N.Y. blues singer, kazoo maker to lead Nazareth's Independence Day parade

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

A New York blues singer and professional kazoo player will be grand marshal for the borough's Fourth of July parade.

Abbe Graber, 54, also known as "Miss G," of Saugerties, N.Y., will lead marchers down Main Street. Nazareth Area Chamber of Commerce President Tina Smith said participants will play different patriotic songs on kazoos donated by Lafayette Ambassador Bank.

Smith expects a high turnout of 500 to 600 people to attend.

"Abbe is a real expert in the kazoo industry and will bring a whole new aspect to our event," Smith said about Graber, whose company Woodstock Wooden Kazoo opened on the 40th anniversary of the original music festival in 1969.

Three years ago, Graber began making and selling wooden kazoos, which are owned by such talents as Levon Helm, John Sebastian, Maria Muldaur, Pete Seeger and Aaron Neville. She learned about the parade through a customer from Nazareth.

“She has an impressive list of celebrity customers and we thought it would be real fun to add her to the mix,” Smith said.

IF YOU GO
• The Nazareth Area annual Kazoo Parade and Patriotic Program will kick-off at 9:30 in the morning July 4 at Nazareth Area High School, 501 E. Center Street.
• The parade route follows from the high school, up South Liberty Street, right onto Belvidere Street, follows Main Street, turns right up to the circle, travels half-way around and turns onto West Center Street. The parade will end at council chambers.

Graber said she developed a passion for blues music at age 15. She discovered kazoo playing while attending college at SUNY at New Paltz, N.Y. Graber said she was inspired by Maria Muldaur, who played a bluesy-style kazoo.

“She (Muldaur) has a beautiful voice and I realized quickly the better voice you have, the better your kazoo will sound,” Graber said. “The kazoo allowed me to amplify my voice.”

Graber said in 1969 the Woodstock Arts and Music Festival came through her town. Graber, then 13, was not old enough to go, but understood what the hippie movement meant to music. Her parents owned a country bar and grill and as a youngster, she played pool, pinball and became a blues singer in front of the jukebox, Graber said.

Music also became an outlet during tragedy to express her grief.

In 1973, Graber was a passenger in a pickup truck with her parents when the truck flipped three times on Interstate 95 in South Carolina. The family was heading to a new life in Florida, but the crash killed her father and severely injured her mother.

"The blessing is I found solace in the music," Graber said. "For me, I could express my emotions through a blues kazoo when words weren’t enough. This kazoo has brought so much love to my life, opened so many doors."

In August 2009, just in time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, Graber opened the doors to her business, Woodstock Wooden Kazoo, based in Woodstock, NY. The wooden instruments are handcrafted and played by vocalizing into them, Graber said.


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If you go:

The Nazareth Area annual Kazoo Parade and Patriotic Program will kick-off at 9:30 in the morning July 4 at Nazareth Area High School, 501 E. Center Street.

The parade route follows from the high school, up South Liberty Street, right onto Belvidere Street, follows Main Street, turns right up to the circle, travels half-way around and turns onto West Center Street. The parade will end at council chambers.