Blue Water Ramblers - Meet Me in Milford Friday Night Live Concert Series

The Blue Water Ramblers perform the
folk songs of Michigan and America at Milford's downtown gazebo in Center Street
Park on South Main Street from 7-9 p.m. Friday, June 27, in the second of four
free Friday Night Live concerts.

The group’s repertoire comes right out of its
members’ experience living in Michigan and from the Great Lakes’ regional
history, including lake shanties, lumberman ballads, union rallying cries,
farmers' paeans, Michigan humor, 1960s civil rights and protest music, love
songs, gospel music and children's songs. "I think my hero, Woody Guthrie,
would approve," opined Banjo-Jim Foerch, who specializes in songs about
sailors, farmers, workers, lumberjacks and politicians as well as playing the
banjo, his instrument of choice since 1965. "We're singing the people's
songs about the people's lives and they can join right in and sing along."

Besides Foerch, the group’s members include
R.H. “Bear” Berends, who croons love songs and delivers protest songs old and
new, Tom DeVries, who has been entertaining people since his early 20s, and
bassist Dan Lynn, a California import who reads and leads crowd-pleasing
bluegrass songs as well as harmonizing with his pleasing tenor for the rest.

Foerch was a founding member of the regional
touring band, Beats Settin' Home, and was busy pickin' and singin' all
over the Midwest from 1982 to 2002. He said, “Everyone I ever met here in
Michigan or around the Midwest is proud of our home state and our country. Our
songs express that pride the best way we know how — by getting us all singing
together!”

Berends, a baritone, holds down the rhythm with
his big, black six and twelve string guitars. Like many a baby boomer, he
started to play guitar and sing folk music while still in high school in the
1960s. He joined Foerch and Beats Settin' Home at the Wheatland Music
Festival in Remus, Michigan in 1993; “Da Bearster” hasn't stopped playing and
touring since. "I wanted to sing with Banjo-Jim, so I learned all his
songs and taught him mine and here we are," he explained.

Between 1979 and 2001, DeVries was the front man for the popular Michigan
bluegrass band, The Hill People. When asked why he loves picking with
the Ramblers these days, he responded, "There's nothing I'd rather do than
write a song, work it up with the boys and deliver it to an enthusiastic
audience. And that's what we Ramblers are all about!"

A few years ago at Jam on the Grand, a tall fellow with a
bass fiddle joined in and told The Blue Water Ramblers he'd read about
the Jam in the paper and knew the group needed a bass player. Lynn wondered if
the Ramblers might have a couple gigs for him, so Berends and Foerch offered
him dozens! In addition to laying down the foundation of the music, the
California native played with the Crooked Jades, which evolved from a
bluegrass band to a freestyle old time show band while he was a member.

The concert on South Main Street will take place rain or shine. In the
event of inclement weather, the concert will move into the nearby Milford
Presbyterian Church.

Milford Downtown Development Authority and
Huron Valley Council for the Arts partner to present the popular Friday Night Live Concert Series, which
features three more Friday concerts this summer, all of which take place from
7-9 p.m., including:

·        
July 25’s performance of instrumental jazz by
Crossroads Family Band

·        
Brazil and Beyond’s blend of Brazilian music
and pop Aug. 22

For more information, call HVCA at
248-889-8660.

Written by Anne Seebaldt