Windsor-based Vinyl Revival brings music to the holidays

Guests at this year’s free Christmas community dinner in Windsor will get music with their meal.

The ambiance will be provided by Windsor-based Vinyl Revival, a female group that has been harmonizing at charitable events throughout Sonoma County for the past six years. Guitarist Kathy Schallert and other singers will join them Saturday, Dec. 13, at Vineyard of Faith Lutheran Church as they celebrate the holiday spirit with carols, instrumentals and a meal sponsored by the Windsor Care Network.

“This begins the crazy season,” said Linda Freebairn, who sings bass with the group. “We do two to three shows a day. We sing as much in November and December as the rest of the year.”

The group performs at assisted living facilities, church functions, libraries, fundraising events, public Christmas celebrations and talent shows, performing about 20 shows a year, said founder Heather Cullen, artistic director of the Windsor Performing Arts Academy.

Vinyl Revival began as a duo, with a repertoire of jazzy, up tempo, classic American songs. It placed second at the 2013 Sonoma County Fair’s talent show. The current lineup includes Freebairn; Cullen, who sings tenor and bass; soprano Laura McGinnis; second soprano and alto Liesel Hall; and second soprano Laurie McHugh.

During its June performance at the Raven Theater in Windsor, the group raised $1,000 for Lighting for Literacy, a program that sends self-contained, solar-powered LED lights to Third World countries so children who live in homes without electricity can read and study.

During that performance, Vinyl Revival changed wardrobes in sync with the styles of the decades in which their songs were popular, Cullen said.

At the Windsor Care Network’s Nov. 15 Community Thanksgiving Dinner, they wore black scarfs with gold music notes and moved smoothly through 16 songs that included “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “Java Jive” and “Route 66.”

“We sing songs with good harmonies,” Freebairn said.

“There’s so much good quality music,” Cullen added.

McGinnis credits her singing chops to her experience singing in choirs. She started in the Children’s Community Choir and now is an actor with the 6th Street Playhouse.

Other members also are musicians. Freebairn plays guitar, and McHugh and McGinnis play piano. Hall and McHugh are recognized as the most versatile members of the group, with Hall joining Vinyl Revival about two years ago when another member became ill.

Despite their good intentions, performances do not always go smoothly.

Freebairn recalls forgetting all about a Christmas Eve show in Healdsburg two years ago. At the last minute her husband stepped in to care for her daughter.

Cullen remembers a performance in the Healdsburg Library at which a man in the back of the audience began singing “in his own harmony.” And at another holiday performance at the Northwest Library branch in Santa Rosa, a man began shouting because he objected to the singing of “religious songs” in a public library, Freebairn said.

“We kept singing while he yelled,” Cullen said.

McHugh, pastor of the Windsor Community United Methodist Church, recalled a man “flipping his dentures” during a senior center performance.

Vinyl Revival isn’t in it for the money.

“Most of the time it’s for free. If we charged, it wouldn’t be as fun. We’re definitely in it for the fun,” Freebairn said.

“It’s refreshing to see older people hearing the music they can relate to,” Cullen said. “People ask us if we’re going to make a CD. We’re looking into it.”

The free holiday dinner for Windsor residents is noon-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Vineyard of Faith Lutheran Church, 167 Arrata Lane in Windsor.

Contact Windsor Towns Correspondent James Lanaras at WindsorTownNews@gmail.com.