Photo belongs to Jake Doty and The Swensongs

The next performance in the month of February with the Perry Fine Arts is happening on Sunday.

The organization is welcoming Jake Doty and The Swensongs to take the stage at the Performing Arts Center, 1200 18th Street. Perry Fine Arts Chairperson Cathy Clark describes that the band consists of four members, featuring Doty on acoustic guitar and the lead singer, Dave Swenson, who plays the electric guitar, fiddle, and vocals, Austin Lutes-Swenson on the bass guitar and vocals, and Paul Navara, who plays the drums. She notes that they play an array of musical genres including classic rock, pop, and country. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the members are all connected through Luther College in Decorah.

“Dave and Paul played together in jazz bands back in the 70s. And then Paul went on to be a band educator in Iowa (while) Dave became a string teacher in Boone, teaching orchestra and music theory for 35 years. Thirty years after Dave and Paul were at Luther (College), Jake and Austin were classmates, and Jake was very active in the choral groups (and) Austin played the bass and jazz bands at Luther.”

Clark reveals that this will be the band’s third time performing in Perry and shares that she met Swenson a number of years ago at the Ladies Day Out event, which is how the partnership began. Clark indicates that the show will take place at 2pm on Sunday, which is free and open to the public.