Six seasoned local musicians play Seabold Second Saturday.
Chele’s Kitchen takes the phrase “down-home music” to its literal roots.
“We always play in the kitchen,” said fiddler and kitchen proprietor Chele Shepard.
“Sometimes we play in the pantry,” banjo player Tom McDonald added.
Chele’s Kitchen came together roughly one year ago as what Paul Simon might call a “loose affiliation,” not of millionaires and billionaires, but of seasoned musicians who’d played around the island for long enough to know other, and who were casually looking for a new group to work out songs with.
Guitarist Georgia Browne sings in the a capella trio Bella and had played on and off for a few years with guitarist Larry Dewey, a Pegasus Coffee House veteran and Seabold Second Saturday organizer.
Shepard and mandolin player Glenn Freeman had also played together. Bass player Rich McAllister is a member of Bluefish Tango, had a stint in the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and according to Browne, sits in with just about everybody.
Band members agree that they form an unlikely collective.
“It’s not a group you’d think would get together at all,” Browne said.
Yet here they are at Shepard’s house at midday on a Saturday, remarkably chipper for having played in this very spot until 12:30 the night before. The band is in prep mode for a Second Saturday concert happening tonight at Seabold Hall.
As members arrive, Freeman stands at the stove flipping a pasta frittata, later to be served with a side of garden tomatoes. This follows the band’s tradition of never leaving a session without a repast.
“It’s more food driven than ego-driven,” Dewey said.
They circle up to rehearse a set that includes bluegrass, folk and sprightly spirituals. Save for a rendition of R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” with McDonald on vocals, the sound is grassy and sassy, with a style and familiarity reminiscent the Carter Family.
“We’re channeling hillbillies,” Dewey said.
As they play, band members lean toward each other, eyes locked. Their silent interaction provides as much satisfaction as their favorite hors d’ouevre, smoked salmon and capers.
“I know that this band makes us better players,” Browne said.
Browne says that their preferred circular formation can sometimes lead to challenges on-stage, when they realize they need to face the audience, not each other. So they compromise with a horseshoe formation and try to remember that those in attendance are on their side.
“I think we play better around people,” McAllister said. “Especially at Seabold, where there’s a sea of friendly faces.”
After Shepard and Brown finish a duet of Adrienne Young’s wistful “My Love Will Keep,” Dewey proclaims that the completion of a sad song warrants food.
Mealtime conversation runs from music to day jobs to kids to the surplus of garden onions Browne needs to give away.
To Browne’s mind, the coming-together of such different musical backgrounds and experience “has been absolutely revelational.”
“We never actually thought about being a band – this is therapy,” Browne said. “It’s pretty light, but if someone has something heavy, it gets caught.”
“And has,” Dewey said.
As the group finishes lunch, they revisit the topic of smoked salmon, which Browne opines would be “yummy” just about now There’s a collective “Ooooooh.”
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Eat up
Chele’s Kitchen plays the Bainbridge farmers market from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 11 followed by an evening performance at Seabold Community Hall. Open mic begins at 7:30; the band follows. Admission is $5; kids are free. Info: www.geocities.com/seabold2ndsat.
