Click here to subscribe today or Login.
“I can sing with the angels when I’m out on the water.”
“I am part of the ages, like all the sailors on the sea.”
“I am one with the eagle and the osprey in the morning.”
“I can feel my soul risin’ out on the water.”
If you know singer/songwriter Don Shappelle, you know he loves rivers, with a particular fondness for the Susquehanna and the Chesapeake Bay.
He and his band, the Pick-Ups, will bring many of Shappelle’s original, water-oriented songs, including “Out on the Water,” which includes the above lyrics, to a free concert set to begin 6:30 p.m. Wednesday May 29 on the River Common Amphitheatre in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
The event is presented by the Riverfront Parks Committee, and concert-goers can access it through the Northampton Street Portal, off South River Street.
“I really like that spot,” Shappelle said, speaking of the amphitheatre. “It’s kind of intimate and the river’s right there behind us.”
Shappelle, who lives in both Wilkes-Barre and Perryville, Md., said kayaking is one of his favorite ways to enjoy the river that flows between his two homes.
“It’s a great way to be out on the water. It’s quiet. You don’t bother the wildlife. My wife and I go kayaking and you can see an eagle right overhead; you can see herons and osprey, and beavers swimming by. You can get into very shallow water; that’s where a lot of my song-writing ideas come from. I’m always writing.”
If he’s driving between his the Wyoming Valley and the Chesapeake Bay, Shappelle said, “my wife and I will take the long way,” which means they spend a lot of time following the Susquehanna along Route 11.
Last week Shappelle was in Maryland, where he planned to perform during a public cruise on a 75-foot schooner near Annapolis. Before his Wilkes-Barre concert, he also expected to perform for school children aboard the paddleboat The Hiawatha near Williamsport.
Rivers are always changing, Shappelle said. So are music and bands.
“Some of the songs we’ve been playing for several years, they grow as time goes by.”
Joining him on stage at Wednesday concert will be Don Sennett, of Wilkes-Barre, on bass and vocal; Terry Renninger, of Mountain Top, on drums and percussion, and Barry Devinis of Wilkes-Barre on accordion and keyboard.
“Having an accordion in my songs is wonderful,” said Shappelle, who supplies guitar and vocals himself.
