By Rosemary Peters
Four UP seniors have taken the road less traveled and it has made all of the difference - for their musical career, that is.
Road Less Traveled, whose name was inspired by the well-known Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken," is UP's own four-man a cappella group. Seniors Dustin Grote, Andrew Wade, David Harrell and Kory Keeney have been harmonizing together under this band name for the past three years.
"Voices singing is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world," Keeney said.
Keeney and Wade started singing together in high school, and when they first got to campus their freshman year they joined the UP choir. Through the UP choir, the pair met Grote and Harrell. From there, the quartet quickly united in voice and friendship, and formed Road Less Traveled.
"They were all members of the University of Portland Singers," Professor Roger Doyle and conductor of UP singers said. "They are very good guys whose talent I very much appreciate."
The desire to start an a cappella group grew out of the fact that UP offers a small variety of music classes. The classes offered focus on teaching classical music which doesn't fulfill the seniors' singing desires.
"We wanted to be able to perform songs other than the classics," Wade said.
The group sings a variety of music, from Disney songs to Lionel Richie. The job of arranging the music falls to Wade who writes the harmony for four parts: first tenor, second tenor, baritone, and bass.
Last December, the group put out its first CD named "Solstice." The four poured hours of work into "Solstice" and completed it in time for Christmas.
"I know they practiced incessantly for a while before they first recorded and were extremely diligent and determined to make everything perfect," senior Meghan O'Loughlin, who has been friends with the quartet since freshman year said. "But they had a great time doing it!"
The seven-track CD took approximately ten hours to record and features an original song, "One Holy Night," written by Gus Pappelis, the pianist at Wade's church.
"It was a starter CD. A dry run of what we need to do for our next ones," Keeney said.
Road Less Traveled would not have even been able to make Solstice without the help of a music professor, Hal Logan, who works with music technology. Road Less Traveled recorded "Solstice" in Logan's home studio.
"He has a really good ear for when the notes are off. He's a musical genius," Wade said. "Sometimes he knows the notes we are trying to sing even without ever looking at the music. One time I was singing a C flat when it should have been C and he commented on it."
In addition to the newly released Christmas CD, the quartet plans to release at least one more CD this school year. According to the band, the next album will focus on love songs.
"I really feel excited about the CD and I am so proud of what we already did," Grote said. "The music is what inspires me. I want to make it my career."
Road Less Traveled has put its CDs up for sale on its web site at www.rltacapella.com. Along with producing its CD, the band also performs at concerts held on and off campus.
"We have held concerts for Villa, Café Procrastinate and Weekend on The Bluff," Wade said. "We have also been on the Better Living Show and the Home and Garden Show."
The group even had a skit in Villa's Man Auction this year and raised $800 for the dorm's charity. Although only women were bidding for the men at the Man Auction, the group has a diverse base of fans.
"The guys swoon almost harder than the girls," Wade said. "They all hope we will sing 'Kiss the Girl to them."
Road Less Traveled is making available their talented voices for hire as 'Singing Grams' for the week previous to Valentine's Day. Prices are not set, but all inquiries should be directed to Wade at wade09@up.edu.
"It's a romantic gift idea," Harrell said. "We performed for a teacher's wife at her work and she totally loved it."
