Simplicity makes this revue soar. No mindless, cutesy chatter mars Rhonda Coullet's delineation of the purposes and place of Harry Chapin's folk music. The opening set foreshadows the singing instrumentalists' musical journey, starting with an incremental "All My Life's a Circle" by Chapin. Clayton "Fletch" Fletcher and James Larmer sweat out Woody Guthrie's "Hard Travelin'." The whole group travels straight down Billy Joel's "River of Dreams." A rural set recalls the earthy origins of folk music, with Rhonda keying in a melancholy "Remember When the Music." Said to be Guthrie's answer to Berlin's "God Bless America," "This Land is Your Land" begins almost as whispering and ends with the audience enthusiastically clapping.
Lighting spots emphasize the "worker" whom Coullet gives voice to in "Pastures of Plenty." John Jacobsen's deep bass weightily underpins the traditional "This Train Is Bound for Glory." On lighter notes, he also tells Chapin's truck driver's story of "30,000 Pounds of Bananas. Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" signals urban songs of social and cultural change, highlighted by Chapin's most famous "Cat's In The Cradle," with lyrics by his wife about father and son in a nuclear family. Coullet claims "I Wonder What Would Happen to This World" goes to the core of Chapin's beliefs. Doing it with evangelical fervor and tone, the group ends in perfect upbeat harmony.
The program's second part retains the draped-over-brick background and instruments scattered about and ready to be plucked. Male performers keep their casual colored shirts (John's with brocade vest); Coullet, her iridescent green jacket over blouse; all, their dark trousers. Nothing distracts from the content of the "Stories From the Heart" they narrate with songs like Chapin's "Taxi" (fortified by Michael Sebastian on cello) and -- in dialogue by Rhonda and Paul Blankenship (also a deft accordionist) -- "Dreams Go By" as well as James' quiet delineation of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer." The finale is a reprise of "I Wonder What Would Happen" as a tribute to the featured songwriters, and what happens is a whoopin', toe-tappin', clappin' audience.
