A.J. Swearingen and Jonathan Beedle are up front with their audience and fans right from the start: In their tribute show to Simon & Garfunkel, the music is always the main attraction, as it will be once again when they perform at Birchmere on Friday evening. “[Ours] is a retrospective,” said Swearingen. “We say that because we’re paying homage to the music in our own voices and harmonies.”
The harmony between the two was immediately apparent back in 1991. A chance meeting in a Bethlehem, Pa., club brought Swearingen and Beedle face to face. Both were working on solo careers when they were introduced, and they began talking. The talking eventually led to singing.
| Onstage |
| A Simon & Garfunkel Retrospective |
| Where: Birchmere Music Hall, 3701 Mount Vernon Avenue |
| When: 7:30 p.m. April 8 |
| Info: $22.50; 703-549-7500; birchmere.com; simonandgarfunkeltribute.com |
“When we sing together, we have a similar blend,” Swearingen continued. “We don’t try to manipulate our voices to sound like [Simon & Garfunkel.] It’s just a blend that reminds you of the sound. We have such a love for the music and such a deep understanding of the compositions that it comes through and I think that’s what people pick up on.”
And the compositions are from a specific period — the time up to 1970 when the wildly popular duo recorded and performed live their now iconic songs. Among them, as performed in the retrospective, are “Mrs. Robinson,” “Scarborough Fair,” “The Boxer” and “Sounds of Silence.”
“It never becomes tiring to perform these songs,” Swearingen noted. He, along with Beedle, finds the music very sophisticated. “It’s challenging because you never know what stages you’re going to be on and how it’s going to sound. It’s just us and the acoustic guitar, and nothing to hide behind.”
Still, Swearingen and Beedle do not deny how hauntingly similar the compositions sound when compared to the way Simon & Garfunkel recorded them. But both think of it much like classical musicians who know their instruments and play the music as it was written.
While both men have individual projects they are working on, at this time their energies are focused on the retrospective. The program is a set show with a beginning, intermission and an end. The audiences, they say, have been incredibly receptive.
“Baby boomers make up the majority of our audiences, but there are also kids in their early 20s,” Swearingen said. “I think what goes around comes around and the music is going to survive.”
