| JULY 2008 -- Preston City Grange Member Joe LoPresti -- At 74, square dance caller still gets people on dance floor
In the news: Joe LoPresti, 74, can still find an audience to dance to songs titled “Shotgun Boogie” and “Get Along Home Cindy.”
Background: LoPresti of Preston is the lead square dance caller in a band called the Country Friends, organized under a different name more than 50 years ago. He was born in the house on the LoPresti Family Farm he now co-owns with his brother and nephew. “I’ve been working since I was 6 years old,” he said. He attended Preston Public Schools and graduated from Norwich Free Academy, then went straight to work on the family farm.
Baseball and music: As a teenager, he played baseball, and needed money to help support the team. So he and his friends organized square dances. One day, the caller for the square dance canceled, and the friends had to scramble to find a replacement, LoPresti said. They did, but his friends told him he’d have to learn to call the dances himself. “I don’t have a good ear, like most people. Like most musicians,” he said. “I have to work hard at it.”
The band: Audiences don’t seem to think so. The Country Friends are in demand and play about three times a month in southeastern Connecticut. They play Grange halls, class reunions and festivals. They’re booked for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 and Sept. 5 at the Blue Slope Country Museum in Franklin, and at the Scarecrow Festival at the Preston City Congregational Church in September.
Lead guitar: Ed Shea, 68, of Oakdale who plays lead guitar for the band, said usually the group has three members who perform; LoPresti, who plays guitar and calls the dances, Shea, and a fiddle player. Sometimes the band adds a rhythm guitar player or banjo. Even if the song is “Golden Slippers” or “Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet,” people dance to it. “They’re a little antique, but they’re a lot of fun,” Shea said. LoPresti said he’ll keep playing for 10 more years or so.
Quotable: “It gives the people a fun time. And keeps the kids activated and out of trouble,” he said. |
