Princess Gabbara

Lansing State Journal

In true singer-songwriter fashion, Jen Sygit was giving her audience an unguarded moment.

"This song is about being a struggling songwriter. I have a lot of songs about that," she said. "It's called, 'Poker Face'—not to be confused with Lady Gaga's song."

There were laughs from the audience.

When you go to a Pump House concert for the first time, expect something different. Expect to hear the stories that inspired the songs straight from the singers themselves. Even a few mistakes.

About midway through her performance, Sygit had some difficulty getting her 1942 guitar in tune. And she started one song over after realizing she skipped the second verse.

But the folks who attend Pump House concerts do so for those very reasons.

“I’ve never been disappointed,” said Lansing resident Michael Jolley, who has been to almost every concert at the Pump House for the past eight years.

The appeal "has to do with listening to live music without it being drowned out by conversation and the clinking of glasses," Jolley explained.

The old water pumping house, built in the mid-1930s, was converted into a community center more than 40 years ago. The water tower and valves are long gone, but the 392-foot well is still there, and it still pumps out water.

The building, which sits at the corner of Orchard Street, has become a meeting place for yoga groups and birthday parties, but the monthly concerts seem to create the most buzz.

Dudley "Smitty" Smith and his late wife, Gerry, started holding concerts at the Pump House in 2009 after returning to East Lansing following a year in Nashville.

"In Nashville, it's not uncommon for first-class singer-songwriters to perform in listening rooms," Smith said, "but there didn't seem to be anything like that in Lansing."

So, the couple decided to fill the void themselves. Smith, a retired GM engineering manager, lives across the street from the Pump House, which is owned by the City of East Lansing and run by a five-person board.

Smith played in a punk band called Flush Button in the early 1990s, but he doesn't consider himself a musician. He says the idea to start holding monthly concerts at the Pump House came out of his appreciation for hearing live music in an intimate environment. And, seating only about 50 people, the Pump House counts as intimate.

"We need people like Smitty, who support environments where singer-songwriters such as myself can thrive," said Ken Yates, who recently came from Canada to perform at the Pump House for a second time. "(At the Pump House), you get to interact with the people in the audience on a different level."

Smith handpicks every artist who performs. Most fit somewhere in the realm of Americana, country, folk and bluegrass. There have been Grammy Award winners and nominees, among them Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, Don Henry, Jon Vezner, and Sally Barris. And there have been many still trying to make a name for themselves. Smith recently attended the Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City to scout new artists.

"If it excites me, then it'll excite the audience," he said, adding that each concert is an opportunity to "expose the community to acts they may not otherwise know about."

Many of the artists who perform at the Pump House are from Nashville. Smith feeds and houses many of the artists during their stay. He calls it "a good way to make friends."

Those who regularly attend Pump House concerts get to know each other and form friendships, Smith said. They also get to meet his dog, Champ, who runs in and out of the aisles during performances.

What makes the Pump House concerts special, said longtime concert goer Cindy Mielock, is that "you're sitting right there next to the artist, so you're hearing the music in the best possible format."

For more information about the Pump House concerts, go to www.facebook.com/PumpHouseConcerts.

Contact Princess Gabbara at pgabbara@lsj.com or 517-377-1006.

How to go

Renée Janski with Summer Osborne, 7 p.m. Saturday. The Pump House, 368 Orchard St., East Lansing. Suggested donation is $15 to $20, cash only. Tickets available online at www.goldenrod.com/product/renee-janski-with-summer-osborne-saturday-april-1-2017.