Quartet from Fayetteville hosted by Friends of the Library

ELIZABETHTOWN – In honor of the Friends of the Bladen County Public Library week, a special concert was held just outside the front door of the Bladen County Public Library.

On a beautiful, warm mid-October Carolina night with gorgeous pink and wedgwood blue hues on the horizon, the outdoor concert put forth into the twilight songs from Woody Guthrie, Terry Gilkyson, Creedence Clearwater Revival and even a song by David Seville and the Chipmunks.

It was unlike most outdoor concerts due to the unique instrumentation.

It was a quartet from Fayetteville called “The Fayetteville Ukulele Club,” and featured the eclectic strains of ukuleles, kazoos, whistling, humming and voices.

Mary Hill, originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, is the leader of the band that at times has up to 20 members playing ukuleles onstage at one time. On this night, however, due to some sickness and the drive to Elizabethtown, the club provided a talented quartet.

Hill moved to North Carolina with husband, Troy almost 30 years ago for his job as a financial consultant.

The club meets weekly in downtown Fayetteville, Thursday afternoons at The Sweet Palette.

“We’ve been together for about five years,” Hill said. “People come and go during that time, but we are now up to about 20-plus members. We meet every Thursday from 4-6 p.m. and we jam. It’s just ukuleles. If you just came in off the street and you were in the coffee shop, and you thought it was pretty neat, we have extra ukuleles and we’ll teach you a couple chords and invite you to play with us.”

Hill said that it’s not like a class as it is serious ukulele fun. Those who are newbies can come in, learn chords, get a song sheet with lyrics and chords and just jump in.

“You won’t keep up at first, but as long as you’re not discouraged, I’ve had a lot of people coming from that starting spot to playing really well,” Hill said. “Everyone who comes in and becomes a part of the group really vibe and we’ve all become really good friends. The ukulele has brought me a lot of really good friends.”

The band has quite a repertoire, playing 50s, 60s, 70s music, folk music and all of the songs are well-known – especially to those who grew up in that era. On this particular night, sometimes just with ukuleles, always encouraging sing-along participation from the audience, sometimes whistling along and sometimes showcasing their multitalented sides playing both the Uke and a kazoo.

The group did songs like “This Land is Your Land,” Disney’s “The Barefoot Necessities,” The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” and a song that pretty much everybody learned from the Andy Griffith show as kids, “You get a line, I’ll get a pole.”

One of the most popular songs that can be viewed on the Bladen Journal Facebook page is David Seville’s “The Witch Doctor Song.” Most of the audience sang it by heart and then left the venue not being able to get the strains of “oooh-eee-oooh-ahh-ahh, ting, tang, walla-walla bing bang” out of their heads.

“Any time we are going to perform, I just put it out and ask if anybody’s available,” Hill said. “That’s why we’re small today. Tonight we did songs everyone could sing along with, some kids songs and also some spooky songs because, after all, it’s the season, right? We always end with the song, “Bring Me Sunshine.” When I first started the group, the first night we played somebody said, ‘oh this song is a really great song to end on because everybody knows it’ and if I wanted to pick one song we would always end on it would be that one because that’s what I want you to take with you. So that’s how we end our jam.”

To hear a ukulele version of “Bring Me Sunshine,” you can visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hddoKj1UI

For booking or more information on how to join this ukulele group, you can call Mary Hill at 910-578-3394.