For the past five years Kansas City, Mo. antique pop duo Victor & Penny have been resurrecting the work of the greats.
"It was really about the music," said Erin McGrane. She's the voice and ukulele player in the group. "The songs from this era are really a golden era of song writing. beautiful melodies by well-known writers. It's [Duke] Ellington, it's Harry Woods, Hoagy Carmichael."
When the time came for the melodious soul doctors to write their fourth album, they took refuge in an unlikely location.
"I'm not saying we can write songs as well as Duke Ellington, but it's certainly inspiring to try," McGrane said.
Armed with notepads and their home coffee maker, the two took over Missouri Bank's Crossroads branch lobby.
"They [the bank] have made it their mission to be involved in the community and they have also made it their mission to be involved in the artistic community of Kansas City," said Jeff Freling. He's the second half of the group, singing and playing the guitar.
The band asked everyone, from bank customers to their own Twitter followers, to provide themes, quotes and thoughts for their new project.
While Victor & Penny didn't use exact words people submitted, they did use their submissions as inspiration.
"Bringing people together, the joy of it," Freling said. "There's so much darkness and sorrow in the world and if we can shine a light for even 90 minutes of one evening, then we've done something good."
Now the antique pop duo is crowd sourcing again, this time to put the final touches on their latest album, ELECTRICITY.
They're including some pretty cool swag if you donate to their Indiegogo campaign.
"Be part of the art and we thought, that crowd sourcing for ideas through the song lab is literally be a part of the art," said McGrane. "It's energy, it's electricity. That's what we talk about in our new album, it's electricity between us, between us and the audience, between the audience and the city."
Victor & Penny Upcoming Shows
- Dec 17, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. (FREE)
Thursday Third Thursday at the Nelson-Atkins
4525 Oak St, Kansas City, Mo.- Dec 19, 2015 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (FREE)
The Orion Room at the Green Lady Lounge
1809 Grand, Kansas City, Mo.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
You can also follow her on Twitter.
