The Old Lycoming Recreation Board is throwing a New Year's Eve party that will feature dinner catered by The Country Store, door prizes, raffles, dancing and music by local duo Danny Kimble and Sandy Barrett.
Kimble, a Williamsport native, promises "one heck of a good time" for partygoers.
"We work our tails off," he said. "And the only reason we're there is to make sure you have a good time."
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Danny Kimble and Sandy Barrett.
The duo seems like an infinite jukebox, performing everything from blues and jazz, to country and pop.
"We're a hobo stew," Kimble said. "We do anything and everything musically."
"We pull from each genre and decade," Barrett added. "We can't just stick to the '80s or '70s, we can go back further, pull in people from other ages ... and we do a lot of new stuff too."
Barrett said that she likes to sing Miranda Lambert songs as well as Lady Gaga.
"Gotta keep it current," she said. "There's one by Amy Winehouse called, 'Our Day Will Come.' It's an older song, but she puts a new beat to it ... that's one I like to do."
Kimble, who studied trumpet at the Berklee School of Music (now Berklee College of Music) and The Boston Conservatory, likes to perform the Allman Brothers, B.B. King and Ray Charles, among others.
"I try not to suffer from musical bigotry," he said. "So, basically, nothing is out of bounds."
Before Kimble and Barrett began performing together about three years ago, Kimble had been out of the entertainment business for awhile.
"I gave it up for a long, long time," he said. "But all I've ever wanted to do is perform, so I wanted to get back into it."
Kimble had an idea to call a few of his local friends and start a trio called "Old, Fat and Ugly," but that didn't work out. He did, however, have a sign made by Pete DeSanto with the band name on it and used it for live performances - that is, until Barrett came along.
"I did the 'AutumnFest' at Divine Providence and Sandy joined me at that one ... every time I turned around my sign was gone. She kept hiding it. She didn't want to be Old, Fat and Ugly," he said with a laugh.
Kimble said Barrett is "a real professional."
"She does everything and anything," he said. "She's expanded into a darn good blues singer."
The two met because Barrett works for Susquehanna Health's Home Health Care Hospice company and Kimble's wife, Millie, has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Barrett said that since she's on the road so much, she practices singing in a bit of an unusual way.
"It's funny, you know, cause he [Kimble] will burn these CDs for me to practice a song and since I work in the field for Susquehanna Home Health and Hospice, I learn my songs in the car."
The musicians often play at the Trout Run Hotel and have performed in DiSalvo's ballroom, at the Genetti Hotel ballroom and at the Little League parade as well.
Since they're playing the Old Lycoming Recreation Board's New Year's Eve Party, I figured it was fitting to ask them what their New Year's resolutions are.
Kimble said, "I want to get skinny," and Barrett said, "I want to keep singing as long as I can."
The New Year's party will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday at the Old Lycoming Fire Hall, 1600 Dewey Ave., and is $25 a ticket. Tickets are on sale at the Old Lycoming Township Building, 1951 Green Ave., which may be reached at 322-6906. The office will only be open today and Friday and will be closed through Monday. To get tickets over the weekend or the day of the event, call Betty Smith at 506-4339.
"The key to it is having fun," Kimble said. "We come out with an awful lot of enthusiasm. We do all kinds of great stuff."
