Saloin singer Collective brings concerts into people’s homes

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At first, the scene is like that of any party at a private home.

The cars line one side of the country road. When a visitor climbs the stairs to the split-level house in Lamoine, he is greeted by the sight of people lingering around the island in the kitchen and the dining-room table, nibbling on noshes and talking animatedly.

But some things seem out of place. The neat rows of chairs in the living room, for example, and two spotlights on stanchions. Then there was Matthew Baya standing at the head of the stairs, collecting 10s and checking off names.

Welcome to the Downeast House Concert Collective’s latest production. The fledgling organization has held nine concerts since its founding in September 2000, when it presented folksinger Darryl Purpose. These shows, most of which have featured solo performers, have been presented in living rooms in Brewer and Trenton, in barns in Trenton and Franklin.

Baya, one of the group’s founding members, said such events are a trend across the country, and that most of the artists who have performed have played at other house concerts. The collective now has musicians calling, looking for gigs.

These concerts have been drawing from 30 to 40 people each, with everyone but the hosts paying to get in. All that money goes to the performer, along with any merchandise he or she might sell during the evening.

Before his first set starts, Mike Agranoff, a veteran musician from New Jersey, is busy trying to fix his English concertina at one end of the kitchen’s island while the concert-goers munch on chips and salsa and chocolate-chip cookies at the other end.

The concert begins when Steve Soucy, hosting the event with Linda Keady, stands first to point out the location of the restrooms and second to introduce Agranoff, who originally was set to play for the series on Sept. 15.

Agranoff, who has a brown ponytail and a salt-and-pepper beard, opens the show with a song about a sewer worker’s life, “Down Below,” which he promptly drafts the audience to sing along with.

Next, Agranoff, garbed in a brown sailor’s cap, tie-dyed shirt, bluejeans and socks, launches into “Play the Guitar” about a traveling musician, to the tune of “Swing on a Star.”

The performer shows his storyteller side as he outlines the travails he went through in an attempt to gain the rights to put this song on his second album, titled “Or Would You Rather Get a Job.” He talks about his telephone encounters with the contentious owner of the rights to “Swing on a Star,” and how he ended up settling for putting the lyrics on his Web site.

Then Agranoff brings out his concertina or, as he calls it, “the stupidest instrument in Christendom.” He tells of his struggles to master it, then plays it a song about a fisherman who took a mermaid for a wife, based on a poem by Mainer Ruth Moore.

The singer asks host Keady for a couple of hats for his song “Broken Token,” then enlists Mary Kellett of Brooklin to take part as the two, in changing hats, play a variety of roles in the tune about a woman sought by three men.

Figuring “when in Rome,” Agranoff offers his take on a classic Marshall Dodge story about the building of a new privy. Agranoff, who is a mechanical engineer in his day job, next recites his epic poem, “The Ballad of Jake and Ten-Ton Molly,” about a laid-off engineer who takes an experimental tank for a joy ride, to close out the first set.

While some concert-goers talk to Agranoff during the intermission, others speak about the house-concert experience. Michael Rosenstein of Bar Harbor tells about how a house concert was the first event he and his wife attended after moving there from New York City 11/2 years ago. This night’s show marks his sixth house concert.

“I like the opportunity to see my music in a community setting,” Rosenstein said. “It’s a chance to see friends and have some good desserts. It’s cool getting to know the different performers.”

Greg Williams, a friend of Baya’s, drove up from Boston for the show.

“I like the informalness of people gathering to hear some music,” he said. “I like the intimate setting. You see everything and you’re part of the experience.”

Kellett, a host at WERU-FM and Agranoff’s earlier partner in mime, is attending her first house concert. She’ll likely be back for more.

“It seems like a nice way to do it,” said Kellett, hoarse from laryngitis. “There’s too much disconnect and safety at a regular place. There’s no escaping here.”

Soucy flashes the kitchen lights, signaling the start of the second set. The 30 or so in attendance file back to their folding chairs.

Agranoff’ssecond set is just as varied as the first. After riffing about getting old, he proceeds to jumble together the lyrics from at least a dozen songs from the ’60s and ’70s. He follows that up with an instrumental by an obscure 17th-century Irish court musician.

The guitarist introduces the crowd to “Railroad Bill,” in which the larger-than-life subject argues with the singer over the content of the song. He mixes the poignant “The Great Divide,” about a long-lost love come again, with “I’ll Show You Something To Make You Change Your Mind,” about the wonders in a fast-food kitchen.

He closes out the second set with the powerful story “The Sandman’s Last Show,” about a veteran disc jockey who displays the power of the airwaves before destroying his career in commercial radio.

Agranoffstrolls off to the kitchen, then comes back for his encore, an abridged Scottish version of “Hamlet.”

Baya said the collective hopes to put on another concert in late summer or early fall. The next scheduled performer is Cosy Sheridan on Oct. 11, the house to be named later.

So what is the draw for a performer to play a house concert?

“It’s the chance to speak to and look at each individual in the room, and include them in what goes on,” Agranoff said.

For more information on the Downeast House Concert Collective, access its Web site at http://downeastmusic.org.