I remember the 1950s as a good decade – the war was over and I had happily settled in West Tisbury on an island I had never heard of before I met and married Johnny Mayhew, who was a descendent of a long line of Vineyarders. We were married in September, 1947, and winter was not the best time to start a life on the Vineyard, especially if you didn’t know anyone except your new husband. But I was twenty-one, and life was an adventure.

In those days, the population was generally optimistic about the future. There were big changes going on, however. Veterans were returning to take up their lives, which had been interrupted by years of war. Women, who had taken over the jobs that the men used to have in the fields and in the factories, were being eased back into their homes with propaganda about how satisfying it was to wax your kitchen floor, how fulfilling it could be to get your clothes squeaky clean with the new bleach products. I don’t know how I managed, therefore, when we moved into a small house – well, a shack, really – a converted chicken coop on Everett Whiting’s farm. I had no linoleum in my tiny kitchen, so I couldn’t wax it, and I had no washing machine to try out the new bleach products. I kept busy ironing my new husband’s boxer shorts.

There was a hospital in Oak Bluffs, but it had no emergency room or maternity ward, so five local doctors took care of all our needs: delivering babies, removing appendices and tonsils, and dispensing what drugs were available. As for entertainment, however, the day after Labor Day what few restaurants there were mostly closed for the winter. The movie theaters likewise called it quits for the season. There were no public activities or facilities for either seniors or the younger set. No support groups. No theater productions. Not much to do between Labor Day and Memorial Day.

So it was up to us to make our own fun. We fed each other at dinner parties after the husbands had a successful duck or goose hunt or fishing trip. And we got together to play music. This was a male endeavor, as they were the ones who played guitar and banjo, violin and accordion – the wives were the audience, chatting about their babies or a new recipe that had turned out pretty well.

Sometimes we gathered at the Whiting’s house or the Scannell’s, and once in awhile at our house. Everett Whiting and Johnny played guitar and Willy Huntington was good on the guitar as well as the banjo. Mike Athearn was the only accordion player, and Jack Scannell, who had not grown up on the Vineyard and had never gotten into playing music, tried hard to mix in with a kazoo. Ernest Corellus and Elmer Silva occasionally joined us. They all played and sang old favorites, some not fit for their children to hear, but it was our only entertainment and we enjoyed it.

Some years later my three children confessed that they used to sit at the top of our stairs when we had a musical in the old church parsonage, which we had moved into after eight months in the chicken coop. And the Whiting and Scannell children hid behind the furniture in their homes so they could listen undetected. The music got into the Huntington boys, as well as into my family. My son Jack and my daughter Deborah play the guitar and Deborah has handed down her lovely voice to her daughter, Katie Ann. Jack’s two grown-up daughters are both accomplished musicians.

I was reminded of those early days on the Vineyard when I was watching MVTV a year ago as they showed videos of the 2011 fair – the 150th anniversary of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair. The first fair I attended was in 1946, and I haven’t missed one since.  In those early days, when the fair was held in the Grange Hall, with no carnival and no music coming out of amplifiers, Willy and his brother, Gale Huntington, along with Elmer Silva and Ernest Correlus and others, sat on the front porch of the Grange Hall with their banjos and guitars and provided music for the annual event. I went in 2011, although it is increasingly difficult for me to get around, specifically to listen to a performance of The Flying Elbows, because my granddaughter Caroline was joining them with her fiddle for a few songs. That year my husband Johnny even joined me there one last time, as Windemere had brought him and a few other residents in wheelchairs to enjoy the music and food.

It was a sweet moment, and I was almost overwhelmed with nostalgia when I realized I was able to listen to the third generation of local musicians, and what a wonderful tradition had been started more than fifty years ago here in West Tisbury.  There in the group called The Stragglers was Danny Whiting, whose father Everett played in our original group. And Peter Huntington, whose father Willy was also a regular. Today, Willy Huntington’s granddaughter, Shaelah, plays the violin and used to enter the fiddlers’ contest at the fair along with my granddaughters, Caroline, Lucy, and Katie Ann. My son Jack was in a high school band called The Bodes, and even after some forty-five years they still get together for an occasional gig. Jimmy Athearn plays the trombone in a swing orchestra, which played forties music at Johnny’s and my fortieth wedding anniversary party. Well, that was our era of music. These boys all grew up together.

Music is a wonderful force in the world. Country music, opera, rock, jazz, swing – it all brings people together and makes them one. One day I listened to The Stragglers on our local TV station. The next day I watched and listened to the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Carmen. Both were wonderful. But my musical life really began when I sat on the floor of the Whiting’s living room about sixty years ago, tuning out the women’s babble about their babies and new recipes, and listening to Willy and Johnny and Everett and the others singing “Country Roads.” The tradition goes on.

Where are they now?

Here’s what several Vineyard Sound alumni have been doing since the summers they sang with the group:

Tim Aslin (1999–2001): Works as an actor in film and television. Latest film,Heist, will be finished this summer. Writes music and performs in Los Angeles, often with Peter Wetzel, another Vineyard Sound alumnus.

Townsend Belisle (1992–1995): Created Haystack Needle, a contract business–development firm working with creative companies and artists, among them several bands, including John Legend and the a cappella group Naturally 7. Founded and continues to produce the Hyannis Sound, a summertime college a cappella group based on Cape Cod. (haystackneedle.com)

Javier Bernard (2004–2006): Works freelance in television, most recently for the Food Network, CNN, and Viacom/MTV. Recently recorded an extended-play (EP) album with producer and engineer Roger Fife. (myspace.com/callmejavi)

Chris Bettencourt (1992–1993): With Elijah Carroll, one of two Island natives to sing in the Vineyard Sound. Serves as director of Merrill Lynch in Wisconsin. Lives in Mequon with wife Jessica and three sons. “While I don’t get to perform for crowds like we used to, my children are now my audience and often my lead singers.”

Sam Bigelow (1997 and 1999): An admissions officer for Boston University who also works as a pianist and singer/songwriter, playing mostly in Cambridge and New York. His band last year released The Foundry, an album produced by fellow Vineyard Sound alumnus Anand Nayak (iTunes.com). Nominated last year as outstanding blues/soul act by the Boston Music Awards.

David Buffum (1992–1996): Dean of students at The Field School for seventh-through-twelfth graders in Washington, D.C., where he teaches music; his use of a cappella in the classroom was recently featured in an online article for American Music Teacher(www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-131128776.html).

Elijah Carroll (1999 and 2001): With Chris Bettencourt, one of two native Vineyarders to sing with the Vineyard Sound. Works for the musical revueBeach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco and interns for jambase.com, a concert-listing website. Writes and produces original music. Sings in the four-man a cappella group Too Small Top Hat with Vineyard Sound alumnus Erik Grimaldi and with the Disastraunots, a hip-hop duo. (myspace.com/toosmalltophat and myspace.com/disastraunots)

Dylan Connor (1997): Lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and teaches Latin at Bunnell High School. Also writes for and plays with an eponymous indie power–pop band in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. (dylanconnor.com)

David Cope (1995): Lives in Philadelphia and in March released a new self-titled album of pop songs, available on iTunes. (myspace.com/davidcope)

David Fountain (2002–2003): Works as a studio musician and writes and produces for bands around Atlanta. Plays trumpet, mandolin, lap steel guitar, and sings backup for Wighat; and guitar, keyboards, and vocals for It’s Elephants. As a solo artist, recently released an EPThe Happy Tastes Like the Sad (iTunes). Expects to release a second EP this fall. (myspace.com/davidmos)

Shane Fuhrman (2001–2002): Recently admitted to the bar and working in the finance-practice section of the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in New York City. “Music is still a large part of my life, but I no longer perform. I have a number of friends in the music industry that help me to stay up to date with local artists.”

Erik Grimaldi (1997 and 1999): Co-produced compilation albums to celebrate the tenth and fifteenth seasons of the Vineyard Sound. Collaborated as a producer and manager with fellow Vineyard Sound alumnus Dylan Connor for the former rock band M.Headphone. Sings in the four-man a cappella group Too Small Top Hat with Elijah Carroll in San Francisco. (myspace.com/toosmalltophat)

Sean Han (1999–2000): In 2006, founded Blip Blip Bleep, a group grounded in synth pop and indie rock, now playing clubs in New York City and the northeast. The group’s second EP, Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Get Up, was released in April. (blipblipbleep.com)

Joachim (Yo) Horsley (1999): With his company LittleHorse Music and Audio in Manhattan, writes music for film, TV, and new media, and creates sound effects and mixes for film and television. Also writes arrangements for ensembles, including orchestras, rock bands, and a cappella groups. Song “I Want Your Love” off his most recent album Strangers in the Valley won the grand prize (pop category) in the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. (littlehorsemusic.com)

Andrew Lefkowits (1999–2001): Sound engineer for Naturally 7, an American a cappella group that tours Europe, Asia, and North America up to two hundred days a year (www.naturallyseven.com). Also works as a freelance studio engineer through Lefkowits Audio in San Francisco. Records Vineyard Sound final concerts each summer, which are released the following year as a live album. Serves as the president of the group’s board of directors.

Dan Lennon (1994–1995): Serves as director of advancement at Notre Dame High School in Lawrence. Sings with two Boston-based a cappella groups: Firedrill! (firedrillband.com) and Five O’Clock Shadow, which sang at the halftime show at the NFL Hall of Fame games in 2001 and 2005 (focs.com).

Sam Martin (2002–2005): Branch manager for Enterprise Rent-a-Car in northern Virginia, and spends his free time playing golf, racquetball, and paintball. Serves as treasurer of the Vineyard Sound.

Jeremy Nash (2003–2006): Works on his music career in New York City while handling an assortment of day jobs. (“Different island, same old story.”) Released an acoustic self-titled album (available on iTunes) and plans to produce a full-band disc this year. (myspace.com/jeremynash)

Anand Nayak (1994): Producer who has worked with Vineyard Sound alumni David Fountain (The Foundry) and as a co-writer and producer of Steve Roslonek’s recent albums for children. Lives in Florence, Massachusetts, with son Jack and wife Polly Fiveash, with whom he occasionally performs. Also plays guitar and sings with Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, a neo-traditional string band that tours nationally. (myspace.com/dizzydogmusic)

Josh Peck (2001 and 2003): Works with Pulse Music in New York City as a writer and producer for records, film, and television (pulsemusicny.com). Recent credits include music for Mercedes-Benz, Callaway Golf, and Chevrolet television commercials, an orchestral score for the short film The Boundary, and the mix of a track for a female-vocal driven rock band called the Hotcakes.

Steve Roslonek (1992–1993 and 1995): Performs widely as a singer and songwriter of children’s music through SteveSongs, and joined PBS Kids as musical co-host of Kids Morning Preschool Destination in May. Often performs and records with Vineyard Sound alumni Anand Nayak (producer and co-writer), David Buffum (co-writer), Sam Bigelow (piano), Matt Steckler (saxophonist), and singers Dan Lennon, Dave Cirone, Paul Samford, Chris Bettencourt, Andrew Lefkowits, and Paul Foster. First DVD,Marvelous Adventure, will be released through Rounder Records in August. (www.stevesongs.com)

Garth Ross (1992–1993): Director of the Kennedy Center’s Performing Arts for Everyone Initiative, producing programs such as the Millennium Stage, Free Performance Series, and Holiday Festival. “I have also started a monthly music party with neighborhood families, as a supplement to the musical education our kids receive in their public school.”

Jon J. Ryan (1992–1995): Beatboxer (vocal percussionist) for Ball in the House, a Boston-based vocal band rooted in rhythm and blues and soul. “I started the band after my Vineyard Sound experience showed me that you could make money performing music, and we now perform full-time and tour nationally.” (ballinthehouse.com)

Matt Steckler (1997): Saxophonist and flautist who writes for and plays with Dead Cat Bounce, a jazz ensemble based in New York City (deadcatbounce.com), as well as other groups in the Northeast, including Persiflage and the South End Ramblers. Has performed with fellow alumnus Steve Roslonek of SteveSongs.

Ian Varley (1997): Computer programmer and full-time student in the master’s program for software engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Plays and tours regularly with the funk jazz band Drop Trio, which is recording an album this year. Does session work and plays as a sideman for several other groups, some of which also tour. (ianvarley.com)

Ari Wolfe (2000–2003): Director of the Princeton in Asia program, which sends university graduates to do service work in the Far East. At Princeton, sings traditional music (sacred and folk) from the republic of Georgia and the region of the Caucuses with a small group of doctoral candidates in musicology and composition. Serves as secretary of the Vineyard Sound board of directors.