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Canyon
Courier - Evergreen, Colorado, Local Newspaper O'Briens
find the
right tune If all their music contest awards were hung on the walls, well, there'd scarcely be room. Parents Dan and Janette O'Brien, and kids Kyle, 10, and Maura,7, are musicians in the bluegrass, folk, country traditions. Patrons of Common Grounds in Kittredge will remember the O'Brien Family Band from the weekly open mike nights they hosted there, and anyone who's stopped by the Local Grind at the Elk Bridge Center on a Thursday evening lately has seen them, or perhaps joined them on stage. Their latest success was at a festival in Casper, where the kids each took third place in their age groups for fiddling and Dan took first in the male vocalist category. From the 31st Annual Ainsworth, Nebraska Country Music Festival recently, the family took home a whopping eight awards, among them first place in Open Fiddle for Kyle and fourth place in the same event for Maura. What makes the feat stand out is that the children were competing against fiddlers of all ages. The 2,200 people in attendance voted Kyle No. 1 for the People's Choice award and the O'Brien Family Band number two. Dan won first place for "Gettin' Old is Really Gettin' Old," written in the allotted nine hours for the songwriting contest. All this music-making started with Dan. A mandolin and guitar player, singer and a songwriter for 35 years, Dan played gigs in college without ever really looking at it as a potential career. "I always wanted to be a teacher." He was working in the deaf education field when he met Janette, who was a translator for the deaf. "He seduced me with his music," she smiles and he does, too. "Oh, don't write that!" she exclaims, then relents. It was two children later, at one of the many festivals the family attended, that Kyle, then 6, became entranced by a young girl playing the fiddle and decided then and there fiddling was for him His parents bought him a fiddle for Christmas. Janette thought it might be fun to take lessons along with her son, and she got a fiddle for Christmas, too. Janette, who plays bass guitar and played piano as a child, is good at reading music and classic violin technique. Kyle listens to his mother practice while he reads, and by the time he goes to practice, he has the music in his head. One day, Kyle could not attend the lesson he and his mother take weekly. To Janette's surprise, Maura asked to fill in. What was once Dan's abiding interest has turned into a family affair. Many of the songs they perform are Dan's. He came out with a CD called "Old Cars and Old Guitars" a few months ago. They sell it when they perform locally and at festivals. Inspiration for songs come from everywhere. For songs like "Jessica James" and "God Wants Me to Be a Cowboy," a line, an idea came from family. Although lessons, practice and performance fill a sizable dollop of their time, the kids participate in other activities. Maura is in Brownies and plays soccer and softball. Kyle is a Little League catcher. Kyle and Dan share a love of baseball. During the summer, Dan works as a vendor at Coors Field, and the family goes to a number of games. Once Kyle saw the buskers by the stadium, he asked his father if he could do it, too. They tried it out, with Janette watching over him while Dan worked. He made money and was hooked. Now Kyle accompanies his father to the games, watches until Dan's quitting time during the seventh inning, then Dan relaxes on a bench while his son performs. Maura has joined him upon occasion, and the two draw quite a crowd, said Dan. "It's way fun," says Kyle. "It feels good." "People love it," said Janette. Kyle is not a shy child. During a concert the family was attending at Red Rocks, he was asked up on stage to perform and did so without a qualm. "The audience not clapping is the worst that could happen," he responded when asked if he was nervous. "I would have known I tried my best." Kyle has followed in Dan's footsteps with a CD of his own in the works. It's called "Kyle's Big Hit" and the cover has a picture of him playing the fiddle with a base ball bat for a bow. Janette is not quite as comfortable in the limelight as her son. When she plays the bass guitar in the family band, she stands in back, so she feels OK. But with the fiddle, standing front and center, she's not so confident yet. "It's truly amazing,"says Dan of his wife's willingness and ability to learn a music instrument as an adult and perform. While they all enjoy winning at festivals, that's not why they play, say Dan and Janette. Old time fiddle music isn't that complex. It's easy for people who've never played together to sit down and jam. The best pickin' at these events, according to Dan, is at the campgrounds and in the parking lots. It's a safe, family-oriented atmosphere. They tend to run into the same families, he says. Janette has homeschooled the children from the start, so along with performances and festival-attending, the family spends a lot of time together, and in the not-too-distant future, they'll be spending even more. After 29 years of teaching, Dan may re tire next year. They are planning what he calls "theme traveling." For instance, if the children are studying the Civil War, they'll visit historic sites that pertain to that era. They want to hit as many of the national parks as they can, too. For now, they'll continue playing locally and at festivals. "We want to encourage people to enjoy music," says Janette. She invites Evergreeners to bring their acoustic instruments to Open Mike Night at the Local Grind and let loose.
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KITTREDGE-Musical
instrument cases are parked by the fireplace of their Evergreen
home. CDs are stacked in the corner and shelves of them frame the
stereo. Photographs of family members holding guitars or alongside
musician friends are perched atop the rolltop desk.