During the September 2022 Wiscasset Art Walk, musicians Chris Lannon and Rick Turcotte were playing their blues and country on the sidewalk when a woman carrying a violin stepped up; Chris recognized her and invited her to join in. Almost two years later, that woman, Nanci Stein, with her Long Branch Boys colleagues, is the featured performer for the Thursday, Aug. 29 WAW, which runs from 4 to 7 p.m.

According to Stein, she was driving through Wiscasset on the evening of Sept. 29, 2022, when she saw musicians playing on the sidewalk and was compelled to pull over. “When I’m driving down the street and I see musicians, I want to stop to listen,” she said, and, on this evening, she did. This was not a rare occurrence for Stein who works as a weigh master in a quarry scale house in the town of Bowdoin. It’s also how she met The Long Branch Boys.

Stein said that back in 2012, she was in the audience when they were playing a gig. During a break, she approached the band and asked, “are you guys interested in a fiddler?” And she’s been playing with them ever since. In addition to Stein, today’s Long Branch Boys are Bill Donovan and John Favreau. They mostly play bluegrass, country and other folk tunes from the ’60s and ’70s, and share their vocal harmonies. 

“We love to play out,” Stein said. They get gigs from word of mouth and play their repertoire regularly at the Cumberland Farmers’ Market, at the annual Maine Fiber Frolics, and at other community events; they also play classic rock & roll, as Eagles Way, with their drummer, Matt Ahlers, at O’Donoghue’s in Brunswick. For the Long Branch Boys, these community performances are satisfying enough, but Stein admits she stops into open mics frequently, and is still on the lookout for spontaneous opportunities, just like the sidewalk in Wiscasset Village.

The final Wiscasset Art Walk of the 2024 season is on Sept. 26, from 4 to 7 p.m. Enjoy the Village collection of fine galleries, one-of-a-kind shops, a variety of excellent food stops including MAZU food truck, free horse and wagon rides around town, and lots of sidewalk activities. 

In 2024, the businesses that support the many free WAW activities and performers are Lead Sponsor Islebrook Village at Wiscasset, and Major Sponsors Ames True Value, Big Barn Coffee, BIRCH Home Furnishings & Gifts, Bradbury Art & Antiques, Carriage House Gardens, First National Bank, IndustrialME, J. Edward Knight Insurance, Jodie’s Café and Bakery, Peter Eaton Antiques, Red’s Eats, Rock Paper Scissors, Sherri Dunbar/Tim Dunham Realty, and Water St. Kitchen. For more information about Wiscasset Art Walk, visit www.wiscassetartwalk.org or email wiscassetartwalk@gmail.com. Wiscasset Art Walk is a program of Wiscasset Creative Alliance.