Simply Dickens - A Period Music Vocal Group

Simply Dickens performs for elementary school children - December 2010

I will state here and now that I love the music and performances of Simply Dickens! Okay, so I am the manager, arranger, and announcer. But, that goes without saying - -
Who's Simply Dickens?? Well, let me tell you!
It is a period vocal group accompanied by guitar that performs the music of another era, mostly from the 19th century and before.
Here...tell you what - let me give you a bit of history of the group and maybe you'll have a better understanding:

Simply Dickens was formed back in the fall of 2001 when my son, Tom, who was just 13 years old at the time, and a young lady named Kourtney, who was only 14, got together to rehearse Christmas music to sing at the Holly Dickens Festival. The Holly Dickens Festival is held on the streets of Holly, Michigan, every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's here that one can see the sights, sounds, and characters of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" novel come to life. However, it seemed that every vocal group that performed there did the same Christmas songs one hears way too often on the radio and in the shopping malls. Tom and Kourtney, with some over-bearing persuasion from me, would do something different than everyone else.

The 2005 version of Simply Dickens

Their set list consisted of the 'old world' type Christmas music, songs such as "The Gloucestershire Wassail" and "Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella" - music that was not quite as well known as the more popular "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."
They were quite the hit among the festival go-ers from the get-go, and were asked to return the following year (and every year since!). It was Kourtney that came up with the name Simply Dickens, due to the fact that they performed mainly at the Holly Dickens Festival.

Jump ahead six months to summer 2002, Kourtney and Tom played at a dedication ceremony for Eastpointe, Michigan's 1872 schoolhouse, songs such as "The Moustache Song, "Beautiful Dreamer," and "Bobby Shafto."

The attendees really enjoyed their performance.
"Hmmm...," I thought, "interesting..."
Another year another Dickens Festival - and we added a third member, another young lady. This enabled expansion in their sound and structure and we increased the Christmas music repertoire. And, by the summer of 2003 they began to increase their collection of 18th and 19th century music as well, while performing at a historical society garden party.
Summertime 2004 saw some member changes - the young lady dropped out, but two more - a guy and a girl - joined.

Simply Dickens 2004:
Madrigals and Old English tunes reigned

This new group, with a continued expansion in the sound and repertoire, gave the group the opportunity to sing at festivals, including Erin-Halfway Days in Eastpointe, a world music festival (where they performed for the first time as a quartet and included Rennaissance madrigals as part of their set), and a Labor Day festival in Lexington, Michigan.
By Christmas of 2004, Simply Dickens' Christmas music selection had grown to include a German version of "Silent Night," the colonial "All You That Are Good Fellows," and even the Spanish madrigal of "Riu Riu Chiu."
With each passing year, more membership changes occurred, which was not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, it seemed that with each change the group improved that much more!
They even performed on Fox 2 News in December 2007!

The 2007 incarnation of Simply Dickens interviewed by Fanchon Stinger - FOX 2 News Detroit

And they continued to perform at various Christmas gatherings as well as at a few Civil War reenactments. In fact, their collection of 19th century music, like Christmas music, had grown tremendously and includes such numbers as "Faded Coat of Blue," "Shady Grove," "Some Folks Do," and "Just Before the Battle Mother."

And now we have the current version of Simply Dickens, and it is the best yet. The newer members that have joined over the last couple years are not teens but adults - ages range from 21 to 50 - and let me tell you, they love to sing.

Simply Dickens 2010 - 2011 - no longer a teen group:
~ Tom, Heidi, TC, Diana, Ken, & Kim ~
(not pictured yet is newest member Samantha)

This current group is just so into the singing of this ancient music as well as actually performing for the public. We now put on a regular show that not only includes music but skits and song introductions as well. And the audiemce response has been overwhelming (the following is from the local Plymouth, Michigan newspaper review from December 2010):  
Once the show began, the crowd listened in rapt attention to the harmonized voices singing both familiar and unknown Christmas carols.
John Fitzgerald and his wife Fay are new Plymouth residents, having only lived in the area for six months. Their favorite song the group sang was "Silent Night," because they like how everybody was able to sing. Fitzgerald said he thought the show was great, surprisingly.
"It was fantastic, I was pleasantly surprised," he said. "I thought it was a barber shop group, I was misinformed. It wasn't until we were sitting in the parking lot and Fay said it was old-fashioned Christmas carols. And I thought, well this is going to be boring. I was really surprised." 

Definitely our most popular skit is "The 12 Days of Christmas," showing the reaction the young lady has as she receives each of the twelve gifts her true love sends her.
It's not pretty.

Diana's reaction to 11 piper's piping, 10 lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking...she really liked the 5 golden rings, though!

But it's hilarious!
We also do a fun interpretation of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" for kids at the school performances.
In the last two years we have performed throughout the Detroit metro area, including our own headlining shows. And, for the first time, this year Simply Dickens has been contracted to sing at Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village!

We had great crowds at our shows at the 2010 Holly Dickens Festival!

I am very proud of what this group has done in the ten years of its existence. They have become well-known not only for their style of music, most of which is almost unheard in this modern day and age, but also to the fact that they perform in period clothing.

No, we don't rehearse in our period clothing!

If you get an opportunity, make sure you come to see them perform. I think you will enjoy them.

By the way, if you live in the metro-Detroit area and would like to hire Simply Dickens to perform at your school, function, or office party - or maybe for your local historical society - I can be reached at
historicalken@giorlando.net

Simply Dickens at Greenfield Village's Holiday Nights December 2011

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