Événement

Betty and the Baby Boomers

Betty and the Baby Boomers in concert. Betty Boomer, Jean Valla McAvoy, Paul Rubeo, and Steve Stanne began singing together 30 years ago, and bassist Robert Bard fit right in when he joined later on. Betty and the Baby Boomers appears on the covers of the bands five CDs, and the name is known to folk music fans from the mountains of Connemara in Ireland to the Catskills overlooking New York's Hudson Valley, their home base.

The folk genre covers many styles. The Boomers take on it is suggested in a review of their second recording, Tumbling Through the Stream of Days, in the folk song magazine Sing Out! It described the group as a refreshing reminder of the halcyon days of American folk music and the CD as an enthusiastic testament to the sheer joy of singing and playing music. In addition to original songs from Jean, the Boomers draw on sources including traditional tunes, Americana roots music, contemporary artists like Greg Brown, Bruce Springsteen, and Dougie MacClean, and classic folksingers like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Phil Ochs.

Whatever the source, each song is Boomerized set in distinctive arrangements with three and four part harmonies. The singers' voices differ in range and color; they combine in a unique and resonant blend that is the Boomers signature. Their vocals are coupled to impressive instrumental work on guitars, Dobro, bass, bodhran, and kazoo, or sometimes Look Ma, no hands uncoupled in a capella selections.

Betty and the Boomers talents have led to frequent performances in venues such as the Eighth Step in New Yorks Capital region, Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, the Towne Crier in Beacon, and at Phil Ochs Song Night concerts in rooms ranging from New York Citys Village Gate to the Nameless Coffeehouse in Cambridge, Mass. The group is regularly booked along with the likes of the Chieftains, Paul Brady, and Christy Moore to perform during Clifden Community Arts Week in County Galway, Ireland; 2017 marked the Boomers 14th engagement at this festival as it celebrated its 40th anniversary.

The Boomers fifth and most recent CD, This Love Will Carry, released in fall, 2016, is the group's most diverse album, including a jazz standard from Brazil, a rhythm-and-blues classic, two songs from Ireland, and a country favorite, along with a new song by Jean and others in the Boomer tradition.