PORCH SOUNDS: LOCALS MAKE VARIETY OF MUSIC, FUN FOR ALL AGES

by SHELLY FUNSCH
McKinney Courier-Gazette, 11-9-99 (Reprinted with permission)
       Members of the E-Flat Porch Band credit a refrigerator for the group's beginnings.  The 4.5-year-old local band consists of two bald guys, a talented woman and their den mother. Their music ranges from jazz and blues to folk, country and originals without a category.

       Rudy Littrell, a recovering percussionist, can play four instruments at once: acoustic bass, high hat, harmonica and a wooden soda pop box.  Duane Brown plays the guitar, and Chris Baker Davies sings, plays mandolin and guitar and writes songs.  Adah Leah Wolf tries to keep the guys in line and the band on schedule.

       After Adah Leah and Duane Brown got married in 1993 and moved to McKinney in 1994, they needed a refrigerator.   

       Adah Leah recalled a man, a self-employed appliance and air conditioner repairman, who had donated a microwave to the Collin County Farm Museum, where she worked.  Just in case, she called to see if he had an extra refrigerator.  It turned out that Rudy was wanting to get rid of an extra refrigerator.   

       So he brought it to Adah Leah and Duane's home in the historic district, and they were delighted to find out it was olive green, matching their other appliances. Rudy and Duane's meeting led to their discovery of each other's love of music. 

       Duane, an auditor for an insurance company, says he doesn't have a musical background. He's just been playing since he got a guitar at age 3. He taught himself to play while growing up in Pampa.  In high school he joined bands, developing his talent and an irreverent streak during his rock 'n' roll days before attending West Texas A&M in Canyon.

       Rudy knew he wanted to be a musician when saw a kid on "The Mickey Mouse Club" playing a drum. So he started in fifth grade. He played percussion in his high school band in Irving, venturing to the McKinney square go hang out with his cousins now and then.  He chose percussion as his major at North Texas State University in Denton. 

       "I loved music until I got to music school," he says.  "Then I had to learn music theory.  I remember once my professor showed me my grades," Rudy says, raising his eyebrows.  "I said, 'Oh.' He said, 'If you promise not to come back I'll pass you.'"  The deal worked.  However, Rudy later returned to earn a degree in industrial arts.

       At the time the two men met, Rudy was playing traditional fiddle music of the 1700s and 1800s for a small band called Random Seating.  Duane started playing for the band, and the guys became friends. They decided to start a band, but couldn't decide on a name.  They considered Two Bald Guys, a name for which they're also known today, but settled on the E-Flat Porch Band.

       They spend many nights playing on Duane and Adah Leah's front porch.  They say  they serenade the neighbors with songs appropriate for their actions.

        "At E-Flat the porch resonates," Duane explains.

        "So it's an E-Flat porch," Rudy adds.  "And for a nominal fee we can come calibrate your porch.  If it's not E-Flat, we'll tweak on it until it is."

        Duane and Rudy began performing locally, in the Metroplex and at festivals around the state, venturing to other states for folk festivals.  They released a CD, "Porch Music," last year.

        They met Chris at a historical neighborhood block party.  "I never though I'd run into people who played music I know," Chris says.  "It's not commercial radio music.  I thought it was amazing."

        The men mentioned their usual front porch playing, and one night about two years later Chris just showed up.   "I had heard their CD and loved it," she says.  "I bought about 20 copies for my friends and family." She kept coming back and eventually brought her instruments. "She wanted to see if we'd take the bait," Rudy jokes.  "Now we're Two Homely Bald Guys and a Pretty Redhead."

        She's been with the band a year, and now she's working on releasing her own CD while also working as a Spanish facilitator at the ACT Academy.  Adah Leah's designing the cover.

        Chris comes from a musical family.  Her CD will feature four songs by her brother, Sam Baker.

        "We all used to just sit around and play," she says.  "I was forced to take piano lessons, and I appreciate it now." 
     
        The trio, under Adah Leah's guidance, look forward to making a CD after Chris finishes her first one.

        The band plays for audiences of all ages, at clubs, parties, charity events, festivals and, of course, the front porch.  And if another opportunity arises, they take it.

        For example, they were driving home from a performance at a Richardson club in Rudy's orange Volkswagen van when a wreck on Central Expressway stalled traffic for two hours.

        "So we just pulled out in the middle of the highway and played," Rudy says.  "A bus full of church kids came over, and somebody had a spotlight."

        Duane adds, "We had more fun playing in the middle of the road with no sound system than we did at that club."

        Chris, who loves to share music with others, says music is also personal.  "It's incredible therapy," she says.  "There's just something about live music."

         "Even when it's out of tune it's better than karaoke or processed music," Rudy chimes in.

        Duane sums it up with, "Music is an affliction, kind of like an addiction."