What better way to celebrate Larry and Barb Gabrielle’s move away from Virden than with a concert featuring Larry and Three’s Company?
Larry Gabrielle was well known and appreciated for his role through the years bringing out the best in performers as he worked the sound and lighting at Virden’s Aud Theatre.
As a musician himself, Gabrielle often played a supportive role, but his musical command of the guitar, his dynamic picking and rhythm plus his resonant voice were a highlight of the celebratory concert Sunday evening, Sept. 10.
Three’s Company musicians, Leona Joseph, Krista Pederson and Larry Gabrielle entertained a full house of family, friends and music fans for well over an hour Sunday night in Virden Baptist Church.
Three’s Company sprang up in 2022 when these local musicians found there was a need for talent at Music in the Park and such local venues. However, Gabrielle has played with Joseph in various groups for decades and this was due to be a joyful evening, despite it being their last performance together for the foreseeable future.
Joseph warmed up the evening saying, “We’ve had many opportunities to go lots of places over the years and we’ve had lots of fun with Larry. Of late what we’ve been doing, is, Krista, Larry and I played at a lot of the seniors’ buildings and different places… and of course at Music in the Park and those kinds of things, so tonight was just one more opportunity for us to have a chance to play together. Very laid back and casual and, ya … we’ll just have some fun.”
“We sure will!” Gabrielle added.
Each musician took turns leading favourite pieces of music, always with the rich tones of Gabrielle’s Martin guitar and, on several tunes, his harmonica.
From country, folk, blues, historic hits and movie tunes, the trio entertained.
Accompanied with her mandolin, Joseph started the evening off singing “Remember Me,” by Roy Claxton Acuff. Pederson’s lovely top harmonies along with Gabrielle’s tenor produced a rich sound.
At the close of this upbeat but nostalgic evening, Gabrielle thanked the audience.
“It’s humbling, but it’s also gratifying, knowing that people cared for you. It really is. It shows that love IS around us. It makes me think of … ‘I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes…’” he said, recalling the 1967 tune by The Troggs – ‘Love Is All Around’.
“It’s so good that you all came out. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and the bottom of Barb’s.” He nods toward his wife, “She’s back there.”
Up until a month ago, Barb served the public in the Murray family’s Seventh Avenue clothing store, Virden Sport & Fashion. It was work she began years ago when Vanny Hellman owned the store.
Larry also thanked group member Krista Pederson for organizing the evening, and Paul Archambault “who was so kind to come in and do sound for us.”
And with that he encouraged the audience to join in a “singalong bit,” the chorus of the Irish Rovers’ The Unicorn. And they did.
Teenaged Gabrielle inspired
Gabrielle started into music at the age of 15. The seed was planted by an unconventional source.
Born and raised on a farm, in the 1960s he recalls that his father found himself needing a hired man. On one of the family’s regular Saturday nights in Virden, an employee was discovered - a stranger in town. They took him home.
The family soon discovered they had a musician for a farm hand.
“That guy could play and sing,” Gabrielle recalls of their man from Quebec. “He was doing ‘Blowing in the Wind’ and all those songs that were popular in the ‘60s.”
A teenaged Gabriel was inspired. “He sort of got me started, and he left two years later. I didn’t get a guitar until about three years later, but he got me started.”
The Aud Theatre board also said farewell “to volunteer and friend Larry Gabrielle.” A bit of history, recounted in an Aud Theatre Facebook post, noted that “Larry figured his first performance at the Aud was square dancing in 1957! He has entertained on stage, put in countless hours in the sound booth, given tours and helped maintain our beautiful building for many, many years. We wish Larry and his wife Barb all the best in their adventure out west!”
Sound technician Sheldon Gould credited Gabrielle for passing on his knowledge.
Another, Thomas Humphries, called Gabrielle “a community legend,” for the countless hours he spent volunteering in the theatre. Humphries said, “He was also a fantastic mentor. I have Larry to thank for getting me started in sound and introducing me to many other contacts that grew my career.”
The Gabrielles are Alberta bound to be closer to family who live in Brooks, in Chestermere near Calgary and in Redwater near Edmonton.
