Album Notes

Welcome to the growing family of Chairmen of the Chord shareholders. You have made a wise investment! The more people that purchase shares and listen to Initial Public Offering, the more global happiness will result. So pass this investment tip on to all your family and friends: Buy this CD and receive dividends every time you play it!
--The Mall Street Journal

About Chairmen of the Chord...

Bill Moon - Chief Lead Officer
Bob Ealy - Chief Bass Officer
Ray Korns - Chief Baritone Officer
Scott Bradberry - Chief Tenor Officer

Welcome to our Initial Public Offering (IPO). This collection of songs incorporates our favorite barbershop ditties as well as songs originally done by some famous quartets we admire. Why Barbershop? Well, this style of music was essentially part and parcel of the minstrel / vaudeville stage at the turn-of-the-twentieth-century. These are light, topical popular songs with wit, satire or sentimentality. In Middle (small town) America, collections of these songs were published and every barbershop had a stack of music on hand. Gentlemen awaiting their morning shave had the opportunity to sing and harmonize the popular tunes of the day. One man would sing the melody (the Lead) and the others would harmonize around it. This is why today, the style is called "Barbershop."

Our quartet did not originate from the barbershop society, SPEBSQSA (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartets Singing in America), but rather because of a musical review. A friend was staging vignettes from various Broadway musicals and needed a quartet for a sequence of Meredith Willson's The Music Man. We learned three songs - we stole the show! After deciding to continue the quartet, we learned Them There Eyes. The arrangement came from Bill's Dad, Dean Moon, who had sung this with his quartet, the Hi-Chords, who had been Rocky Mountain District Champions! This was our genesis some nine years ago.

Once we learned a few more songs, we started performing for various audiences to benefit community charities, support church activities as well as for our own enjoyment. But we had never performed for a "barbershop" audience. Our lead, Bill, was the only member of the society at that time. He wanted us to meet some members of his Santa Barbara chapter (and to show-off the quartet) so we trundled up the coast from L.A. and saw a great show. Afterwards, at the obligatory "afterglow" party, we had the opportunity to sing for Bill's friends. It was a warm summer night and as we finished our set one latecomer came through the screen door and exclaimed: "Who put on the record of the quartet with the old-timey-sound?" As one, three of us turned to Bill glaring and said: "Old-timey-sound?" "It's what I like!" replied Bill. This CD is resplendent with Bill's favorite old-timey-sound. Just listen to: Hard-Hearted Hannah, Them There Eyes and A Ring to the Name of Rose.

The previous begs the question then of just what is the "new-timey-sound"? There have been many stellar International Champion quartets since the inception of the barbershop society in 1938, but the 1990 champions, Acoustix, had a profound effect on the whole barbershopping world. It was what they did with the style, rather than to the style, that electrified and invigorated other quartets while exposing the style to a much larger audience. My own opinion is that they exemplified a return to musical-basics, infusing what had become a rather stilted "amateur" attitude toward singing, with a very professional, smooth and especially musical approach. This approach of using top musical arrangers, long melodic phrasing and a more regular tempo (our "new-timey-sound") has been widely emulated and our group is no exception. We're glad to include this sound, my personal favorite, on our IPO. Listen to: How Deep Is The Ocean and Irish Lullaby.

Several tunes included are not in the barbershop style, but are nevertheless our favorites. We've included a couple that should get your heart pumping and foot tapping: The Star-Spangled Banner and Stars and Stripes Forever.

One song we had to include which we all love is You'll Never Walk Alone from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel. The arrangement is by Jim Clancy, one of the best arrangers and choral directors in the business.

We're glad you didn't sit on your assets, but have taken stock and acquired our CD. We're sure you'll reap plenty of listening dividends!

RAY KORNS
December 16, 2002