Music
In 2005, the Downtown Carolers performed with the MidSouth Symphonic Band at its Annual Christmas Concert. Click on the bar below to hear the Downtown Carolers.
To downoad the audio file in zipped format, click the link below.
Articles
In December 2018 Chatter Magazine did an article on the DTC.
December 1st, 2018in Chatter
The Dowtown Carolers pictured are — Back row, from left: Lynn Moore, Rick Driggans, Jensi Souders and Jim Souders. Middle row, from left: Dennie Wolfgang, Bob Shomaker, Kris Winkler and Lynn Cooper. Bottom row, from left: Marti Wolfgang, Kim Shomaker, Judy Driggans and Ann Moore. The group has had 88 members in total over the years.
After performing together for 37 years, the Downtown Carolers have more than a few awkward stories to tell.
There was the time they performed at an office party where a few of the guests had downed one too many glasses of eggnog. And the time their trademark red sweaters left them huffing and puffing as they sang door to door during one of Tennessee's warmer winters.
But an embarrassing story or two is an expected occupational hazard when you're in the business of spreading holiday cheer, which is what Ann Moore, director and "fearless leader" of the approximately 20-member group, says the musical ministry is all about.
Making spirits bright has been the backbone of the Downtown Carolers' mission since an act of kindness gave birth to the whole idea back in 1980, when fellow founding member Rick Driggans surprised Moore with a visit from their church's youth choir while she was hospitalized following surgery.
"We figured she couldn't get away [from us]," Driggans says with a grin, Moore chuckling beside him.
For nearly four decades, the rotating group of carolers have stayed true to that mission by going room to room at assisted living facilities such as St. Barnabas Nursing Home and Alexian Village to deliver the gift of song — often with the occasional mishap to keep them laughing all the way.
» Rick Driggans: We had a fellow who played with us who decided he would accompany us on trumpet for a couple of the songs. He was a pretty good trumpet player, but for some reason, during one of the performances he ended up playing in a different key than we were singing, and we just couldn't seem to fix it. So that was the last time we had a trumpet.
» RD: We had another fellow who played the guitar. One night, he decided he wanted to talk to the audience. He was going to play "Silent Night," and he wanted to educate the crowd about the fact that "Silent Night" was originally performed with guitar, so we were going to perform it in its "purest form." Then, after saying that, he started trying to do the introduction and he messed it up three times.
[Ann's husband] Lynn and I are really bad influences on the group and we just burst out laughing.
» Ann Moore: Sometimes we would give out little shakers or bells [for the audience], and sometimes they would want to keep them. [laughs]
» RD: Ann had to wrestle with a few of them to get it back.
» RD: My wife and I adopted a little boy, and it was right before Christmas. We went to one of the performances, and we had him in a little Santa Claus outfit. While we were up there singing, someone saw him and wanted to hold him. We were up here singing and they were passing him around! [laughs] Both of us were a little nervous. We wanted to make sure we got him back at the end of the night. [laughs]
And Ann's daughter — I guess it was Traci, right?
» AM: Yeah. She got loose. [laughs]
» RD: I think it was at the Alexian. We were up on the stage; Traci was in the front row. And when we looked up, she was out walking through the crowd.
» AM: Crawling through the crowd. [laughs]
» RD: Now she sings with us and has her own child.
» AM: Yeah, she has two boys now. And it's tough! She sees how tough it is because they don't want to stay with you. [laughs]
» RD: Usually after the last performance of the year, we all go out for dinner somewhere and we usually end up singing there, too. 'Cause we're all sitting around a large table with red sweaters, so people say, "What are you?" And then we admit that we're a caroling group and they say, "Well, sing something!"
» RD: If you just start singing, people will stop and listen to you for a while. And if you're good, they stay quiet. [laughs] But [with retirement homes] it's just a different experience.
» RD: When you go door to door, the people who are at home think it's kind of nice and quaint. But they've got a TV, they've got a stereo, they've got all sorts of things going on. Whereas the people we go sing for seem appreciative of it just because it does sort of break up
» AM: [interrupting] the monotony of it. That's a sad time of year to be in the hospital.
» RD: They can be pretty quiet places. We break up the quietness for a while.
» AM: We do upbeat carols, and we ask if they have requests.
» RD: And a lot of the time, they'll sing with us. Some people who are in wheelchairs will even follow us up and down the hallway.
» AM: It's a very uplifting experience. You can see [the joy in] their reaction.
» RD: I think it reminds people of growing up.
» AM: Mm-hmm. Their childhood.
» RD: The folks in the retirement homes are all singing with us, and they don't need the words. Of course, after 37 years we don't need the words either. We're in that sweet spot between "don't need the words because you've sung it so many times" and "don't need the words because you haven't forgotten them yet." [laughs]
» RD: We kind of always ask, "When are we going to stop doing this?" and we've decided it's when the first one of us actually has to go to an assisted living place. That probably is an indication that we've sung long enough.
» RD: [What sets the Downtown Carolers apart is] we sing four parts. Typically, carolers just sing melody, or maybe two parts. But it's unusual, I think, to have four-part harmony caroling groups like ours.
» RD: Well on the nights where we have tenors we sing four parts. The other nights we have a couple of us who try to sing tenor, with mixed success. [laughs]
» RD: Most of us sing in church choirs and other groups at Christmas, and sometimes it's tough to find nights where we can all get together. But we always have 16 or 17 people show up to sing, and it usually takes an effort for people to do that. So I think it shows that [our members] feel like they're doing something for somebody.
» AM: But we still need tenors! [laughs]
» RD: Yes! And, of course, the major criteria for singing with us is that you have to have access to a red sweater.
Books
To commemorate The Downtown Carolers' first 30 years of singing, a history of the organization was compiled. It can be downloaded as an iBook or a pdf.
To download the DTC iBook (you must have an Apple phone, iPad or computer) click on the link below. On your computer, drag the book file (it has the extension “.iBooks” ) to the iTunes window and sync the iBook to your apple device. For more information, see iTunes help.
To read the DTC Book in your browser, click on the link below.
To download the pdf version of the DTC book, click on the link below.