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Barbershoppers have first female director at podium
McCOOK, Nebraska -- When the Prairie Statesmen's Barbershop Chorus takes the stage Friday and Saturday nights in McCook and Colby, the singers will be under the direction of a lady who has spent her life studying, teaching and performing vocal and instrumental music.
Evie Caldwell, who sang her first church solo at age 3 and started taking piano lessons at age 5, stepped in this past summer to direct the Prairie Statesmen, a men's Barbershop Harmony group which has been singing together since 1970.
The Prairie Statesmen will be part of Barbershop Harmony Shows Friday night, March 22, at the historic Fox Theatre in McCook, and Saturday night, March 23, at Colby Community College in Colby. Both night's shows will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets, costing $12 each, are on sale at Hershberger Music Co. and Farrell Drug in McCook, or they may be purchased from members of the Prairie Statesmen Chorus. Tickets will also be on sale at the door. As a special tribute to servicemen, veterans of all wars will be admitted
to the McCook show free of charge.
Featured quartet at the shows in McCook and Colby will be the Rusty
Pipes, the Senior Barbershop Quartet Champions for the U.S. in 2012.
The Rusty Pipes will be joined for the show by the Prairie Statesmen
of McCook and the Tumbleweed Chorus from Colby.
The love of music in her childhood years led Evie Caldwell to a career
as a music educator. After earning degrees in piano, voice and pipe
organ at the University of Lincoln, Evie pursued a career as a music
educator, serving at schools in Pleasanton, Newman Grove, Republican
Valley, Twin Valley and the McCook Public Schools and McCook Community
College.
Along the way, she discovered her love of the barbershop harmony style
of singing. Inspired by a Barbershop Harmony Show in McCook, Evie
became part of a quartet known as Plum Happy, and went on to be an
active and leading member of the Sweet Adelines. Evie was part of the
Sweet Adelines group from Nebraska which traveled to Washington, D.C.
for the dedication of the World War II Memorial and she now directs
the Nebraska Pride Chorus which practices in Lexington. That's on
Tuesday nights.
On Monday nights, Evie is at the McCook Art Guild building in McCook,
where she directs the practices and rehearsals of the Prairie
Statesmen Chorus.
"Barbershop singing is about pure harmony and the overtones the voices
create," she said. "No instruments are necessary. All you need is a
pitch pipe."
The Prairie Statesmen's first female director is proud of the effort
put forth by the chorus. "We put a lot of emphasis on balance,
learning the right notes and pronunciation," Evie said. The four parts
-- tenor, lead, baritone and bass -- blend, creating the special
barbershop harmony sound.
The special sound will be shared Friday and Saturday nights, March 22
and March 23, when choruses from McCook and Colby join the
award-winning Rusty Pipes for two more in a long line of barbershop
harmony shows. The Barbershop Singing organization started in Tulsa,
Oklahoma in 1938 and will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this
year at the shows in McCook, Colby and other American cities.