The String Beans are three rather tall and somewhat lanky Lincoln men who are kids at heart.
After all, how else would you describe three professionals ages 38, 39 and 38 who spend much of their free time making up songs about fireworks, hot cocoa and lemonade, and coming up with questions like: Does a weeping willow really cry? Is a wild boar really dull?
The musical group was formed in 2003 by brothers Curt and Randy Bright after they spent a night around the bonfire with family and friends singing silly songs.
At that bonfire sat a friend and teacher who suggested Curt perform his songs for the schools.
And an idea was born.
The brothers, whose witty humor bounces off one another with the speed of popcorn in a microwave, couldn’t get the notion of forming a musical group out of their head.
Both men grew up in Lincoln, graduated from Lincoln Southeast High School and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Neither had ever performed before — although Curt admits he’s been writing songs “forever — since high school.”
“Back then it was l-o-o-v-v-e-e songs for my girlfriend,” he says.
Today he writes about noodles, cat hair in his nose and Oliver, brother Randy’s yellow lab, who turns out to be a she, rather than a he.
“Which isn’t true,” Randy interjected — but it makes great fodder for a fun kid’s song.
Randy, who has never even performed in a school play has written some ditties of his own including “Chicken Pot Pie” and “I Think I Need a Bath” dedicated to youngest daughter Tessa, 8, who hates baths.
Freddy Kerr, who plays guitar, bass, drums and percussion, as well as sings, joined the group in 2005.
The group’s name, The String Beans, came about at a holiday dinner when someone asked Randy to pass the green beans.
“ … green beans? … string beans? Why not?” he mused. “We’re both tall.”
“Thank goodness Mom didn’t make broccoli,” said Curt.
“Or brussels sprouts,” added Randy.
“I don’t think Mom has ever made brussels sprouts,” Curt noted.
The brothers knew from the start they wanted to perform for kids and their families. They sent nice letters with pretty logos on top to all the schools in Lincoln and the surrounding area offering to perform for free.
“Zero response,” Randy said.
Their very first show was for family and friends at Randy’s daughter’s montessori school in 2004.
Soon assisted living and retirement centers invited them in to perform. Their music and humor was different from the standard entertainment fare coming to these facilities.
“They’re a lot like our present audience. They don’t drive and don’t have permanent teeth,” Curt joked.
And like the preschool set, these oldsters went wild. They clapped their hands and stomped their feet. They sang along. They barked appropriately for “Oliver.” They laughed.
And they bought up String Beans CDs.
It was Lincoln City Libraries that sprung them into fame with the preschool/elementary crowd. They performed as part of the Summer Reading Program in 2005.
Word of mouth spread among kids and their parents.
These days, when The String Beans perform for the libraries the room always fills to capacity — and families have literally been turned away for lack of space.
“They are really crowd pleasers,” said Pat Leach, youth services supervisor for the libraries. “They really do a good job.”
Since that summer, The String Beans’ popularity has soared.
“We played 85 shows in 2006,” Curt says. “I don’t know if that is a lot for the Rolling Stones or The Wiggles, but for us it is a lot. All three of us work full time.”
Just last month an independent producer had the group perform their song “Right Here in Nebraska” for a History Channel program called “The States,” which airs in March 2007.
“Right Here in Nebraska” is filled with little-known historical trivia about the state.
Today, The String Beans’ third CD “Rocking Your Christmas Stocking” comes out. All 11 songs are originals written by the brothers.
Like their previous songs, it is full of silliness, fun and unique perspectives of the holidays — whether it’s from the family dog who wonders why these people bring a tree in the house and not let him use it; to the turkey who begins a Thanksgiving campaign for people to eat pork — “the other white meat”; or learning to say Merry Christmas in numerous languages including monkey, octopus and Klingon.
