Visitors enjoy a 'Walk Through Time'

By Christina Weaver
Special to the Coastal Point

	Special to the Coastal Point • M. PATRICIA TITUS From left, Don Sharp and Herb Crowe mug for the camera.

The program, presented by the Bethany Beach Cultural and Historical Affairs Committee, on Wednesday, March 2 at the Bethany Beach Town Hall, featured local residents and professional musicians, Herb Crowe and Don Sharp. Introduced by Committee Chair and town Vice Mayor, Carol Olmsted, Crowe and Sharp played and sang a number of favorite American popular pieces of the past 150 years. The combination of sound from Crowe’s banjo and Sharp’s mix of brass-winds and his light tenor voice with the qualities that were so popular during the ‘20s through the ‘40s, made for perfect authenticity.

The evening started with a lively set that transported one “from Alabama with a knapsack on my knee” via the “Swannee, how I love you, River” to “My old Virginia Home!” If one had closed one’s eyes, as many in the audience did, you could imagine sitting in your pre-TV era living room listening to the radio and tapping your toes and humming along, just as happened in the town hall. And, as the program advanced, many people sang softly the words they remembered so well.

“It was a wonderfully nostalgic evening,” commented General Phil Drew, who, with his wife, Admiral Mimi Drew, sang along to the tune of “Home, Home on the Range,” which Sharp informed the audience had been penned in 1873.

Crowe and Sharp have been playing together for 14 years and their easy camaraderie and humor immediately make the audience feel at home with them. Their first job together was on the Queen Anne’s Railroad Royal Zephyr Dinner Train out of Lewes. Since then, they have performed mostly in Sussex County at country clubs, house parties, town fairs, and nursing homes. As Sharp noted, “We are very popular for 50th wedding anniversaries!”

Crowe, born and raised in Delaware, began his musical adventures playing the button accordion in his high school band. He has played the banjo for 48 years, including 30 in the greater Wilmington String Band under the direction of Al Smith, member of the Banjo Hall of Fame. For the past eight years he has directed the Back Bay Strummers, a very popular string instrument group that will be playing in Bethany Beach for the new Crafts Festival on June 4th, the 4th of July Parade and at one of the Boardwalk musical concerts. Crowe brought several of his personal banjos, both 5-string and tenor, to the program including one made in the 1920s. He told the group that the banjo is the only instrument that is original to America, and was designed based on similar African instruments introduced to America by slaves.

Sharp began playing trombone 48 years ago in Philadelphia. Since then he has played in bands and orchestras in 20 states. He taught music in elementary schools in Hawaii, and has performed on cruise ships and in hotels and hospitals. Sharp now specializes in the field of geriatric music therapy. He told heart-warming stories of people in nursing homes who respond more to a few minutes of songs from their youth than to a week’s worth of other interaction. “We always finish with ‘We’ll Meet Again,’” he told the audience. And that indeed was how this musical walk through time ended.

“Just marvelous,” commented Richard Grundy to his wife, Peggy Jane, as they joined the rest of audience in a standing ovation for Crowe and Sharp and the memories they evoked.

Information about other Bethany Beach cultural events and Council and Committee meetings may be found on the Web site, www.townofbethanybeach.com. To find out where else you may hear the music of Herb Crowe and Don Sharp or to book your own event, contact Sharp at 539-9502.