Folksy and Fun in Princeton

What’s in a name? Everything for the musical group that calls itself Hot Soup.

The trio of female singer-songwriters records and performs a little bit of everything — original tunes, standards from the 1920s through the 1940s and covers written by contemporary folk artists.

But they all has a common thread in the hands of Sue Trainor, Christina Muir and Jennie Avila, who take this mixed bag of music and play it in their harmonic, and acoustic, style.

“Part of the philosophy of Hot Soup, to have three solo artists, three individual performers, who can come together the same way you would put soup together,”Avila says. “All of the ingredients can stand on their own but when you put them together it creates something new and wonderful. And hot and steamy.”

Avila says harmonies define Hot Soup’s sound and fun is a hallmark of the group’s concerts, like the one the band will perform May 20 at the Christ Congregation Church in Princeton. The show is the last of this season’s Princeton Folk Music Society Concert Series.

Some of the standards Hot Soup shares are “Sentimental Journey,” “Moonglow” and an old flapper tune called “Tain’t No Sin (To Dance Around in Your Bones).” Contemporary songwriters they cover include John McCutcheon, Andrew Lawrence and Libby Roderick.

“We spend a lot of times on our arrangements,” Avila says during a phone interview as the band traveled to a Pittsburgh gig. “We’re very particular about our arrangements and our harmonies. It’s a fun process, because we enjoy working together and I think that fun translates onto the stage, which is one of the main components of our performances, the interaction with the audience and just having fun.”

So much fun, she says, that Hot Soup concerts become celebrations. The band is known for adding intimacy and laughter to its shows through interactions with the audience and among themselves.

“There’s depth to these songs but there’s an overall sense to our performances,” Avila says. “Whether it’s a sad song or a deeply spiritual song, it’s going to be fun. As long as we can make it fun for us and the audience, then it’s a song that’s appropriate for Hot Soup.”

Trainor and Muir started Hot Soup 15 years ago. Avila joined the band in 2004, and refers to herself as the band’s “third third person.”

“They had invited me to join them many years previously but I was already in a band with somebody else,” she says. “And when their second third person was leaving, they e-mailed me and asked me again and this time it worked out.”

Avila grew up in Doylestown, Pa., and has performed in the area several times, both as a member of Hot Soup and as a solo artist. She moved to Maryland in 2005, partly because of her commitment to the band and partly because her home in Lumberville flooded.

“The river kind of kicked me out,” she says.

All three members of Hot Soup are solo artists in their own right, allowing them to sing lead and share harmonies. They also mix things up musically, all three play guitar and they incorporate instruments like harp, conga and other percussion instruments into their shows.

In describing the band’s audiences, Avila says the group has fans of all ages, all of whom like intelligent lyrics, a fun presentation and a melody.

“We are definitely melody-oriented,” she says. “Good melody will hook us in any time.”

Hot Soup will perform at Christ Congregation Church, 50 Walnut Lane, Princeton, May 20 at 8:15 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 p.m.) Tickets cost $20, $15 Princeton Folk Music Society Members, $5 children. For information, call 609-799-0944 or go to www.princetonfolk.org.