As winter comes to a close, a Mosquito Lake couple is starting off spring on a musical note. As KHNS’s Brandon Wilks reports, Betsy Shiner and Gordy Julian plan to lead folk music nights, giving the small community another reason to get together.
Betsy Shiner and Gordy Julian enjoy playing music together, alongside several of their friends and want to include the rest of the community in that experience. This past month they held their first folk musical night at the Mosquito Lake Community Center and intend to continue through the summer. The evening of simple music-making was brought about because of their distance from Haines.
“Well, there is an open mic in town at the P-bar. But it’s very far from us. And it’s just kind of a different vibe if it’s just people sitting in a quiet room rather than a loud bar. So it’s the same kind of open-mic feeling. If you want to play a song alone, it’s fine. Or if you want everyone to join, it’s fine. But just sort of a community setting. And just nice. I don’t know, it sounds like a nice evening to me.” Shiner said.
Shiner plays piano and guitar while her boyfriend Gordy Julian covers many instruments including mandolin, banjo, guitar, bass, and cello. Participants are invited to bring their own instruments or borrow the ones they provide. Shiner says the night is open to anyone, beginners, out-of-practice musicians, or just those that want to listen and tap along. She says it’s about providing an open, welcoming atmosphere and inspiring others to join in the fun.
“We have like, a piece of paper that people can write down a song that they want to play with everybody. And we’ve got a chalkboard. And you can write down the chords for a song if you’ve got them, you know, memorized. And you know, you want others to play along. You can put the chords on the chalkboard, you have an inner cushion out there. So you can actually just look things up to share if you don’t have it on, you know, the top of your mind. And it’s been really fun. Last time, we had several banjos, a singing saw, a fiddle, and several guitars, and even a steel guitar. So yeah, it was really super fun. And we’re looking forward to seeing how it develops.”
Shiner says she realizes how busy summers are for Haines and Mosquito Lake residents and intends to keep the frequency of musical get-to-togethers limited for the time being with confirmed meeting dates of April 8th, June 10th, and August 12th, at 6 pm in the Mosquito Lake Community Center.
For more information about folk night, text Betsy Shiner at (517) 348-2830.
