Folk Duo Looks to Connect with Audience at YMCA

It's the classic tale of the troubadour musicians traveling across the nation in a beat-up Winnebago camper and performing for meals.

Those troubadours, Rachel Levy and Mack Bailey, will bring their act to Spring Lake Park at the Wyckoff YMCA at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The performance is part of the Y's continuing summer concert series.

"The Y was pleased to present several outdoor concerts over the course of the summer, offering affordable, family-friendly entertainment to our members and the public," said Kristine Pepper, director of public relations for the Wyckoff Y. 

She said that special performances like this help "us distinguish the Wyckoff Family YMCA not only as a 'swim and gym' but as a community center meeting the wellness, social and cultural needs of our community."

But for the performers, it gets a bit more complicated than traveling in a beat-up camper. 

"We actually have a new Winnebago," Levy said with a laugh. 

The husband and wife duo were on their way to Maryland, where they were scheduled to perform a day before their Wyckoff date, but the two said they were looking forward to their north Jersey excursion. 

"We really are looking forward to it," said Levy. "Mack was friends with the Kennedy Brothers, and they suggested we perform there." 

Bailey said he was looking forward to reconnecting with some old acquaintences. 

"I am very much looking forward to heading to Wyckoff," Bailey said. "I have some friends in that area who I have not seen in a long time so it is a wonderful opportunity." 

Levy and Bailey have been together for five years and have been playing music all that time.

"A few years ago, I was a lawyer, and I decided I wanted something more for myself," Levy said. "I met Mack and he helped me along with this musical journey of sorts." 

When asked if this was a modern day version of "running away and joining the circus," Levy said but it was just as much fun. 

The pair tend toward the "singer/songwriter" genre of folk music that features a "bare essentials" performance with minimal instrumentation. But the performances are anything but staid.
 
"We have a lot of fun and one of our goals is to catch the audience off guard with some humor or something powerful," Bailey said. 

He has written songs that have detailed his passion and concerns for the environment and most recently penned a song, "Why Is It So Quiet?," voicing both his and Levy's concerns about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

"I was raised in Pensacola," said Bailey. "That area means a lot to me. I was looking at the photos, and I wanted to know what was really happening." 

"I wrote the song to get it out of me," said Bailey. "I had heard the perspective of the BP officials, the scientists and when I saw the pictures, I was inspired to write the song."

Such a song is in keeping with folk music's "protest-style" songs made famous in the 1960s. 

"I would say the songs of today very much have the same meanings and passions behind them, but I am not sure the people listening have the same mind-frame today that they did in the 1960s," Levy said. 

"But the singer/songwriters perform what they feel, and the songs can run the whole spectrum, from happy to sad."  

However, she said that both she and Bailey choose to focus on the inspirational. 

"Even though the subject matter can be tough, we remain positive." 

For more information, visit Mack Bailey's website here.