~by Brian Blair
The vocal harmonies of Sharianne Whetstine and her parents waft warm enough to melt the substantial February snow blanketing the yard outside the window on a recent afternoon at mom and dad’s home rehearsal space in Bean Blossom.
The trio croons and strums as gently as the winter’s falling flakes days before: Don’t mind at all when the cold wind blows/Because it makes me slow down/Take it slow/Still, our little town is magic when it snows.
Don Whetstine’s quiet praise of the surrounding beauty is his original “Nashville When It Snows,” just one of the tight trio’s tunes when the threesome present free entertainment at local gathering places such as The Village Green and the open mic at the Brown County Inn. Don sings melody, wife Jenny Sue handles lower harmony, and Sharianne takes the higher vocal range.
“I’m just wired this way [for music],” said Don, who will record his sixth album later this year. He taught Jenny Sue to play bass years ago. “I’m not very good,” she said, “but I have fun.” Another member of the family, son Brent, lives in Tennessee. According to his parents, Brent calls himself a “mediocre” guitar player, yet he has toured with bands.
The husband-wife pair, now in their early 80s, has been singing together since their time at Ozark Christian College. Their marital harmony has stretched 62 years.
Sharianne has been performing all over her native Brown County for some 35 years and has developed a following. She reached the semifinals of a songwriter showcase last year at the Brown County Playhouse. One of her latest gigs is hosting a monthly, first Friday open mic event at Mike’s Music & Dance Barn, complete with a live band for those taking the stage. The next date is 7 p.m. March 6. “People really like the whole band experience, and it works incredibly well,” Sharianne said.
She also just began hosting an open mic every other Sunday afternoon at Country Heritage Winery in Nashville.
She hardly looks like a person who recently pushed through painful cervical fusion and disc-related surgery requiring doctors to carefully work around her voice box as they installed a steel plate on her spine. The result has left the registerednurse-by-day without a long plague of vertigo which sometimes necessitated that she held onto something onstage to remain physically stable.
When her medical work once included making home visits, she sometimes would bring her guitar for a bit of music therapy if the patient wished. “Sometimes they would cry,” she said. She retained her sense of humor through her lengthy medical ordeal. In fact, when she completed her physical therapy, tradition required that patients ring a bell at the area clinic to symbolize their restorative victory. As Sharianne rang, she joyfully sang a few bars of Anita Ward’s 1979 pop hit, “Ring My Bell.”
And when social media became abuzz with chatter—later determined to be a lie—that a local fast food customer received a meal order with a once-bitten hash brown, Sharianne put the crazy controversy to music in a tune, “Hash Brown.”
A family friend affectionately gave her the nickname of Sweet Pea as a toddler, and it stuck so well that most of her music promotion flows under that moniker.
“Some people know who I am more from that nickname than my actual name,” she said.
On her website at https://bcsweetpeamusic.com
she describes her original songs, including on her album release, “Free Flowin’ Poet,” thusly: “If Loretta Lynn and Jewel met at a hippy fest, it would sound like this.”
Truth be told, the girl who first embraced music at the family piano generally sounds more folk or Americana than Lynn, but she also boasts a Jewel soft pop sensibility. She does like to change it up, though. For instance, some tracks, such as “Anesthesia,” offer an unmistakable, bluesy, honky tonk vibe.
“I try to make sure some of it sounds country, some of it sounds pop, some of it sounds like blues, ” Sharianne said.
“I really don’t want to be shoved into just one category.”
Most of her live performances include about half original material, something of a novelty in south central Indiana establishments, but an element that she states connects with listeners. She tries to avoid assumptions about her audiences, including quiet groups.
“What if their silence doesn’t mean anything other than they’re sipping their coffee?” she asked.
With her guitar and vocals, she thirsts for simple community and bonding in the moment.
“Music really brings people together,” she said. “Friendships form. And that’s why I really like it for the soul.”
She just completed a move from Sweetwater Lake to Columbus. But, on the inside, her sentiment remains clear.
