FARMINGTON – The North Church Arts Center will present the South Strong Road Crew and Friends for a return concert of traditional New Orleans style jazz, Saturday evening at July 29 at 7 p.m.
The regular members of the Crew—Sherry Walrath on vocals, Doug Walrath on keyboard, Andy Buckland on bass and Scott Dixon on drums—will welcome guests Mel Tukey on trumpet, Dick Poland on trombone and Peter Lord on soprano sax.
Mel Tukey is Maine’s premier jazz trumpeter. In addition to his own group, the Clam Flat Five, Mel has played with jazz bands throughout Maine.
Dick Poland is a native Mainer (Livermore Falls) who has played his sweet trombone with jazz groups from Maine to Florida.
Peter Lord is a master restoration plasterer who plays tenor and soprano sax and is the leader of Maine’s well-known Bellamy Jazz Band.
Andy Buckland teaches and plays a wide variety of music—from Celtic to Jazz throughout Maine. Scott Dixon who grew up on the South Strong Road began playing drums as a student at Mt. Abram High School.
Sherry Walrath began singing in clubs in Detroit and Chicago when she was still in high school. Doug Walrath started playing jazz piano with local jazz groups while he was a student at Rutgers University.
The South Strong Road Crew has roots that stretch back thirty years in Strong. In the 1990s the late Boyd Richards joined with Doug and Sherry Walrath to bring jazz musicians together at their farm to play traditional jazz. Musicians from all over Maine gather every summer to play jazz just for the fun of playing it.
“We never know for sure ho will join in until the day we get together,” Doug Walrath said. “But no matter who comes it works because we all have played the old standards for many years—some of us for more than sixty years! The spontaneity is part of the fun.”
North Church is located at 118 High Street in Farmington. Tickets are $15. Call 207-778-2006 for reservations.
