Voices of tradition

It’s Monday night, and all Ed Wharton cares about are proper vowel sounds and correct singing smiles.

“Make your face like how you are when you see your wife … or a good lunch,” Wharton tells the group of men sitting in church pews. They laugh.

Wharton is the president of Voices of the South, the Central Alabama chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Each Monday the group of 15 to 25 men meet to rehearse at Saint Mark United Methodist Church in the traditional barbershop style of singing, an effort to maintain the musical tradition and spend time with fellow singing enthusiasts. Last month, the group performed the national anthem at the July 1 Barons game, also treating fans to a variety of songs prior to the first pitch.

“All of the guys who are here love to sing and love music, and this is a great opportunity to be able to express yourself musically and get that itch scratched in a great way,” Wharton said.

Voices of the South was formally established in the early 2000s, but barbershop choruses have been a part of the community for decades, with groups performing in malls, churches, competitions and more.

Frank Butler, who has spent the majority of his life singing, sports a classic barbershop-style handlebar mustache. He has been an integral part of maintaining the barbershop tradition in the Birmingham area with 50 years of experience. Butler has been around since the beginning as a founding member of the original group in 1965, and is a baritone, which he said is “the best part there is.”

Butler is also responsible for one of the group’s most popular events: singing valentines. Every year, Voices of the South sends out quartets to surprise and serenade loved ones. 

Butler said he doesn’t have a favorite event, but that the valentines are always special to him.

“You surprise someone; they get really touched by the song and what we’re doing,” he said.

The group also participates in competitions in the spring and fall with other groups in the Dixie District, made up of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi. Along the way, chorus members get to meet singers from around the South and sharpen their skills at the same time.

“In general, the harmony society is just a big brotherhood of men who just want to make music together,” said Voices director Matt Powell.

Powell is a 2010 graduate of Samford University and took over the director position in March after being in the chorus for a little more than a year. 

“I was really finding a musical drought,” Powell said, having stepped back professionally from music. “I needed something to perform in, just make music with other people.”

That is when he stumbled on a video of Voices of the South online and decided to stop by a rehearsal.

“I’ve been in larger choruses, and not nearly had the camaraderie and brotherhood that this group has,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

The group’s repertoire includes many recognizable barbershop classics, such as “My Girl,” “Up on the Roof” and “The Tennessee Waltz,” as well as more unconventional arrangements of non-barbershop pieces, such as “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.

“What we try to do with a lot of our songs is make sure that they’re familiar and approachable,” Powell said.

Both Powell and Wharton said this hopefully will continue to encourage local men to get involved with barbershop-style singing. 

“It’s a great way to experience a very American art form,” Wharton said.

Powell agreed, and added that he thinks the barbershop style is a tradition worth keeping around.

“It’s an American culture; it’s an American icon; it’s kind of like baseball — that’s America’s pastime in sports, this was a very strong American pastime in music,” he said. “I feel like it’s a part of history, and it’s not a piece of history that we need to forget.”

For more information about upcoming events and performances, go to voicesofthesouth.com.