The Hot Cookies of the Bluegrass tune their ukuleles, the room filling with the twang of not-quite-perfect strings being strummed, and plucked, into submission.
The airy, light-filled kitchen is packed with Cookies taping sensible sandals to bouncy beats amid the organized clutter of music stands, spare ukes and something called a banjolele.
Rest assured there will soon be the occasional kazoo solo.
There is a happy chatter between songs, as the Cookies discuss key changes and intros and where, exactly, is the next gig going to be.
The ukulele players are female but organizer Patti Ballenger said there is the occasional male “sprinkle” which she describes as “that special something extra like the cherry on top”. Today’s Sprinkle is sitting on and playing a cajon, a crate-like percussion instrument.
The chatter stops, mostly, with the count down to a song, 3,2,1….the playing and singing begins with what is clearly a favorite tune called Homegrown Tomatoes. (Pronounced, appropriately for the Bluegrass, toe-may-tahs)
“Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden
Get you a ripe one, don’t get a hard un”
From Shillito Park to “Sisters”
The recipe for creating these Cookies began four years ago.
Most of the Cookies are retired. Teachers, writers, nurses, all sorts of professions are represented. They come together each Friday to make a joyful music that can be heard from the sidewalk outside of this house on one of the broad, tree-lined streets in downtown Lexington. They keep in touch the rest of the time via a Facebook page.
Ballenger was an accountant in her pre-retirement life but her current alter-ego could be called Head Cookie.
When she decided to teach a class through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Kentucky, she had a goal in mind - finding some like-minded, fun-loving women to share her passion for music.
OLLI, as it is known, offers classes, field trips and seminars for people over 50. Last year about 1,500 people participated in classes designed and taught by volunteers.
Executive Director Diane Lockridge said OLLI is more than educational, it can provide a sense of community. That can be important, especially as people age.
“Perceived social isolation certainly can affect your health, having that support group, having people that you are looking forward to being and learning with can have a huge impact on people’s lives,” she said.
That’s what happened with the Cookies. When the formal class ended, that spring, Ballenger suggested that, maybe, the group should keep playing.
Over the summer, they gathered at an outdoor pavilion in Lexington’s Shillito Park where park goers would be surprised to find a dozen women belting out a tune like “I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper.”
Slowly the Cookies moved indoors and their informal audiences turned into more formal performances, although they still play primarily for fun and at festivals and fundraisers.
Dinah Blue and Elizabeth Allison jam during a Friday morning practice session.
Credit Mary Meehan
But something else happened as the group evolved.
Ballenger said new friendships grew and old friendships deepened.
They laugh at the very real presence in their lives of UAS – or Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome. It is the overwhelming need to buy just-one-more ukulele. The group members claim to own anywhere from two to eight instruments each….but you get the feeling there might be some low ball figures being shared.
They’ve started introducing their musical drug to their grandkids, doing family open mic nights.
“It just makes you happy. It makes you happy to belong to something bigger than yourself and make other people happy,” Ballenger said.
But it goes beyond that.
Cookie Doris Settles is a Lexington author. She just recently returned after a long hiatus from the group. After practice, she claimed to “air strum” more than actually play but she is a pretty skilled pretender.
Settles said she missed the troupe while homebound, recovering from surgery.
“I hated having my ukulele edification interrupted by a ruined shoulder, but a few days after surgery, my husband told me to go to the backyard,” she said. “As you can imagine, I wasn't really in the mood to move at all, but when I saw who it was that had snuck into my backyard to serenade me, my mood lifted significantly. All of us laughed through several songs - including Homegrown Tomatoes.’
“We are really almost like sisters,” said Ballenger. The group travels together to a big ukulele festival in Nashville (Indiana) every year to camp and play music with some 800 other like-minded troubadours.
“I think just being able to share, we each bring in music that we like, we share it we introduce it to each other, we go on trips with each other, we write nice little thank you notes to each other. We share a love for each,” she said.
And, if you are a female, over 50, they will try, repeatedly, cheerfully to get you to become a Cookie too.
Biggin
That fun was in evidence earlier this at the Bluegrass Tomato Festival at Lexington’s Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. The festival consisted of a handful of booths and entertainment in an open-air pavilion. The Cookies, again, strum and tune and catch up, waiting their turn on the stage.
When asked move their performance time back to make way for a salsa demonstration the Cookies responded in the fashion you might expect.
Several joined the line dance to learn a few moves.
There was a small but attentive crowd when they finally lined up at the front of the concrete slab. They moved through some standards like Harvest Moon and Under The Board Walk. A few members of the choir that had proceeded them sang along, encouraging others to join.
With every song, the Cookies smile a little brighter, sway a little harder and tap their toes with a little more energy. They’ve handed out the lyrics to their finale, one of the favorites, Home Grown Tomatoes.
The church sits way back from the road and soon the surrounding fields are filled with the chirpy cadence of the chorus.
“Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes,
What’d life be like without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can’t buy
That’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.”
That last line is drawn out for dramatic flair to a round of applause.
As the Cookies pose for a group picture it’s clear the community has just expanded.
Ballenger said an audience has never before been so engaged.
“That’s what we’ve been waiting for,” she said with a smile.
