Nothing Tops Barbershop

The sublime blending of voices. The shimmering highs. The lush lows. Sweet tenor tones rising above rich lead melodies. Harmonies that warm the soul.

At age 7, Patrick McAlexander discovered the singing world of barbershop, close four-part harmony in a cappella. And it gripped the fella. Now 30, he’s still happily in its vise, this many years after first performing as a young boy in his dad’s barbershop chorus.

“I’ve been around music, specifically barbershop, my whole life. My parents met singing barbershop. I joined my dad’s chorus as soon as they would let me. I was very into it as a little kid and it has not gone away since,” says Patrick, director of Houston’s Space City Sound, a spirited all-voices nonprofit a cappella barbershop chorus that placed 10th in the world in July during the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS) International Barbershop Chorus Competition in Cleveland, Ohio. 

The chorus of 45, including Patrick’s wife Sarah, bedazzled an audience of 5,000 – and the judges – who awarded the group its highest performance score to date. And Patrick’s parents Brad and Ann, barbershoppers still, were there to see it. “They were very proud and they loved our performance! They’ve gotten to see a lot of my barbershop exploits, but that was their first time seeing me direct.”

BHS, the parent organization for barbershoppers across North America and affiliated groups in more than a dozen countries, holds competitions regularly, with about 80,000 active singers on its roster worldwide. BHS used to be an all-male organization, but in June 2018, opened the organization to “all voices.”  Membership chapters can choose to have a mixed chorus of men and women, remain all-male, or have an all-female ensemble.

“We’ve been to internationals a few times before, but this was our first time placing that high and scoring as well as we did. It was really exciting to be able to say we are one of the top 10 choruses in the world,” exudes Patrick of the group that vied with 35 barbershop choruses in the competition. He prepared intricate arrangements of two songs from the musicals Matilda and The Last Five Years for the performance.

“I remember when we were about 20 seconds into our first song, there was a nice inflection on a word that I hadn’t noticed the chorus doing before, and it immediately set me at ease. I was like, ‘Oh, they’re going to be great! This is going to be a fun performance.’” (Watch Space City Sound’s performance at the international competition.)

“We welcome all voices, all genders, all experience levels, and we are an auditioned group, so there is an audition process but absolutely anyone is welcome to come to a rehearsal and sing with us and audition with us when they want,” explains Travis Gidley, 33, bass section leader and former president of Space City Sound. Singers in the group range in age from 17 to the 70s. 

The ensemble has grown steadily over the years, thanks to its open-audition policy. Anyone can attend rehearsals on Thursdays from 7 to 10 p.m. at Pines Presbyterian, 12751 Kimberley Ln., to just listen or sing along. There’s a 3-step audition process to become a Space City Sound member to perform with the group at shows and concerts.

“I think the openness in our weekly rehearsals allows us to be inclusive and we really do try, even with folks who are less experienced, to allow them to experience the joy of singing in an ensemble. There’s so much magic and healing and joy that comes from that,” Travis says.

He helped found the group in 2015, settling on the name Space City Sound as an homage to Houston’s rich history in the space program. He fell in love with barbershop in high school, after being cast in a quartet in a production of Music Man.

Travis loves the competitive aspect of barbershop. The BHS and its affiliate organizations hold preliminary competitions where groups must qualify to glean an invitation to the finals at the international convention. Space City Sound won first place in the BHS Southwestern District choral competition in 2022 and 2023.

“So being at that international competition in Ohio was quite an honor,” says Travis, who loves the camaraderie of it all. “You’re part of a global community and you meet all these other barbershoppers at these conventions. We are all there because we love music, love singing. And you probably know a handful of the same songs that this person you’ve never met before knows. And you probably would be able to sing it with them and have this profound connection with someone you just met. That’s what barbershop is.”

Carrie Kurtz, 46, of Briargrove, feels that connection. She attended a holiday concert two years ago and was hooked. “I sat there listening and immediately said to myself ‘How do I become a part of this group?’” She started attending rehearsals and eventually auditioned. She was thrilled to be on stage with them during the international competition.

“Just to be in a room that large, I felt like I was at the Grammys or something!” says the tenor singer. “There were all these cameras and big booms everywhere. My entire body was vibrating.”

The retired headhunter for engineers finds that singing barbershop keeps her mind sharp. “And I’ve learned so much, music theory as well as how to really sing. Now I understand why I crack on certain notes and how to get around that and produce a better barbershop sound. It’s a specific sound, different than a choral sound.”

In barbershop, tenor is the highest part, harmonizing above the lead. Lead is the second highest part, singing the melody. Baritone sings above and below the lead. Bass is the lowest part, singing foundational notes.

Retired CPA Janet Burnett, 72, sings tenor with Space City Sound, her husband Thomas, bass. Barbershop has been her life since age 16. 

She’s been with Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of women barbershoppers, for 56 years. She directs the Houston Horizon Chorus, a nonprofit, all-female a cappella group and premier chapter of Sweet Adelines. 

“It keeps me young. It keeps me singing and singing is so healthy,” says Janet, whose dad sang barbershop. She remembers barbershop parties at her house as a child. “Mom would put on a pot of coffee, and they’d all sing. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if not for barbershop. The preparation, the teamwork, the camaraderie, the sisterhood and brotherhood are unequalled, I think. You don’t get all those things together in any other hobby.”

It's all about the “ringing chords,” Janet says. “When you sing barbershop, if you do it properly, overtones are created that are not being specifically sung by any part. Specific chords are arranged in the barbershop style so that happens most of the time. It’s a big thrill.”

Agreed, says Drew Prince, 37, Space City Sound’s assistant director and also a founding member. 

“Locking and ringing a chord, where you hit the chord just right and it kind of expands in sound. It’s a visceral feeling,” he says.

“And when you’re performing for an audience, their reaction is a hook. I’ve always loved being on stage and getting that kind of feedback from the audience. There’s nothing better than a barbershop audience.

“Barbershop bridges the gap for me of my musical nerdiness and desire to be on stage,” Drew adds. “The vocal style is more akin to musical theater, in my opinion, than it is to choral or operatic music.”

10TH IN THE WORLD Space City Sound barbershoppers performed before an audience of 5,000, impressing the crowd and judges, and earning the chorus’s highest score to date in competition. (Photo: Barbershop Harmony Society)

Barbershop is an art form, says Space City Sound’s vice president of marketing and public relations, Dom Finetti, 31, who has been with the group since 2016. In his day job, he promotes things like Barbie and Hot Wheels for the toy company, Mattel. By night, he’s belting out baritone. 

“I love the direction we are going, becoming more inclusive and diversive,” he says. “We were one of the first organizations within the BHS to go mixed harmony when the BHS shifted from being an all-male society to being one that accepts all genders.”

He recalls hearing barbershop called “the blackbelt of a cappella,” an observation he finds fitting. “It’s probably the most high-level form of singing on the planet,” he says. 

The group’s music vice president, Heather Cryer, 36, has dedicated her life to the barbershop world. She discovered it while in high school and has been in Sweet Adelines for 23 years. When she moved to Houston, she discovered Space City Sound, joining a year ago. 

“I prefer singing in a mixed group with women and men,” she says. “You’re not singing all high all the time. You really get to stretch your range and use different parts of your range.”

Her husband Trent doesn’t sing, but he’s part of her barbershop bubble. They run a successful online resource, Custom Quartet Stuff, selling a plethora of gear and memorabilia to more than 100 barbershop groups. Any given day, they’re creating hoodies, T shirts, license plate placards, you name it, to accommodate demand. 

“I’m a hands-on creative person and to be able to merge my two dreams of creating things and singing, it’s just wonderful,” Heather says. 

Funny story about the group’s apparel, she says. When BHS first opened its membership to “all voices,” the formerly all-male Space City Sound had to quickly choose a different name to participate in a mixed chorus competition, to accommodate the way registration was set up. Quickly, off the top of their head, they chose Space Kitty Sound. To this day, they still offer space kitties on apparel. But they’re back to just the one, original name.

“Who doesn’t like space kitties?” Heather quips. 

“That’s what I love so much about this group,” says tenor section leader Alesha Yamal, of Space City Sound’s “carefree spirit.” She comes from a musical background, singing and playing flute. And when she discovered Space City Sound a few years back, she fell deep down its rabbit hole.

“I’m so absolutely in love with it,” says the Briarmeadow resident. “This is the most serious I’ve ever dove into something before. I’ve sung my whole life, but never barbershop before. I’m deep in that well.” 

She loves the geekiness of it, she says. “I’m very nerdy. I was an engineer,” says Alesha, 47, who changed course decades ago, becoming a fulltime belly dance instructor. “I keep telling the chorus, if we do a song that has a bit of an Arabic flair, I could totally belly dance to it. We’re going to figure out something eventually, I think. It would be so much fun!”

She leads the chorus in warmups every three weeks or so where they get the hips going.

“I led a full-on 20-minute belly dance class for them early on when I first joined. And every single one of them put on a hip scarf and danced. It was like ‘These are my people. I’ve found my tribe.’

“They are not only amazing musicians but they’re totally willing to not take themselves too seriously and to do something totally out of the box. That’s what Space City Sound is. They’re talented and fun.  Just the best.”

Space City Sound presents Winter Solstice: An a cappella holiday concert on Dec. 20, 7:30-9 p.m. at MATCH, the Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston. General admission is $35, VIP seats are $45 and $50. See spacecitysound.org.