Andover summer music showcases Maine talent

ANDOVER — The Andover Summer Concert Series will feature singers and musicians from Western Maine.

Performances start at 6 p.m. in the gazebo on the town common at Routes 5 and 120. If it’s raining, they’re held inside the nearby Andover Congregational Church.

Pete Coolidge, his wife, Wanda, and other members of the community have organized the concerts for five years.

Coolidge himself plays guitar for the The Acoustipalians and will perform solo on July 27, when he’ll play “heartfelt stuff” about the people and places in and around Andover.

“There’s a song about Farmer’s Hill and Aziscohos Dam, and about the house (in Andover) I grew up in when I was a child,” he said. He said he likes to write songs that mean something to him, and he still gets a lot of requests for “Bobby Hall,” a song about an old mechanic who lived in town. “Everybody knew Bobby Hall,” Coolidge said.

The remaining summer schedule is:

June 29 — Singer-songwriter Brad Hooper of Albany Township with a mixture of his original titles and blues and jazz tunes;

July 13 — The Cobblestones from the Norway-Oxford area. The five-piece band plays contemporary top 40 music and includes Carolyn Costanzi, Michael Plourde, Ken Lloyd, Mark Plourde and Danielle Tran;

July 27 — Pete Coolidge of Andover, guitar soloist playing ballads about the people and places in Andover who have meant the most to him;

Aug. 10 — Tim Dion, guitar soloist, who performs a wide variety of music;

Aug. 24 — The Robinson Family from East Andover sing contemporary gospel music;

The series is supported through donations made at the concerts and sponsors, including Steve Swayze Excavation, the Andover Service Circle, Bracketts Septic and Pumping, Puiia Lumber, and Memory Lane Vacations.

For more information visit the Andover Summer Concert Series Facebook page.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

Pete Coolidge is a promoter and one of the musicians who performs at the Andover Summer Concert Series on Friday evenings at the Andover gazebo on the town common. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times)