Episode 10: Pub Sing!
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“There aren’t opportunities to sing in our daily lives and I love this gift that we have made and nurtured in this town...”
A guy walks into a bar and…starts singing? If that bar is Brattleboro’s McNeill’s Brewery and it’s the third Saturday of the month between 3-5 pm then the chances of this happening are pretty high.
That’s when the Brattleboro Pub Sing meets.
And in this episode of VT Untapped you get to come along.
From the Pub Sing website:
“Come listen, sing along, lead a song or two if you’re feeling bold. Songs led from memory with easily joined-in choruses are our custom. Pub songs, work songs, sea shanties, and other traditional song styles are welcome. No experience or confidence is necessary!”
The pub-sing or pub-session tradition originates in the British Isles. “The Pub” being a place where people gather as much to socialize with friends and family as to enjoy a local brew, the addition of music seems only natural. A pub-sing isn’t a performance, it’s more like a participatory grown-up sing along—think group karaoke only without a machine—and everyone is welcome. Popular repertoire tends to be songs with a call-and-response structure or with an easily repeated chorus so that the crowd can join in and ‘raise the rafters.’
The crowd on Nov. 16, 2019 when the VFC came to record (and sing!) Photo by Amanda Witman.
Amanda Witman and Tony Barrand started the Brattleboro Pub Sing in 2011. Tony is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University and a prolific musician and performer. He’s best known for his musical collaboration with John Roberts in their duo “Roberts and Barrand,” who recorded ten albums together between 1971 and 2003. A longtime Brattleboro resident, Tony has been teaching English folk song for years through the Brattleboro Music Center and other local events. After several successful one-off pub sings at the BMC’s Northern Roots Festival, Amanda, a local folk song enthusiast, asked if Tony would help her make pub singing a regular occurrence.
Tony and Amanda
Bolstered by community members who had already encountered the tradition through Tony’s teaching, the monthly pub-sing had no trouble taking root. Today the event draws between 30 - 70 people, and much more than that during the now legendary Christmas eve sing.
In 2017, VFC awarded Tony and Amanda an Apprenticeship through our National Endowment for the Arts Funded Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP). Established in 1991, VTAAP is one of many programs around the country that supports master artists and their students as they pass on a traditional skill or art form. Amanda is now in the second year of her apprenticeship with Tony and is learning the history and roots of the tradition that she’s helping to keep alive through the pub sing.
The Vermont Folklife Center will be accepting applications in early summer, 2020 for the next round of the VTAAP!
Interviews and audio from this episode:
Tony Barrand and Amanda Witman interviewed by Mary Wesley in Brattleboro, VT on October 10, 2018.
Brattleboro pub sing recorded on November 16, 2019 using a Rode NT4 stereo microphone (placed in center of circle) and Sound Devices MixPre 3. Audio processed (NR, EQ, Amplitude) using Adobe Audition.
To access the full interviews please contact the VFC Archivist.
Singers in this episode:
Tony Barrand - “McNeill's Ale” (fourth verse by Andy Davis)
Amanda Witman - “Country Life”
Perrin Scott - “What’s in a Song” (written by Lucy Picco Simpson)
Tony Barrand - “The Barley Mow”
Kirk Dale - “Let Union Be”
Amanda Witman and Everyone - “The Parting Glass”
Full recording of the November 16, 2019 Brattleboro Pub Sing available on SoundCloud: