PLATTSBURGH — Weathering hardships, loving losers and pie making are a few of the musical themes of Oh! Betty, Tim Hartnett and Julie Canepa, who perform Friday at the Palmer Street Coffeehouse.
But they're not doing it alone. They've invited some friends and family — Seana (Hartnett) Remillard; Lady Luck (Remillard, Alice Knight and Lita Kelly Paczak); Strictly Sunday (Lita Kelly Paczak, Francine Poitras, Nancy Russo, Shirley Butler and Betty Baker); Julie Robinson, accompanied by Larry Stone and Russ Mulvey; Paul Carson; Garrett Hemingway; and Chris Martine, accompanied by Hartnett and Richard Shaefer.
"Tim and I are really excited," Canepa said. "It's an opportunity for us to invite some old friends from the area in the musical world and bring some new faces into Palmer Street."
Carson is the owner of Fantastic Planet in Plattsburgh.
"He's a really prolific songwriter," Canepa said. "Tim is even going to play piano on one of Paul's tunes. I will sing along on a song of his. He's an amazing songwriter. He has really good lyrics. He's been at Palmer Street before. He's opened for other folks."
Canepa saw Robinson and her band at the Recovery Lounge in Upper Jay a year ago.
"She's coming all that way to play a few tunes for everybody," Canepa said.
Hemingway hosts open mike on Sunday evenings at Olive Ridley's in Plattsburgh.
"I don't think he's played Palmer Street," Canepa said. "He's a young guy. He plays with Tom Gerner. It's going to be fun for everyone. The musicians are excited. Lita Kelly will be joining us with a couple of bands she's in."
Last November, Oh! Betty released their debut EP, "I'm Still Standin'," with five sizzling tracks, four of which were penned by Canepa.
"In late 2009 and early 2010, we had kind of a creative spurt. I would write a song. Tim would write a song, and I would write another song. We had a very good creative time, and we started playing those songs out. I think originally what we were trying to do is get the songs down for posterity," Canepa said.
They went to Skip Smithson at the Addition Studio, who recorded, mixed and mastered the disc, which features the title track, "I'm Still Standin'; "State of Emergency"; "Rollin' Pin"; "Fallin', a Connie Francis cover; and the previously released, "Martha Stewart Christmas."
"We started getting help from great local musicians that Tim has known over the years," Canepa said. "It started to take on a life of its own. All of a sudden, we had something there."
Guest musicians are Mark Mastrean (drums), Shawn Parrotte (bass), Junior Barber (dobro), Jeff Rendinaro (harmonica), Smithson (guitar), Rick Davies (trombone) and Herm Matlock (trumpet).
"We see other artists put out this form, a five- or six-song EP," Canepa said. "We just went with it. 'I'm Still Standin'' is kind of a recession song. It's about resilience."
Canepa's prison ode, "State of Emergency," was a result of listening to way too much David Allan Coe, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.
"I was in a phase when Tim and I were starting out listening to a lot of roots music. So many of them are about jail," she said.
"Junior Barber (Bear Tracks) plays dobro on that song. We were thrilled to get Jeff Rendinaro (Zip City). He's the voice of the warden and plays harmonic on that tune. The best part about the CD, we got so much help from local musicians. It was really kind of an organic thing that way."
The disc cover depicts Canepa and Hartnett standing before a vintage Chevy truck owned by Mike Racine of Autoland.
"It was so great to have it," she said. "Those photos were at the Peryea Farm on Tom Miller Road. They loaned us their barn, too."
The back cover features an apple pie gifted to Laura Carbone, who is a doctor by day and a music photographer by night.
"One of her patients gave her that amazing apple pie," Canepa said. "It was a really yummy pie."
Email Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
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