‘Grandma’s Hope Notes’ shares music with Palmer seniors

PALMER — Grandma’s Hope Notes annual tour of Southcentral Alaska included two performances in the Mat-Su Valley last month.

The Anchor Point musicians are 10 cousins who have performed together for the past 16 years.

The group played at Mat-Su Senior Services on April 17 and at the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home in Palmer on April 19.

The grandma in the group’s title is their own 78-year-old Grandma Anita. The musicians on stage are her biological grandchildren and the woman running the soundboard is her daughter, Teresa Ann.

Everyone in the group sings, plays guitar, violin and piano. In addition, eight of them also are dancers, five play harmonica, four play bass, two play accordion, two play cello, two play steel guitar, two play mandolin, two play Ukulele, one plays concertina, one plays flute, one plays Irish tin whistle player and one plays the jaw harp.

Grandma Anita said the band has performed more than 300 shows since first taking the stage on Sept. 17, 1996. They perform for free for audiences at senior centers, nursing homes, care centers, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, retirement centers, veterans centers and homes, conventions, schools, fairs, music festivals.

They’ve played shows in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado and in Alaska from Homer to Fairbanks, including Kodiak.

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.