Penn Street

L to R: Cap Hamilton, Jill Delage, Barbara Henry, Kenn Amdahl, John Brady

Cap Hamilton wanted to try creating a cappella arrangements. He gathered a few of his friends together(including me) to sing his arrangements. I stood behind Cap in the Swallow Hill gospel choir, right beside John Imes. One night Cap turned and asked if I’d like to be in the group. I said I was pretty sure he actually was hearing John, who had a much better voice than me. I still believe that was true, but Cap thought he wanted me, so I agreed. We worked pretty hard at a few songs. Once we learned our parts, Cap tweaked them, and gradually they started to sound pretty good. Our mutual friend Bill Howe also arranged a few songs. Then Cap asked if I’d like to try, so I arranged “Let it Roll.” Alas, the group broke up before we really learned that one, but I’ve included the early version here anyway.

You can listen to ten of our songs on THIS page.

Sometimes Cap recorded rehearsals and he recently uploaded a couple to youtube. Mostly fun for those of us in the group. When Penn Street dissolved, Barb, John and I continued getting together and evolved into the group Cottonwood.

We went into the studio of Jim Ratts and some moments were preserved on video:

penn street  1992 some singing, mostly goofing around