Whitwood and Friends in free Concert, October 15

photo by Brian Oglesbee

What’s the perfect start for this year’s Ridgewalk weekend? Connect with the hills of Allegany County through the songs and melodies of Rick Whitwood’s music. His home-written, hand-crafted songs stand up to anyone’s melodies from “Living the Hard Way” to “Old Man Jones.” Whitwood ‘s songs knit Wellsville’s stories to all small towns and wrap his lyrics around people like grandma’s quilt on a cool evening.

Now Whitwood spends his days on Main Street at the Music Alley where people can pick up a T-Shirt, harmonica, guitar or any number of things related to making or loving music. Interesting people stop in at the Music Alley, drawn by the creativity of Rick or George Cretekos, to find a practice pad, take lessons or arrange gigs. Whitwood’s store has the personality of his clientele and while in it he told me about his music.

As a teen, Whitwood was the little kid in the neighborhood and family. Older cousins belonged to bands and after Rick watched them practice he was hooked. He started earning cash so he could get a $70 electric guitar at Rice’s Music Store on Main Street. The cash came in three ways: sweeping up at Whitwood Motors; helping with deliveries at Mallory TVs; and (“the most lucrative”) playing poker with friends from school.

Whitwood got the guitar and then went on to save for an amp while he worked out how to play. He had some lessons and picked up pointers from the older kids at school. Eventually he was playing guitar in a rock band, Jack Frost, with some other 10th to 12th graders and, get this, sometimes people actually paid them to play.

The other guys in Jack Frost moved out of the area and on to other things while Whitwood developed a bifurcated musical career. Since 1988, he’s played cover songs with Zoar when gigs call for dancin’ music but he’s continued to write his own. When he can play his original music for listening groups, then he plays as Rick Whitwood and Friends.

He wrote his first song at about age 15 but it wasn’t anything he kept. Most of his first songs were written about being in a band or playing music. As a teen he wrote “Living the Hard Way,” a song he considers to be one of his best. It’s about growing up in a rural area and learning from family and from life.

“Living the Hard Way” is one of the songs you’ll hear on Thursday, October 15 at 7 p.m. at the Nancy A Howe Auditorium at the Library when the Allegany Arts Association recognizes local talent and sponsors Rick Whitwood and Friends. The Arts Association’s mission is to encourage all manner of the arts as well as public access to art so they are offering this concert, free, to the community. Whitwood said that the show will be for all ages and hopes that folks will bring their kids.

Performing as his friends will be George Cretekos and Roger Carlin. George was a percussionist in high school but let his music slide while pursuing his career but in about 2004 he and Whitwood got together. Cretekos was interested in doing occasional gigs but not as a member of a cover band. He was also interested in recording music and had all the equipment needed to do that. And (maybe this should have been first) Cretekos thinks that Whitwood’s lyrics deserve a wide audience.

Whitwood’s CD, Desperate Hours, was recorded in the Cretekos home on Riverside Drive in Wellsville. Since that time both the Cretekos family and the recording equipment moved. Now there’s a recording studio in the basement of the Music Alley. Cretekos plays, and sometimes sings a bit, in live performances and they are working on a second CD – one that will have the song performed on the Library lawn this summer – Brown Bottle Flu.

Roger Carlin, bassist, was a member of Zoar with Whitwood for years but now he only performs occasionally. Carlin and Cretekos will help Rick Whitwood create a show with the ease that comes from singing thousands of songs in live shows. Make a note to be at the Library Auditorium on Thursday, October 15 at 7 pm.
The Allegany Arts Association, a not-for-profit group, posts its functions and news at AlleganyArtsAssociaiton.blogspot.com