Lane Langford knew he wanted to play guitar after listening to the Everly Brothers play “By Bye Love” when he was a boy. When his father bought him a guitar he would play at a nearby house that was under construction. At night when the workers left, he crept up the stairway to strum chords and listen to the sounds reverberate throughout the half-built rooms.
“The sound of the guitar and the harmonizing just got me,” Langford said.
It was love at first sound.
Now he’s playing within the walls of the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts, Saturday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m., for a benefit concert called “Warmth In The Depth Of Winter.” All net proceeds will benefit Lopez Island Family Resource Center, which offers programs and services to support, enrich, educate, and empower the Lopez community.
“We’re delighted that Lane would take initiative to do this work for our organization,” said Stephanie Froning, LIFRC office support. “It’s so cool and thoughtful.”
But it wasn’t easy. Langford first had to convince himself that he could take on such a big project.
As an artist, he said he prepares for the worst and does have the occasional dream of walking up on stage only to stare out into empty chairs, but he said his fears of no one showing up in such a tight-knit community as Lopez Island is slim.
And once he started choosing the song list he realized he just had to do the show.
He describes the show’s music as eclectic — featuring original work written throughout the years, starting with the first song he composed in 1969. Most of the tunes are influenced by the 60s and early 70s, and his time in Hawaii.
“One song is different than the next,” Langford said. “And there will be some cover songs, but those are a surprise.”
Other islanders featured in the show are Susie and Nick Teague on vocals, Jeff Nichols on drums, John Polstra on bass, Doug Kram on guitar, John Seibold on harmonica and Todd Goldsmith running the sound system.
Langford will sing and play his four guitars, which are each tuned for a specific genre of music from blues to Hawaiian slack-key guitar. He calls the instruments his “trucks” because “they work and they work hard.”
The benefit show is coming at a time when many islander are in need of energy and heating assistance, Froning said. LIFRC already has families on a waiting list to receive such assistance during these colder months.
Langford said he probably wouldn’t do a show simply for himself, but singing as a way to help others gives the show more meaning.
“Performing is completing the circle,” said Langford. “You as the performer is like giving a gift, but it doesn’t become a real gift until someone receives it and their reaction is like a gift back to me. And then donating the funds to LIFRC really completes the circle.”
