“Right now we’re going to take a trip back in time. Who remembers Sherman and the Time Traveling Machine? Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Time Travelers to the stage.” Those are the words of Gregg Latta (MC), as he welcomed the West Virginia Group to the Sowers stage. The Group consisting of four members, Chuck Sherry on stand up base, Michael Hasty on guitar and harp, Pam Francis on mandolin, and Lauren Smith on fiddle, are traveling singers committed to preserving folk music.
The Time Travelers, dressed for the weather, took the Sowers stage in Hawaiian shirts and shorts. As they began their performance to the mostly senior citizen crowd, lead singer Pam Francis says, “We like to see people singing along if you know the song.” The first song performed by the Time Travelers was When the Sun Goes Down. Looking through the crowd you may have found a foot tapping to the beat or a head nodding back and forth, but, not a soul singing along. In fact, this folk song was even unfamiliar to the bands triple threat, Michael Hasty. Hasty, in the first performance, clearly forgot his queue to take the lead from Pam. Pam covered the first few words for Michael until he was able to reclaim his place in the performance. Before the Time Travelers started their second song, mandolin player Pam Francis looked at Michael Hasty and sarcastically says, “Now here’s a sing-a-long I bet everyone knows.” In this encore performance Hasty does not miss a note.
In the effort to preserving folk music, the Time Travelers give us a dose of history when they sing an acapella selection. “Which is how music started, with out any instruments,” according to lead singer Pam Francis. The Time Travelers sang their acapella selection, Talk about Suffering, with great harmony. The precision of their harmony blocked out the fact that there were no instruments being used. Their great harmony also erased any objections to music without instruments not being as good.
The Time Travelers finally got the crowd to come alive with their rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s Mary Don’t You Weep. The Time Travelers triple threat, Michael Hasty is the lead singer and plays both the guitar and the harmonica at the same time. It is truly an amazing performance. As you look through the crowd, if there wasn’t a foot tapping or a head nodding, there was someone singing along. A young lady in the crowd had leaned over to me and stated, “This is way better than the bag pipes.” After the performance there is a standing ovation, but, the Time Travelers try to quiet the crowd as they still have one last song.
“We’re going to end with our ending song,
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