Print Story  Email Story  Discuss Story
» More Feature Stories

MULTIMEDIA Audio:  The kids are alright What:  The Funky River Band’s CD release, to benefit the Blues Bank Collective Where:  The Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket When:  June 29, 8 p.m. Cost:  $10 Contact:  659-6321, Site:  www.thestonechurch.com

It’s been nearly a decade in the making, but finally, T.J. Wheeler & the Funky River Band have recorded their freshmen CD, “Play It Forward.” They’ll celebrate the album, created as a fund-raising vehicle for the Blues Bank Collective (BBC), with a release party and performance at the Stone Church in Newmarket on Thursday night, June 29.

The recording is quite an accomplishment for a youth band that originally organized as a one-week workshop, back in the ‘90s. The musical venture was a BBC Blues Education Program event, fulfilling the nonprofit’s core mission. It was led by blues musician T.J. Wheeler, who conducts most the BBC youth and in-school workshops. The programming, offered throughout the world, promotes the blues, diversity, civil rights, as well as the music’s history and positive social change.

It’s the latter two that became the stronger interest for Rachael Drapcho, the 15-year-old vocalist and Portsmouth High School sophomore.

“I was interested even though I was only 7,” she says. “I loved it because, you’re not only learning the (music), but the history of blues and jazz and slavery and early-American history.”

Learning the lyrics and the secret meanings of historical blues tunes, passed between African-American slaves, was especially interesting.

“One example is ‘follow the drinking gourd,’” she says. “The gourd was essentially the big dipper. … The whole song was a code they’d sing so those that wanted to escape knew ‘the old man is waiting to carry you to freedom, follow the big dipper.’ … They also sang to escape their misery. It’s how the blues were established. I think that’s the part most Americans don’t know about the blues.”

Having that knowledge helps her do justice to the tunes, including the dozen or so on the new CD, she says.

The song selection was a group effort.

“We all knew which we’d sing. … They seemed to be, quote-unquote, the most favorite of the group; what we like most to sing and what the audience seems to like to hear,” says Drapcho.

The CD is described as a combination of blues, jazz, gospel, funk and soulful roots music. In addition to traditional tunes, the CD features “Old Man on the Mountain,” written by Wheeler with help from the students of Spaulding Center School in Tilton and their arts and music teacher Andrew Raeside.

When the Funky River Band first started, 10 years ago this summer, there were “15 or more rambunctious kids in the program,” says original and current member Ben Burdick, 19, a Stanford University freshman. Today it includes Katie Hart on flute and vocals; Daniel May on washtub, bass and vocals; Burdick on harmonica, djembe and vocals; and Drapcho.

In its first year, the band performed at the BBC’s Blues Festival, and continued to do so annually. (This year’s festival has been canceled.) It went on to perform at elderly housing, rallies and other events such as Portsmouth’s First Night. The band has also been a staple at Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s Martin Luther King Celebration. In 2003 the Funky River Band was voted Best Student Band by New Hampshire Magazine. After the third year the program went year-round, with an average of once a month rehearsals.

Burdick initially joined “to learn about music and have a good time during an ideal week of summer.” He stayed on because “I’ve really gained a lot working with T.J. in terms of experience and musicianship.”

“He’s a fabulous musician and a pleasure to work with, promoting not only the music but the lifestyle of self education, social consciousness, giving back to the community, and finding our place in it,” says Burdick.

Wheeler could not be reached for this article. He was on the road delivering a van full of instruments to schools in and around New Orleans, says Burdick.

“He’s a socially conscious guy and has impressed it on all of us. … Yes, it’s (a lesson) as important as the music.”