Northeast Michigan Oral History and Historic Photograph Archive
Stan Bartreau Interview

Description
Interview
Interview
Transcription
CC.  We are at the Alpena County Library, and this is October 19th, 2015, I'm Carole Cadarette and, uh, I'm going to be interviewing Mr. Stanley Bartreau today, I have at the table also his wife, Lu, and helping out, recording, and doing some questioning also is Cindy Kus.  Well, good afternoon and thank you for coming, Stan, and we've discussed a couple of things, from the direction I'd like to come from with you is more than just one, starting out with the, the fact that I think at your age, which is 88 at this point, I know that, you are probably in my guestimation, the oldest continuous musician in and around Alpena or maybe even further out, that this library covers.  Congratulations.
SB.  Well, thank you.
CC.  I know that, because I played a week ago with you and you've still got it, Stan.  
SB.  (Laughs)  Wonderful.  
CC.  So, I'm gonna to raise my voice up, and you'll keep yours up, so that the recorder'll catch everything 'cause we don't want to miss a word.  So, how many years ya been in the music scene, Stan?
SB.  Oh . . . actually, I've, when I got into the band was - these guys, uh, come here in the 30s, late 30s, in the Benny Bowman Band and they played up in the Trianon.
CC.  Trianon, which was up on Second Avenue
SB.  Up by the bowling alley.
CC.  Ok.
SB.  And, uh, and then they met girls and they, they stayed and they married 'em.  Ed Perkins and he married Lila T, and then he, uh . . .
LB.  Lila Lee
SB.  I mean, Lila Lee.  And, uh . . . Howie Arnold, he married - what was her name?  
LB.  Kay, but I don't . . .
SB.  Kay something, I don't know what her last name is - I forgot.  
CC.  Did these guys stay in Alpena?
SB.  Oh, yeah, they, they lived here until the band broke up because uh, Perkins had to go - he was working at Bessers and had to get over to South Carolina.  
CC.  And his name was, again?
SB.  Ed Perkins.
CC.  Ed Perkins, and who else?  
SB.  Howie Arnold.  
CC.  Howie Arnold.  What style - what style music were you playing at that point?
SB.  We had a little mix - uh, we played - Perkins liked country music, but Howie was with a 12 piece brass band, he . . . But each one in was . . . it took a little while to get him used to it - ha!   Because the country was just comin' on then pretty good.
CC.  What year was that?
SB.  '48.
CC.  Yeah. And the name of that band again was, Stan?
SB.  Uh . . .
LS.  Ranch Hands.
SB.  The Ranch Hands.  
LS.  You don't mind if I answer some of them?
CC.  No, no, that's fine.  That's fine.  So, uh, but, when did you first learn to play the guitar?
SB.  I played the D chord; I think I was about eight, or eight and a half years old.
CC.  You learned how to play D.
SB.  That's the only one I do, for quite a while.  (Laughs)
CC.  Did you know the other chords that went with it?
SB.  Later on.  
CC.  Later on?  Which would've been A and G, right?
SB.  Mm hm.  
CC.  Ok.  (Laughs)  Alrighty.  So, you were eight years old?  
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  So you're looking at eighty years ago.  
SB.  That's right.
CC.  Your first guitar came from where?
SB.  Uh, I don't . . .
CC.  Was it a gift?
SB.  It was in the family.
CC.  It was in the family.
SB.  'Cause, uh, the rest of my older . . . I was the youngest, and the older ones, they had been playing a  little bit, they knew chords and that, you know, but I didn't.
CC.  Did you take any, any training? Official training?
SB.  Not, not earlier, no.
CC.  Ever?
SB.  Yeah, with Ed Perkins, I took some.  
CC.  Ok.  
SB.  He was a . . . he give lessons for, uh . . . oh, on Second, on Chisholm Street, here . . . 
CC.  Ash?
SB.  Alvin Ash and I used to go in, and he'd show me stuff.
CC.  Ok.
SB.  And then, when I learned to play a song, when I heard it, I'd remember it right away, and I'd go over to his house, and I'd sing it n'that to him, and he'd get the chords and transpose 'em into the Howie Arnold for the trumpet playin'.  So he was really good. 
CC. He was really good.  He - in other words, he read music-
SB.  Oh, definitely.
CC.  -and you didn't.
SB.  Yeah, I didn't.
CC.  Did you ever read music?
SB.  A little bit, yeah.
CC.  Ok.  Enough to keep you out of trouble or get you into trouble?
LB.  (Laughs)
SB.  Keep me out of trouble.
CK.  Now, is he the same 'Perk' that . . .?
SB.  Ed Perkins
CK.  Is that the same person that played with the Ranch Hands?
SB.  Yeah.
LB.  Yes.
CC.  Mm hm.  Mm hm.
SB.  He was a . . .
LB.  He was married to a local girl, Lila Lee . . . Did you know Lila?
CK.  No, but I heard you mention her name before.  
CC.  Ok.  Um, any other, uh, bands . . . uh, let's take, let's take musicians first.  Name some musicians, see if we got all those names down, we got a raft of 'em, but you may have some new ones.
SB.  Yeah, well, I played with the Buddy Boys.
CC.  Ok . . .
SB.  Uh . . . Lucky Smalley, he was a steel player. And uh, Jack Hepburn (?) was another one, same band - The Plaids - and myself, just the three of us.  
CC.  Ok, that was The Plaids. 
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.  And you played where in Alpena?
SB.  Uh, with that gang, mostly at ah, Brothers Bar, (inaudible), and the Brothers Bar was bought by Szymanskis.  
CK.  Where's that located?
CC.  Corner of Ford and . . . it's right down here.  On your way to, uh, LaFarge, it's right on the corner, it's in a closed up building.  If you go out - if you go out Ford Avenue, uh, it's right there on the corner.  I don't know what that street is, runs along there.  It's right on the corner.  
CK.  Mm hm.
CC.  Yeah.  Was there a long time, lot of folks played it.  Um, so you had, you had those guys, and then after, after the Buddy Boys, was there another band?  
SB.  Well, uh - I sat in with a lot of bands, you know, because they had their own bands but I could go play with any of them, they were happy, you know.  
CC.  Ok. 
SB.  There was the two Hardy boys, Tom and Cort . . .  
CC.  Ok. 
SB.  And there was Barney
CC.  Morey
SB.  More.  And, uh . . .
LB.  Jerry
SB.  Mike Corpus . . . Cloyd Corpus . . . Lloyd, uh . . . what was Lloyd's last name?
LB.  I don't know, but you played with Jerry Seguin, too, didn't you?
SB.  Who?
LB.  Jerry Seguin.  
SB.  Oh, Jerry was our drummer, yeah.  
CC.  Ok.
SB.  That was at the Ranch Hands.  
CC.  Ok.  
SB.  We played there quite a few months. Fridays and Saturdays.
LB.  Ed Perkins.  
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  Ok.
CK.  How long was - did the Ranch Hands stay together?
SB.  Oh, we must have . . . we must have, uh, played at least around eight or nine months, and then we had to break up because two of 'em left, you know.
CC.  That was, that happened a lot, as soon as one or two of the main players would, then, phoo - you know, then it was gone.  
SB.  But we were playin', uh, six days a week for quite a few months.
CC.  And where'd you do that at?  
SB.  The Owl Café for three days, then we played over to the Eagles Friday and Saturday, then we went out to, uh, the 19th Hole.
CC.  Yes, I'm trying to remember, uh, what it was called.
CK.  Twin, Twin . . .
CC. & LB.  Acres.  
LB.  Yeah, Twin Acres.
SB.  And then, uh, that'd be Sunday afternoon, and Sunday night we'd pack up and we'd played out in Rogers City at, uh, oh, that bar on the corner right there on the left, during deer season and that.
CC.  Deer Hunt Inn?
SB.  Yeah, Deer Hunt Inn.  
CC.  Ok. Yep.  So you were busy - you were busy.
SB.  Yeah, we were.
CC.  Ok.  So, did you make . . .
SB.  That's all I did, working, was playing then, see.  
CC.  Ok.  And eventually you got a regular day job
SB.  Yeah, I went to the cement plant, yeah.
CC.  Ok.  How much did - what - did they pay ya very well back in those days?  Pretty good, didn't they?
SB.  We got $50 a night, each one of us, and that's as much as anybody gets here in Alpena, right now.
CC.  Today.  That's the truth.  Wow.
SB.  Fifty bucks a night, yeah.
CC.  But the place was packed, wasn't it? 
CK.  That's what I'm thinking . . .
SB.  You bet it was.
CC.  And they were dancin' and they were drinking.  
SB.  Yep.
CC.  A lot.  
SB.  Yup.  
CC.  And, and they were left alone to do that.  
SB.  That's right.  
CC.  Allrighty.  Yep.
CK.  Yep.
CC.  I think that's the way it's evolved.  
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  So, but, yeah, that's amazing, that's the first time we've ever asked anybody what they got paid.  
SB.  It was good money back in them days, boy, I tell ya.
CC.  Yep, for sure.  
CK.  Well, from what I hear, it sounds like it would even be decent money today, because it sounds like a lot of people play for free . . .
CC.  Well, we all do.
CK.  . . . or tips.
CC.  We all do. 
SB.  Yeah, yeah.
CC.  Yeah, for sure.
SB.  Very little bit of playin' I do is, is for any money, it's just for helpin' people out and fun, you know.  That's the main thing.  
CK.  Mm hm.
SB.  And I like to play.  So . . .
CK.  What, what - what do you - why do you like to play?
SB.  Well, I was raised with a beautiful family, and it just gets in your blood, you know, that they're singin' and playin' and you start to listen and I just enjoyed it.  But when I got in with the band I started with, they were still playin' some of this music from the big band, ya know, the ones that was good dancing to . . .
CC.  Yeah.
SB.  so we played that but finally it got into this country, then.  
CC.  Mm hm.
SB.  Was really good, a lot of fun. 
CC.  Yeah.  Um, wow.  When you talk about music and what you played, you classify your music now as country - back then, what?  Big band, or -?
SB.  No, it was just country.
LB.  It was mostly country.
CC.  Mostly country.
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.  Easy listening.  
SB.  But it was all the new tunes that come out, you know.
CC.  Yeah.  That's why -
SB.  Cuz I'd learn 'em today and give 'em to Ed, and he'd transpose to Howie n' 
CC.  Yeah.  
SB.  Was right in business, next playin' job. 
CC.  There ya go.  
CK.  Did you hear those on the radio?  How did?
SB.  On the jukeboxes.  
CK.  Ok.  
SB.  New tune come out, be on the jukebox, I'd put a couple nickels in and I'd listen to it
LB.  (laughs) Nickels
SB.  Yeah, and then I'd run right over to Perk and he'd get the guitar and play the notes and transpose 'em to Howie and it was all set to go.
CC.  We're lookin' at the 40s now, the late 40s?  
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.  Ok.  Did you ever play on radio?  
SB.  Yeah, we played at the radio station.  We played, uh, quite a few times on Sunday mornings.  
CC.  Yep.  Did they let you go live, or did they record you?
SB.  No, we went live on it. 
CC.  Ok.  Do you remember the day when they used to have music over at the Eagles Club?
SB.  Oh, yeah.
CC.  And they'd have three or four bands?  
SB.  Yeah
CC.  Remember that?
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.   Me, too.  That was interesting.
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  Yeah.  We didn't call it Battle of the Bands then, we just called it good entertainment.  
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  Seems to me they went by applause, too, for who was the most liked.  I think.  That's what I remember - 'course I sat back in the corner and listened to Dad, so.  Ok.  Well, um, how's your music over the years, is it - you think it's evolved at all, I mean, do you think it's evolved maybe because of a newer instrument, newer types of things that you could use as an amplifier?   Did that - did that become part of your life?  Trading off a guitar for another guitar?
SB.  It was a lot . . . Oh, I kept getting a better one all the time-
CC: There you go-
SB. - I got a few extra bucks, you know. 
CC.  How many - how many guitars have you owned?  In lifetime - in your lifetime?
SB.  Goll, I wouldn't really know.  Quite a few. 
CC.  Names?  Did they have names?  Gibson . . .
SB.  They were mostly -he Fenders were the last ones-
CC. Yeah, ok.
SB. - but then a lot of them were, uh . . . well, I had a couple of them I bought through Sears - I paid, uh, 600 bucks for that one.
CC.  Silvertone.
SB.  Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, Silvertone.  
CC.  Silvertone.  Ever bought one from Ward's - Airline.  Remember?  Airline?
SB.  That's the Airline - that's what this - that's what this one is, an Airline.  
CC.  Ok.  That's Montgomery Ward.  
SB.  Yeah?  Is it Montgomery Ward?
CC.  Yeah, yeah, and Sears' was Silvertone.  
SB.  Yeah?  
CC.  And you know why I know that?  They had autoharps with those names on 'em.  
SB.  Oh, is that right?
CC.  Yeah.  And I have a history book with that.  So.  What, uh, do you think the sound quality of the instruments have changed over the years?
SB.  Oh, it's gotten much better, you know.  
CC.  Ok.  And have you changed amplifiers a lot?
SB.  Well, I've changed 'em
LB.  Not a lot.
SB. Not a lot, but I've tried to get in, and when I got the Peavey, well I stuck right with that.  
CC.  You went from tube to solid state.
SB.  Yeah
CC.  Ok.  Ok, yeah.
SB.  And then the Peavey was tubes again.
CC.  Ok.  So, is that one you're carrying around now heavy?
SB.  That's what I've -- Well, I don't bring 'em out to your place
CC.  No . . .
SB.  Cause there's 700 guitars hangin'  (laughter - SB & LB)
CC.  Not any more, he's moved some.  (laughs)  He took 'em home.  
LB.  Oh, did he?
CC.  Yeah.
LB.  Have you ever been out to Maplewood?  
CC.  Yeah, she went - she was there three weeks ago
CK.  Mm hm.  Did - did you have your final session? 
SB.  No.  
CC.  Friday and Saturday
CK.  This week.
CC.  Friday and Saturday.  Uh . . . thinking of the music of today, that was one of the things that we like to ask people, today and when you started - big difference?  Little difference?
SB.  Oh, I think so.  
CC.  Big difference. 
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.  Ok.  Um, can you give me - I was asked this question - can you give me an idea of when your favorite music, which is country, started to change to what it is in this day, 2015?  Did it not start to change?
SB.  No, it didn't - I never noticed anything then, not in the 50s.
CC.  No.  
SB.  No.
CC.  Uh . . . I've - I've seen a change comin'. 
SB.  Yeah
CC.  And, and you do, too, and I know that it's a little disconcerting for you, just like it is for me, right?  
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.  The way it's went, it's digressed to, to noisy, whatever.
SB.  Yeah, it's - it's different.  (chuckles)
CC.  It's different.  And - and um, ah, do you ascribe to changing to it to keep everybody happy, or do you stayin' where you are?
SB.  I'd stay where I am, for sure.  (general laughter)
LB.  You, you too, eh.
CC.  Ok.  When you were playing back in the forties-
SB.  Late forties, yeah.
CC.  Late forties, early fifties?
SB.  Last part of '48 and then '49.  I got married in '49.
CC.  Did it slow you down any?
SB.  Oh, I've been sufferin' every since!  (general laughter)  
CC.  I've been to every one of their anniversary parties
LB.  I guess  (laughing)
SB.  Sixty, sixty-six years we've been married.
CK.  Congratulations. 
CC.  Yup, for sure.  
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  Yup.  Uuuum, thinking back to then, a lot more places to play than there is today, or not?
SB.  Oh, yeah.  Well, you could play any of the bands, 'cause everybody was playin', so if you had a night off, you could walk into any one, sit down and start playin', they didn't care.
CC.  Did you ever play the Home Tavern?
SB.  Oh, cripes, yeah.  Yeah.  
CC.  Walk on boards-
SB.  I'd forgot about that old tavern.  
CK.  Where was that?
SB.  Right on- 
CC.  Right about where the restaurant is, the . . . kind of a . . . um
SB.  Chinese one, isn't it?
CC.  Chinese and American 
CK.  On 32?
CC.  No, out on, on State Avenue.  Ok?  Right out there.  Uh, Arby's, and then you got the . . .
CK.  The Home Tavern.
CC.  The Home Tavern, yeah.  Yeah, it was a . . .
CK.  What made it distinctive?  
CC.  Well, I can remember goin' there and have to - it was the spring of the year and there was an awful lot of water layin', and they put boards and we had to walk on 'em to get in the place or you were up to your ankles in water.  (laughter)  Um, did you ever play - and I can't - The Roost?
LB.  Oh, yes.  
SB.  Not, not, let's see . . .
LB.  Yes, you did.  
SB.  I'm tryin' to think o' what we did at The Roost.   I didn't get into any trouble, that's for sure.  
LB.  (laughter)
CC.  We won't go there, Stan.  (laughs)  Ah, how bout, um, how 'bout what, uh, what used to be - before it burned down - The Thunderbird?  Did you ever play that, like Christmas parties or anything?
SB.  No.  No.
CC.  Ok.  
SB.  No.
CC.  Ok.  But there were a lot of places to play, we'll agree on that.
SB.  Oh, yeah, there was.  
CC.  Ok.  Um, is there anything that ah, either you or Lou can think about - stories, that we could get away with?
CC. & LB.  (laughter)
CC.  Stories, things that happened . . . Was there a lot of, was there a lot of um, fights back then?  A lot of  - a lot of people getting aggravated, getting into a few pushing matches and stuff?
SB.  Not, not, not too many that I played around.  
CC.  Ok.
SB.  A couple of them, you know.  The rowdy ones . . . 
CC.  The rowdy ones.  Ok.
LB.  He played at the Owl, you know, years ago downtown.  
CC.  Yep.  
LB.  He played at the Owl, but there was never any, you know, fighting, or, you know, arguments or anything.  They were all pretty good place . . .
CC.  And the time was 9 - 1, usually, right?  You played 9 -1.
SB.  Yep.  
CC.  Now, when you play, it's 7 - 11?
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  OK.  There - there ya go.
SB.  Better for everybody, tell you the truth.  
CC.  Did you ever play anything other than guitar, Stan?
SB.  No.
CC.  Ok.  You ever want to?
SB.  No.
CC.  No.  
SB.  No, never had an urge to play- 
CC.  We talked a little bit about family, you said your family was musical, so they - did they play out at all or was?
SB.  No, no.  
CC.  Or was it kind of at home?
SB.  At home.
CC.  Ok. 
LB.  Well, you knew Orville Bartreau didn't you?  Orville sang, and was a really good singer. 
CC.  And he played guitar?
SB.  Mm hm.
LB.  Oh, yeah. 
CC.  And your sister?  
SB.  She was a heck of a singer, I'll tell ya . . .
CC.  And her name was?
SB.  Lorraine Smith - she was married to Pinkerton at first . . .
CC.  Ok.  Older than you?
SB.  Oh, yeah, she was the oldest one in the family.  
CC.  Ok, ok.  How many in your family?
SB.  There was, uh, three boys and two girls.  
CC.  Ok.
CK.  Did Lorraine sing mostly country, or a variety -? 
SB.  Oh, my sister, she liked the blues.  She could really put them out, I'll tell ya.   She was good.  
CK.  Who was playing the blues back then?  
SB.  Well . . .there's . . . us guys would play it . . .
CK.  Ok
CC.  Yeah.
SB.  Blues is easy, nice & easy.  
CC.  Yeah. 
SB.  I like it.
CC.  Yeah.  Yeah, it's usually a three chord progression . . .
SB.  Yeah.
CK.  Carole, did you talk about the music he's playing now?
CC.  Uh, yeah - yeah, we did.  We talked about, uh - he's playing now with, uh, right now, as of this moment, he's playin' with, uh, Clint Kirchoff, and with Henry Cadarette, 
SB.  Mm hm.
CC.  Carole Cadarette and 
SB.  Tammy, Jimmy
CC.  Jimmy Berndt.
SB.  Yeah
CK.  Yeah.
SB.  Al Zdan
CC.  Al Zdan and
SB.  Diane Madsen
CK.  Jerry Ruczynski?
CC.  Jerry comes out once in a while, but I don't think he's ever been there when Stan was there.
LB.  No, no, we . . .
CC.  And that's too bad, because we know they'd blend so well together.  Uh, yeah, Jerry's style and his style.  His is . . . um, and I'm not the one should be bein' interviewed, but his style, from my vantage point - yes, it's country, but it's a real easy, he doesn't rack on those bingety ban - he just, it's so smooth, when he hits those notes, it's so smooth, he knows exactly when to hit it, when to let it go and hit another one.  
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  I don't know anybody that plays his style around.  It's just smooth and easy.
CK.  Mm hm.
CC.  Ok.  If you want, if that's - I mean, I mean he can get - he can get a little rowdy, but he doesn't like to.  
SB.  (laughter)  No.  
CC.  You know, but the bottom line is, he's - I'm gonna tell you right now, from my vantage point, the man's a treasure, to Alpena.  He is.  
SB.  Thank you.
CC.  Yeah.  So is his wife, 'cause I always say this, if you've got a wife or husband, depending on who the, who the musician is, if it's one or the other, or significant other, your life and your music is made a lot easier if they go along with ya.  If they don't, they can make your life miserable. 
LB.  Oh, yeah.
SB.  Oh, yeah.  She goes everywhere. 
CC.  She goes everywhere and she's there and she'll haul, you know, pick stuff up and whatever.  
CK.  I was going to ask, how have you been involved in his music, in what way?
LB.  Oh, I just go wherever they're playing and, you know-
SB.  And she dances all night  (laughter)
LB.  I do the fancy dancing.
CK.  It has fringe benefits, then!  You get - you have your own band to dance to.  (laughter)
LB.  (laughing)  Yeah.
CK.  That's great.  
CC.  Anything else that you can think of, that - ?
CK.  Do you have children?
SB, LB.  Mm hm.
CK.  Are they involved in music in any way?
SB.  No.  
LB.  No.
SB.  The daughter is out there with her grandchildren, but no, my son, he doesn't - I bought a violin for him when he was in St. Anne's School.  He never did.
LB.  Oh, the nuns don't . . .
SB.  I don't think he pulled the bow twice, to tell you the truth.
LB.  Poor Michael, he doesn't know music (laughter)
SB.  No. 
CC.  Well, I think music - don't you think music is a "want"? 
LB.  Oh, yeah.
CC.  And you couldn't have bought him a harder - that's a hard - that's a hard thing to play.
SB.  Yeah, I know it.
CC.  The fiddle is a- 
LB.  Neither one of them - you know, like, do mus - Laurie doesn't even sing or nothin', you know?.  She tries, but- (laughs)
CK.  When you were younger and just starting out, did families get together and play music as a form of entertainment?
SB.  Yes, they did.  Lotta times, every Saturday night at our house, here they'd come, it'd be the Hepburns and the Kirchoffs
CC.  Yeah.
SB.  Man, and the kids get up the bedroom after that with us.
LB.  (laughs)
SB.  They'd let us sing a song and then they'd laugh, you know - goodbye.  (laughs)  They enjoyed themselves, too - didn't have any money to speak of, but they all helped.
CC.  Did you, did you find that every picnic, every family gathering, we were all expected to play?
SB.  That's right.  
CC.  That was the entertainment.
SB.  Yeah.  
LB.  Oh, yeah.  
CC.  Yep, yep.  So . . .
LB.  Orville, you knew Orville - Orville had a beautiful voice.  
CC.  Yep.
LB.  His brother.  
SB.  But I think Clint and I, Kirchoff, we played for the nursing home, I don't know how many years.  Neil was helping us, and Diane, and
CC.  Yep
SB.  Al Zdan
CC.  There are some pictures of the nursing homes there - yeah, that's Tendercare, Long Rapids Tendercare, I believe.  And we've done Turning Brook together, 
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  We've done just no special thing, we've done Christmas together.
LB.  Yeah.
CC.  So basically, ya made quite a bit of money in the beginning, and now, we're, we're at a point where we're just doin' it for fun.
SB.  For fun.  I don't think, we haven't had a paid job in I don't know when.  And we don't care.
CC.  It's called payin' it - payback - some people are now referring to it - new catchword: Paying it forward.  I still feel like I'm paying it forward.  Because I may be sitting someday - you know, when we go and entertain at a nursing home, and there's someone there that's setting quietly, maybe in a wheelchair, maybe in a regular chair, and they start to move to the music, and a caregiver will come over and say, she or he hasn't moved in weeks, or a month.  
LB.  Yeah.
CC.  Or they might be - uh, we try to stay away from sad songs - 
SB.  Yeah, oh yeah.
CC.  So you gotta do that, you gotta pick and choose what you're playin' when you're - when you're going to a nursing home.  And, uh, I think that's the pay - who puts a price on that kinda pay, when you bring that kinda of joy to people.
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  Yeah.  So . . .
SB.  They enjoy it, I'll tell ya.  
CC.  Yes, they do, because, like I said, uh, you know . . . but for the grace of God go some of us.
LB.  Right.
CC.  So, anything else?  I'm looking at what you handed me, and I think we've covered it all.
SB.  Yeah, I think so.  I think she wrote something on the back, I think, I didn't . . .
CC.  You played at Pinehurst Inn?
SB.  That was in Indian River.  I used to take a month off on vacation?
CC.  Yes.
SB.  And we'd all go up with the boats and Indian River - the Pinehurst was a big, old hotel
LB.  You know where the Pinehurst is, right on the river in Indian River
SB.  No, I don't think she does . . .
CC.  Uh uh, no.
SB.  But we'd stay there and the owners would let us do anything we wanted to do, 'cause they liked to go out on weekends and Lou would tend the bar, and - and the band - we had a four or five people who played with me, we had a lot of fun - they were from Midland.  That was quite a, quite a month's vacation.  
CC.  Did you, Lou, uh - I, I, I'm aware some musicians that played bars and their wives and girlfriends ended up tending bars - that the only one you tended bar at or worked the tables?
LB.  Yeah.  In fact, I ran the bar, 'cause they'd take their vacation.  
CC.  Ok.
LB.  So, no pay or nothin', we all chipped in.  Laurie used to - it was a hotel, you know, and Laurie was just about 12, 13 years old, she'd take reservations.  (Laughs)
CC.  Alrighty.  So, they'd like to go away and put it in someone else's hands for a little while.
SB.  Yeah.    
LB.  That's the only time they got to go, you know. 
CC.  Allright.
SB.  They were really nice people.  
CC.  Allright. 
SB.  Couldn't beat 'em.
CC.  Ok, well, I think this last statement on, on uh, uh, the questions that were asked that you knew was gonna be asked of you, says just about says it all, Cindy.  Under, uh, "Any special memories?", Stan says, "A lifetime of playing with friends."  That pretty much says it all.
SB.  Yeah.
CC.  Ok.  Well, Stan, if that's - if you or Lou has anything more that you'd like to be added, we'd love to have you say it.
LB.  I can't really think of anything.
SB.  No, that's, that's about good, you know, I think.
CC.  Alrighty.  Ok, we thank you very, very much, the Alpena County Library and Cindy and myself appreciate you coming in, and, uh, we'll see you on the bandstand.  
SB.  Ok.
Creators
Cindy Kus and Carole Cadarette, Interviewer
Stan Bartreau and Lu Bartreau
, Interviewee
Media Type
Audio
Item Type
Interviews
Description
Stan Bartreau started playing guitar in a country band called The Ranch Hands in 1948, along with Ed Perkins and Howie Arnold. He continues to play music today in area nursing homes and can be found joining a jam session at The Maplewood Tavern on a Friday night. Lu Bartreau, his wife of 67 years, joins him in this interview.
Place of Publication
Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library
Date of Publication
2015
Playing Time
29:46
Subject(s)
Country Music
Family Bands
Personal Name(s)
Bartreau,Stan ; Seguin, Jerry, Perkins, Ed ; Arnold, Howie
Corporate Name(s)
The Ranch Hands ; Buddy Boys ; Brother's Bar
Collection
Musicians of Northeast Michigan
Language of Item
English
Geographic Coverage
Alpena

Michigan, United States

Latitude: 45.06168 Longitude: -83.43275
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Copyright Date