Her fingers dance across the keyboard of the baby grand piano, and notes fill the room with melodies that transport the listeners between past and present.

Kay Brown is musician and instrument, the singer and the song, keeping the music alive.

Most kids fantasize about what they want to be when they grow up, and those fantasies change by the day or week.

But, there is always the exception. Brown knew she wanted to be a musical performer after observing the piano player in the orchestra pit at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor.

It was the 1950s and Brown, her mother, Carolyn McPhee, and uncle, Buddy Bennett, all performed tap dancing bits during the minstrel shows. During those formative years Brown's life was filled with the music of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.

As a classical piano student of Miss Langille's at age 10, Brown learned how to read music and how to memorize it. Brown and her mother lived in a duplex on Park Street in Boothbay Harbor and her grandmother lived next door. Every chance she got, Brown was playing ragtime on her grandmother's piano, often with her uncle on drums.

By age 12 she played her first professional gig with her uncle's band at an event in Pemaquid.

Right on through her graduation from Boothbay Region High School in 1959 she was the accompanist for all school productions and events, organist at the Boothbay Harbor Methodist Church, and continued subbing for the pianist in her uncle's band when he wasn't unavailable.

After graduation, she had her own combo, which included musicians Lewis Johnson on electric guitar, Broken Anchor owner Leon Tibbetts on (Dixieland) trumpet, and her uncle, Buddy Bennett on drums.

Kay's combo played the Lions Club dances, the minstrel shows (till they ended in mid-60s); gigs at the Broken Anchor, the North Star Lounge, weddings, graduation parties — pretty much everywhere.

She performed solo at Thistle Inn, the Spruce Point Inn, Rocktide Inn, Newagen Seaside Inn, Voila! at the Carousel Marina, and Brown was the first entertainer at the Boothbay Harbor Inn.

And advertising, why, that was all accomplished by word of mouth.

Brown says there were very few female musicians playing solo or in combos during the 1950s and 1960s in these parts. One of those few, however, was keyboardist Hilda Dodge Lewis, who played in Uncle Buddy's combo.

Yes, she was the one Brown subbed for at Pemaquid. Lewis taught Kay the “stride” style of playing the keyboard, a Harlem technique that jazz pianist Fats Waller put his innovative touches on.

Brown also has had family members in her bands. In the late 1970s, she had a regular gig at the North Star's lounge in Boothbay, often filled with bus tours. Her nephew Dickie Spofford played drums and banjo and niece Sally Spofford, was on banjo and guitar.

“It was a big lounge. All of the bus tours came there,” Brown said. “The whole family entertained at the North Star. It became the place for people to come and dance. When I look back on it, I think my God, those were wonderful times; all of the kids grew up with music.”

Her gig at Tugboat happened by chance. George McEvoy, then owner of Tugboat, was there the evening that Brown and her (former) husband popped in for a drink. McEvoy asked her to play the following weekend. She balked at first.

“There was an old baby grand downstairs where people would sit around and listen and sing. It all just sort of happened,” Brown said. “At Tugboat, my life became an adventure.”

The adventure Brown spoke of has taken her beyond the Tugboat lounge to gigs in Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Montreal, Canada and Zurich, Switzerland.

Brown always invites audience members to sing or play a duet with her. One evening (in the early 2000s) a couple came in and the man came up and asked to play with her. Ironically, he requested Brown's mother's favorite song, “Ida,” which Brown knew well. They played one more song together and the couple left.

Brown had mentioned she had begun wintering in Fort Lauderdale, near her daughter Elisabeth.

Shortly after she arrived in Lauderdale, Elisabeth called Brown to say a man was looking for her and had left his telephone number. It was the gentleman from the “Ida” duet.

Turns out, he was Rudy Schaefer (of Schaefer Brewing Company) for whom Goudy & Stevens Shipyard had built the first replica of America. Schaefer owned the Key Largo Anglers Club. The club needed a new piano player. He asked Brown to drive down to “see if we like each other.”

The Key Largo gig was five nights a week, with the occasional special show. With housing on the compound included, Brown accepted and played there for five years.

“He gave me a break and I had a wonderful time. Sometimes people from Key West come up here to see me at Tugboat. I still kept my efficiency near Elisabeth and my grandchildren, and went there on my days off.”

Local musician and friend Mark Rossier had a steady gig at J.H. Hawk down on Pier 1 and played widely in Germany and Italy during the Boothbay region's off season. Rossier recommended Brown to the owner of the Hotel Splendid in Zurich, who was looking for a keyboardist for the American piano bar.

“I couldn't believe it! My friends couldn't believe it,” Brown said. “My good friend Danny Beal said it was about time I went to Europe. So I went. And it was all because of my music.”

Brown ended up spending five to six weeks there. On her first night, she discovered just how small the world is.

“This man came up to me and said he and his wife had come to the bar to welcome me to Zurich. Because they knew I was from Boothbay,” Brown said, her blue eyes shining.

“When I asked how he knew that and he said they had read about me coming to Zurich in the Boothbay Register. Turned out, they were summer residents of Boothbay,” Brown said. “The whole thing was getting to be a little surreal!”

And, let's not forget Montreal. Brown used to vacation with her best friend, (the late ) Yvonne Geeves. One trip, around New Year's they went into the Lowes Hôtel Vogue's Italian restaurant.

“I went to the restroom and when I came out — I had a job! Yvonne said I should just go up there and play a few songs,” Brown said, laughing. “She was such a nutcase. It was an interesting experience. I didn't sing, just played music. I had to learn “La Vie En Rose” — and to speak French. That was something, I can tell you!”

She played the Montreal venue for three winters.

Brown has been learning song requests all through the years — from “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” to Emmylou Harris' “Beneath Still Waters.” The latter was learned for a Sanford couple who return to Tugboat each year and who have become dear friends of Brown's.

“I've met so many people here and made so many friends. I've traveled to places I never would have gone to, all because of my music,” Brown said. “I've been so fortunate to have been able to work as a musician all my life. I love it. I just love it.”

Brown's last two weekends at the Tugboat Inn Lounge for the 2014 season are this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10 and 11, and next week, Oct. 17 and 18.

The Tugboat Inn is located at 80 Commercial Street in Boothbay Harbor.