Evergreen’s O’Brien Family
Banding Together

Have you ever daydreamed about what it would be like to just pack up the motor home and take off across the United States with no time limit, just taking life as it comes?

Well, the O’Brien family, Dan, Janette, and the kids. Kyle thirteen and Maura ten are living the life most of us just dream about. The fact that they have a whole lot of talent packed into that motor home with them does make the whole adventure more feasible.

Their family life has always revolved around music. Dan is a singer/songwriter as well as a guitar and mandolin player. The kids both took fiddle lessons, and while Dan was teaching at Long View High School in Lakewood, they spent all their vacations and long weekends traveling to bluegrass festivals and fiddle contests, competing and absorbing the music.

Early on, the kids began entertaining at nursing homes and senior centers with other homeschooled children, much to the older folks’ delight. It was a rewarding experience for them to see how their music could brighten lives.

Janette originally played fiddle also, but they decided three fiddles was a little too much, so she took lessons and learned to play the bass, the key instrument in any bluegrass or country band.

As they honed their skills, they gradually broadened their horizons, playing at local coffee houses and various charities and fundraising functions in the Evergreen area. They had become a family band.

Dan explains how the travel plan unfolded: “When I retired from teaching, we thought that since Janette was homeschooling the kids, there wasn’t nearly as much holding us to one spot. It was something we had always dreamed about: ‘…wouldn’t it be fun if…?’ We realized we could probably pull this off!”
Janette adds: “It was a mutual decision with all four of us sitting down and saying: ‘Do we want to go on the road, and if we do, how long do we want to plan for?’ We reevaluate all the time. ‘Are we ready to stop? ‘We constantly update as to how this is doing.”

I asked the children to comment on what they expected starting out and what the reality is.

Kyle responds: “I didn’t realize we would learn so much music, play so much music, practice so much, and make so much progress. We are having a ball!”

Maura: “We are having a blast, but I do miss my friends. We make friends for a day or two at festivals and campgrounds, then we might meet them again at another festival, maybe three times a year.”

But Dan and Janette try to find other opportunities for them to meet kids. For instance, Maura will go to school in Tucson for about six weeks this winter while they are entertaining in the area.

Maura declares: “I take a vacation and go to school!”

They also try to come back to Colorado frequently to visit friends and family.

Kyle and Maura tell me they have had to make adjustments for homeschooling in the confines of a motor home. They don’t have room for science projects, baking, or more active games. On the road, they study the basic subjects, math, spelling, and reading.

Maura, very articulate for her ten years, explains: “But it’s more than just writing on paper, we actually get to experience it!”

They learn history and geography on the road by seeing so much of the country first hand and touring historical places such as the Lincoln and Eisenhower libraries and presidential homes. They excitedly list off places they have been: the Grand Ole Opry; Country Music Hall of Fame; Air and Space Museum; the White House; Washington, D.C.; New York City; the Statue of Liberty; and they’ve climbed the Empire State Building and visited Ground Zero.
The children have had adventures they will remember forever. In Tucson, Kyle served as batboy for the Colorado Rockies during spring training, as well as for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago White Sox. One day, Larry Walker invited Kyle to play his fiddle, which prompted the Rockies baseball team to dance around the dugout.

Once, while riding on the Zephyr train on the way to California on a business trip with his Dad, Kyle was filmed playing his mandolin by the British Discovery Channel who was filming a documentary on the railroads of the world. And even more exciting for Kyle: on that same train was Mr. Weasley (actor Mark Williams) of Harry Potter fame. Kyle and Dan ended up chatting and having dinner with Mr. Weasley! Life doesn’t get any better than that for a Harry Potter fan! Janette declares: “Dan is a master teacher. He takes any teachable moments that come up on a daily basis and turns them into a learning experience.”

Dan injects: “Music is really the seed or cord of continuity that gets us from one part of the country to another. It gives us the opportunity to explore and find out about that area. Once there, we discover that the Carlsbad Caverns are there or Gettysburg or whatever. So it’s music that pulls us around the country, and everything else fills in when we get there.”

I attended one of the family’s shows at the Mid-Winter Bluegrass Festival at the Northglenn Holiday Inn in February and was amazed at the skill and professionalism of these two young people. Kyle plays blazing fiddle tunes and lightning speed mandolin licks. As Dan comments: “I taught him everything I knew, and that wasn’t enough!” Maura plays fiddle, and guitar almost as big as she is. They both sing and their latest accomplishment is learning to yodel! They have won the title of Western Male and Female Youth International Yodeling Champions respectively this past year.

Dan groans: “Try living in a motor home with two kids learning how to yodel!”

Their skill at singing, fiddling, and yodeling makes for a show filled with fun and variety, with Dad contributing some of his original songs as well. As they keep you laughing, amazed, and clapping throughout the show, it is apparent that they are having a ball, too.

I asked the children how often they practice as a band. Maura responds: “When we’re traveling, basically whenever we have a chance. When we have a big show coming up, we try to get as smooth as we can, practicing maybe two hours after Dad’s done driving. Sometimes we just have fun playing; that’s practicing too. We practice as a band about four times a week for about two hours.” Maura continues: “Sometimes you think, oh man, practicing, I really don’t want to do it, and then once you get into it, you think it is so fun you don’t want to stop. It just pulls you in!”

Kyle comments: “Afterwards, we relax and watch a movie or play scrabble or card games. Dad and I play catch a lot.”

Janette tells me: Living in a small space has taught us to be respectful of each other’s things and each other’s idiosyncrasies. There is not as much bickering as one might expect. That was something I wasn’t sure about when we started.”

She continues: “The kids really are having a good time playing and just making people happy, especially in the schools. They kids really look up to Kyle and Maura. They can yodel and play the fiddle. Most kids don’t even get to have an instrument until the fifth grade. It inspires kids to play music. It empowers them. They learn that if you want to do something you have to work at it.

A lot of festivals have a school component where entertainers commit some time to performing at the local schools to expose children to bluegrass and Western music. The O’Briens always volunteer for those assignments.

After living in their motor home and renting out their Evergreen home for eighteen months, the O’Briens have decided to get their furniture out of storage and move it back into their house.

Janette explains: “We’re still traveling, but we will have our house in Evergreen to come back to. We have a lot of friends who would like to see us, and that will make it easier. One thing I would like is to be able to plan for a good three or four weeks at a time to be home and not do anything, just normal family things. I miss living in Evergreen, taking walks, enjoying the beauty of the area.”

Dan adds: “We will be at our house in Evergreen in April, and then we’re off to North Carolina and some things in the East, and then we have a lot to keep us busy through the summer.”

Dan comments: “After a year and a half, I feel like we have hardly scratched the surface. Every time we go some place, we learn about five or six other things, we could do if we only had more time. It is really hard to squeeze it all in even though it would seem we have all the freedom in the world. There is always some limitation. We have to get to another gig.”

Maura injects: “It’s not like they say, ‘OK we’re moving here.’ They ask us. It feels like we are really a part of it, and that’s really fun.”

Kyle adds: “Like if we’re trying to decide on a place and we don’t know what to do….you’ve got one good thing, and you’ve got another good thing, and we have to decide. It’s like if you decide to do this, then you can’t do that. It’s kind of like a rock and a hard place,” he laughs, “but it’s more like a pillow and a cushion!”

Dan states: “What we are hoping is that someday this could parlay into a trip to Europe or Australia. We have friends in Canada who would like us to come and play there next year. Things are starting to break right now that are really exciting.”

He continues: “It looks like there is more out there still to happen. We meet so many people, and one thing leads to another. I try to remind myself what a splendid time it is to be with the kids. Kyle is thirteen and likes to remind me that in three years he’ll be driving and in five years he’ll be off to college. Thirteen down and five to go in terms of day-to-day interaction with him. So we try to be real mindful of that. I just feel so blessed to spend all this time with my kids. I know how fast they grow up and suddenly are gone. To spend this much quality time in their proximity I feel is an honor and a blessing. I try never to take it for granted. Some people presume we are in this for stardom someday, and that is really not it. If this were to end tomorrow, what has been is already more than enough reward for the effort.”

Janette concurs: “The kids are having fun, they want to do this. The minute it stops being fun, we will quit. We have been so many places and learned so much. We could stop today without regret, and it will still have been such an amazing adventure!”

To follow the O’Brien family’s continuing adventures, check out their Web site at www.obrienfamilyband.com