Colonial era music comes alive with Carla and Keyes

Carla Lynne Hall and Jim Keyes.

By LAURA SCHILLER

After dusk, when the day’s labor was done and darkness settled over colonial New York, a soft rhythm would sometimes rise in the distance. Behind kitchens, enslaved Africans gathered, their hands moving over handmade drums. Each beat carried meaning: a warning, a greeting, a piece of news. In a world where speech was monitored and movement restricted, drumming was a form of connection and resistance. 

This relationship between music and history lies at the heart of ”Colonial Crossroads,” a free, family-friendly presentation by husband-and-wife duo Carla Lynne Hall and Jim Keyes, coming to the Pound Ridge Historical Society’s Town Green on Saturday, May 31. Dressed in period costumes and surrounded by instruments from the era, the pair will sing, play, and share stories from the diverse soundscape of colonial New York. 

“We perform songs, but we also talk about the history that made those songs possible,” Hall said. “It gives audiences a peek into the time period and helps the music truly come alive.” 

Their passion for musical storytelling comes from two distinct but complementary paths. Hall, a classically trained vocalist, began her career as a singer-songwriter. Keyes spent 30 years developing music and history programs for regional museums, including Philipsburg Manor, Van Cortlandt Manor and Washington Irving’s Sunnyside. 

Now performing together, they describe themselves as “citizen historians.” Rather than starting with a script, their creative process is often sparked by an overlooked historical figure, a forgotten melody or an untold moment from the past. 

“If we hear about an interesting story, we build from there — a song, or a narrative, or even a show,” Keyes said.

One compelling thread in “Colonial Crossroads” is the role of drums in colonial life. For European settlers, the snare drum could signal troops moving over the hills. For enslaved Africans, drums were a lifeline, helping them maintain ties and pass along messages.

Among the drums Hall will demonstrate is the djembe — a goblet-shaped instrument carved from a tree trunk and covered in goatskin — as well as the shekere, made from a dried calabash gourd, strung with beads that rattle across its surface with each shake.

She’ll introduce the dondo, or “talking drum”— an hourglass-shaped drum held under the arm. Its rope-tuned sides can be squeezed to bend the pitch, mimicking the inflections of human speech. 

“You can see how someone might fear a drum that sounds like it’s talking,” Hall said. 

But ”Colonial Crossroads” is more than music. It’s about amplifying the voices left out of history books. 

“I’ve always loved history, and as a Black woman, I’m especially drawn to the stories that haven’t been told,” Hall said. “There are so few narratives about enslaved people, so I’m always asking: What can I learn? What was life really like?” 

Their performances aim not just to educate, but to restore what history left behind. “We create the stories that couldn’t be found,” Hall said, “because they were never written down in the first place.” 

The event’s featured songs include “Buttermilk Hill,” a Revolutionary War ballad about a young woman saying goodbye to her beloved as he heads off to battle. The song’s title refers to a real location — now part of the Rockefeller State Preserve — adding local resonance. Another song, “Soldier, Soldier,” laments a man going to war with his musket, fife, and drum … but no clothes. 

They will also perform lively English country dance tunes. 

“Dancing was a huge part of 18th-century life,” Keyes said. “And as a British colony, these kinds of tunes would absolutely have been heard, and danced to, right here in New York.” 

The inspiration to bring ”Colonial Crossroads” to Pound Ridge struck when Johanna O’Keefe, the town historian, saw the duo at a Revolutionary War reenactment. 

“I loved the warm and dynamic way they engaged with children,” she said. “The Historical Society is focused on continuing to find new ways to explore our multi-layered history in our community. We appreciate the opportunity to do so through music.”

Through rhythm, melody and story, Hall and Keyes offer a window into the complexities of early American life. Audiences of all ages are invited to join them and reimagine the past. 

The performance is Saturday, May 31 from 11-12:30, at the Village Green, located at 77 Westchester Ave. Pound Ridge. Presented by Pound Ridge Historical Society.