Simply Strings brings Christmas cheer to Callaway County library

Simply Strings plucked away for a packed house at the Callaway County Public Library on Tuesday evening. Pictured from left in the back are Mary Corderman and Linda Tremain and from left to right in the front are Peggy Kleine, Melanie Black and Carol Welch.
Simply Strings plucked away for a packed house at the Callaway County Public Library on Tuesday evening. Pictured from left in the back are Mary Corderman and Linda Tremain and from left to right in the front are Peggy Kleine, Melanie Black and Carol Welch.

Simply Strings plucked away for a packed house Tuesday evening at the Callaway County Public Library.

The group of women from Mid-Missouri travel and play an assortment of hand-built dulcimers, banjos, a bowed psaltery, the fiddle and acoustic guitar. The ensemble played a variety of Appalachian-style song in addition to some Christmas tunes.

"We hope we brought you a little Christmas cheer," dulcimer player Peggy Kleine said.

The group is comprised of Kleine, Melanie Black, Carol Welch, Mary Corderman and Linda Tremain. Tremain was among the most vocal of the group members as she introduced each song, shared a variety of jokes with the audience and traded friendly jabs with her bandmates.

Some of the Christmas songs they played included "Away in a Manger," "First Noel," "Jingle Bells," "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman." Tremain would introduce the Christmas songs with riddles to have the audience try to guess the correct name.

In addition to the humorous anecdotes told between songs, the band members would educate the audience on the unique instruments they were playing. All of their instruments were from the mid-19th century and early 20th century from various parts of the U.S.

The group also put their vocals on display as they sung in unison during their performance of "Missouri Waltz." Tremain called "old music" their specialty.

"We play a lot of 'old music' because we're too cheap to pay for any kind of copyright," she joked.

The group also took audience questions throughout any portion of their performance. Much of the audience's interest was in the particular differences between the instruments.

"Compared to the equal frets on a guitar, the frets on (the mountain dulcimer) look like a drunken hillbilly made it," Kleine joked.

According to the Simply Strings members, their instruments were made out of a vast variety of wood that includes walnut, cherry, birdseye maple and many more. Each member of the group played multiple instruments as the performance progressed.

"They say there aren't any wrong notes on a dulcimer, but I seem to find them all the time," Black joked.

The group finished out the concert by handing out a variety of jingle bells, shakers and other percussion instruments to audience members. They also passed out sheet lyrics for their final Christmas tunes so the audience could sing along.

"The 'Missouri Waltz' is the only song we can sing and play so we're going to need your guys' help on these ones," Kleine joked.