Two Frets Up

quaintrelle:

(n) a woman who emphasizes a life of passion, expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm and cultivation of life's pleasures.

A friend posted this word and its definition on my Facebook page, saying it describes me. I'm not there yet, but I definitely want to be a quaintrelle when I grow up. Or maybe when I retire, 'cause it might take retirement to make me feel grown up.

Anyway.

My 9-year-old niece, Josie, is visiting from Iowa. She's learning to play the ukelele (just like her favorite aunt) and I'd planned to take her to the Uke Klub at Pizza Plus, but I totally screwed up the dates and planned for her arrival the week after the uke club meets. (See what I mean about not being a grown up?) So, I'm thinking, “What can I do with Josie that will be cool and interesting?” She's from Des Moines, which is a pretty cosmopolitan town. And with our typical 20-degree-late-fall-weather, sampling Wisconsin's outdoor wonders is limited. It didn't take me long to realize the question's a no-brainer. Live music. What else?

I met Josie and her mother at Albert Lea at noon today and snatched her up. We arrived at my little blond-brick, ranch-style home in Chippewa Falls just after 3:00. At 5:30 we picked up my aunt Jean and the Three Js—Jen, Jean, and Josie—headed to Fanny Hill for my two favorite things: Food and music.

Fanny Hill was dressed in its Christmas Finery. As we tooled up the driveway and into the parking lot I told Josie, “Now this is a Wisconsin restaurant.” It was all twinkly lights, apple-red Santas and glittery gold and silver. Perfect for a 9-year-old's sensibilities. Walking into the dining room we were greeted by the sweet sounds of a violin and mellow guitar-picking. We grabbed a table close to the music and moved the chairs around so Josie could see the musicians.

It was a duo, a guy and a gal. They were sitting on stools, he with a guitar, she a violin, just finishing up a Merle Haggard tune. They are an interesting pair: he in ball-cap, work boots and jeans; she in black slacks, white blouse, matching hair and low heels. He holds his guitar like it's a part of him—all casual comfort—she sits strait in her chair, violin tucked under her chin in a classic pose, feet barely touching the lower brace of her stool. His voice is rough and melodic, her voice is higher and sweet. He has a thumb-pick, she a bow. They're opposites and it works.

They call themselves Two Frets Up. His name is Larry Radle and hers is Andrea Christopherson.

As we settled in Larry turned to us and asked Josie if she knew “Wagon Wheel” and if she wanted to get up and sing with them. She did not know “Wagon Wheel” and did not want to get up and sing. But the interaction was interesting and turned out to be typical of his style. After “Wagon Wheel” Andrea sang an old Jim Reeves song, “Welcome To My World.” She told me later that her father was a self-taught fiddle player and her early influences were old country songs. She started playing violin when she was 10-years-old.

They also sang Zach Brown's “Highway 20 Ride,” Garth Brooks “Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old,” Buffet's “Margaritaville,” Pure Prairie League's “Amie” (Josie knew that song, but didn't sing it), Merle Haggard's “Silver Wings,” Poco's “Honky Tonk Downstairs” Jerry Jeff Walker's “Mr Bojangles,” Eagles' “Lyin' Eyes,” Bellamy Brothers' “Redneck Girl,” Don Williams' “You're My Best Friend,” The Casinos' “Then You Can Tell Me Good Bye.”

For the most part Andrea harmonized with Larry. He's got interesting phrasing, pulling up lyrics from the next stanza into the current one (there's got to be a word for that, but I can't find it) giving familiar songs a nice, unexpected twist. Andrea did sing lead and did a beautiful job with Tom Paxton's “The Last Thing On My Mind.” And she played “Ashokan Farewell,” a contemporary instrumental tune modeled after a Scottish lament, with such a sense of loss and longing that an audience member asked that she play it again. She did. She also did a great job on Elizabeth Cotton's “Freight Train.”

They eventually took a break and I got a chance to chat with them. Andrea was born and raised in Eau Claire and has been playing in bands for decades. Currently she's in a bluegrass band called River City Ramblers and she used to play with Drywood Creek. She said that while it's better today, there still aren't enough female instrumentalists out there. It's still a guy's game (my words, not hers).

Larry is relatively new to the area. He and his wife of 44 years, Myra, moved here from Illinois when he retired 7 years ago. He has family here and today Myra and Larry have 4 horses, 30 sheep and 12 chickens. He mentioned this in one of his chats between songs. He was a professional musician and opened for the likes of Tommy James but in 1986 he laid his guitar down. He says he got burned out. His wife said the smoky bars and lifestyle was killing him. For over 20 years he played for his dogs (“They always think what you're playing is good”) and that was it. On New Year's Eve, 2011 he and Andrea met and she convinced him to pick up his guitar and venture out into the music world again. They've been playing together for 14 months.

Layne Yost was in the audience and while I chatted with Andrea, Myra and Larry, he agreed to keep the audience engaged and sing a couple of songs. Layne's got a John Denver voice, all sweet, pure and true. He's a delight to listen to.

Josie was tired and we didn't stay for the second set. Driving home I thought about the nature of quaintrelle-ism and I asked Josie if she'd ever seen live music before.

“Yeah, I went to a Justin Bieber concert once.”

I laughed. “Did you like it?”

“I guess so, except he was two hours late. We heard on the news later he was eating pizza and riding bumper cars.”

Jean and I groaned appropriately.

“So, which one did you like better? Justin Bieber? Or Two Frets Up?”

“I liked tonight better.”

“If Justin Beiber had been on time, do you think you would like him better?”

“No. Probably not. Except he flew.”

“He flew?”

“Yeah, he flew on stage when he was singing. That was pretty cool.”

The thing I like about live music is that when it's good it makes me fly. Larry and Andrea did not have wires attached and did not fly around Fanny Hill's dining room. But tonight I did, just a little, and I think Josie's quaintrelle-training is off to a resounding start.