Community's chorus

Nearly 40 local residents are taking part in recording the chorus to Kevin Danzig's "The Great Mississippi" that will be used in radio advertisements for Liberty Fest, Cape Girardeau's Fourth of July celebration, and possibly for other city promotions in the future.

Monday night about half the vocals for the song's ending chorus of "Old Man River" were recorded. Vocalists were divided into groups of five to record the chorus. Once all the groups are finished recording, their vocals will be mixed to make it sound like they were all recorded at the same time.

According to Ken Keller of IBS Studio 2, the re-recorded version of "The Great Mississippi" will sound bigger and more powerful than the original, especially with the addition of a group chorus.

Danzig has already recorded his vocals at Cape Girardeau's IBS Studio 2 and will be back next week when Keller mixes the track.

The singer, who lives in Asheville, N.C., first recorded "The Great Mississippi" for his 1999 album "Free the Poet." Since then, Danzig has had several concert appearances in Cape Girardeau and has gotten to know Larry Underberg and Don Jung, who are behind the re-recording.

It was around the time of Danzig's February concert in Cape Girardeau that Jung had volunteered to be in charge of promoting and advertising Liberty Fest. Things just came together in his mind, Jung said, and he realized "The Great Mississippi" would be a great song to play during radio advertisements for the event.

Danzig was game and even made some adjustments to his song to make it more representative of Cape Girardeau.

"Music is very evocative," Jung said. Danzig's song captures Cape Girardeau because "it's a song about the river, which is the main point of identity for the city."

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau liked the song enough to commission its re-recording and they may use it again for other city promotions, Jung said.

"Originally I just thought of it for Liberty Fest, but the more I think about it, I think the song would have more interest than just for Liberty Fest," he said.

Looking at CDs

Jung's university colleague Larry Underberg said he is looking into the expenses involved in packing and producing enough CDs to sell at local stores. Underberg sees the CDs as being a potential item of interest for tourists.

Underberg was behind recruiting many of the people who are participating in the recording, a third of who are local musicians. He said there are also people participating who just wanted to be involved in the process.

According to Underberg, Danzig was supportive of the idea to recruit area residents for the chorus. "He wanted to make sure we made opportunities available to people who had been interested in his career," Underberg said.

Finding musicians to participate, however, was not difficult for Underberg.

"We have a really active local music scene around here," he said. "In the last couple of years Cape Girardeau has become the destination of choice for a number of acoustic acts."

Underberg said the recording not only celebrates the Mississippi, but the vibrant music scene of Cape Girardeau. "It was really important to get as many local players as possible," he said.

Some of those local musical players showed up Monday to record their vocals, including Doug Rees, Jennifer Nobel, Bruce Zimmerman and Ruth Sauerbrunn-Winstead and her husband, Dean Winstead.

"I love all kinds of community events, especially with musicians. It's wonderful to involve as many people as we can," Nobel said.

"It was neat, I think it's going to work out well," Sauerbrunn-Winstead said.

Also taking part in Monday's recordings were Terry Wright, a musician and host of KRCUs "Your Folk Connection," and Richard Withers of Withers Broadcasting.

Not everybody who participated, however, heard about it through Underberg.

Friends Sandy Hill and Linda Mahy read about the recording in the Southeast Missourian and thought it was something they should do together.

Mahy said it was her husband that persuaded her to take part because she has was a musician herself, having recorded a gospel album in 1979 and performed in a band for 10 years.

"It was great," she said of the recording session. "It was like being back at home base." Mahy and Hill said they hope the song gets used more for promoting Cape Girardeau.

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182