Where Did We Go Right?

Everywhere we play, someone wants to know, "How did the YesterUkes get started?" For those who have asked, here is how it began... The original five members were part of a ukulele class taught at Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Center in Laurens, SC. We didn't start out to be a band. It was just fun being together. In fact it was so much fun, that the first five members invited friends to join us. And we quickly grew to ten.

After we played a couple of programs, the ball started rolling. Word of the "ukulele people" began to spread. A huge article in a Sunday edition of the Greenville News last summer brought a flood of requests for programs---and brought us Susan who read about us and called to ask about joining. Chandler drove his wife to weekly practices, and always sat in the back, reading a book. But he decided that we were having entirely too much fun! He learned to play ukulele and is now in the band.

Bruce, a baritone uke player, heard us perform at his church and asked if he could join. (And we quickly said "Yes!) After retiring, Dick told a friend he would like to play with us. And the word was passed along to us and he soon belonged. A YesterUkes business card given to a stranger was passed along to his ukulele-playing friend Jim, who called to ask if he could come visit a practice. He did. And he stayed.

The last person to join had heard about the YesterUkes and simply kept asking around until he found where we practiced. And then Ralph showed up, ukulele in hand. There are now 17 members who come from seven towns in three counties in upstate South Carolina.

Thanks to YouTube, you can be a part of our group, too...if only for a few minutes. Join us at a recent practice as you listen:

Where Did We Go Right, by Johnny Cash, 1958