The gig started as a way for the bar owner to keep patrons entertained during a power outage. Band leader Richard Lynch lived above the bar and agreed to come play a few songs. The audience loved the music and the band's unusual keyboardist so much that it became a monthly gig, then bi-weekly, and it is now a Sunday tradition.
Alice first joined the band as its manager.
20 years ago, a then 64-year-old Alice was taking seniors' classes at the University of Maryland. 44-year-old Richard approached her in the cafeteria, noticing a music book she was reading, and talked with her about his band.
Richard was fascinated by her. "I said... would you like to manage? And before you answer, would you like to like to go on a date?"
They've been together now for 20 years. In that time, the band's keyboardist quit, Richard offered the job. She's been playing with them ever since. But they wouldn't get their big break until one fateful day...
The bar beneath their apartment experienced a power outage. The owner asked them if they'd entertain his customers.
Their performance was so successful that this spontaneous one-time event turned into a monthly gig. And by popular demand, Granny and the Boys became a weekly feature at the Showtime Lounge.
Amazingly enough, when Alice joined the band, she had only ever played classical music.
It was a hardcore way to learn a new style, "But I made it," she told NPR, "And from then on, I was the keyboard person."
“We’re a very strange band," she said to WAMU in a 2014 interview. Since their debut, Alice has also been featured as one of Washington, D.C.'s most interesting people of 2016.
“We’re a very strange band," she said to WAMU in a 2014 interview. Since their debut, Alice has also been featured as one of Washington, D.C.'s most interesting people of 2016.
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