But most of the southern singers are elderly now. Some fear their tradition might die out with them. Stephen Smith of Minnesota Public Radio reports that the future of this singular American music may depend on young Yankees up in the snow belt. The way they arrange their chairs says everything. These musicians are perfectly content to keep their backs to the audience, if anyone came to listen.
Group gets pitch, sings.
And so the group first sings out the notes and then later does the tune with the actual words. Keith Willard sits at the back of the bass section in a flannel shirt and suspenders. To stand there and listen is an unnatural act in this tradition. The focus is wholly on the singer. Willard holds the song book in one hand, the other chops at the air with a rhythmic snap.