as “a refreshing reminder of the halcyon days of American folk music” and praised the CD as “an enthusiastic testament to the sheer joy of singing and playing music.”
Whatever the source of a song, the group recasts it as their own with distinctive arrangements featuring forthright three and four part harmonies. The four voices in the band differ greatly in range and color. Combined with their impressive instrumental work or just singing a capella, they create a unique and resonant blend that makes for a very compelling performance.
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