Blaire Reinhard Band bringing new member to Morristown’s Frog on Jan. 28

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The Blaire Reinhard Band will bring a new member to Morristown’s Famished Frog on Saturday, Jan. 28.

A future member, actually.

Blaire and her bass-playing husband, Wade Perrin, are expecting their first little rock and roller to debut on the Fourth of July.  Can a CD of kiddie tunes be far behind?

“We’ve been talking about that, an album of children’s songs,” said Blaire, who has enjoyed lots of good news lately. Over the holidays she and her brother Gray performed with their grandfather, former Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen, at two sold-out shows in Minneapolis. Blaire and Gray also are completing an album with Clinton Curtis, titled Curtis & Reinhard at the Pigeon Club.

Here’s a video sampler of that project:

Oh yeah, and Gray also performed recently with a guy named Springsteen.

As for the Perrin Project, Blaire and Wade are mum on whether they’re having a Baby Elvis or a Baby Gaga. (Either way, the wee creation appears to be holding a microphone in the sonogram.)

When the due date creeps closer, the BRB will go on hiatus, Wade said. He plans to pare down the band’s stage gear to make room, “so we can leave a baby seat in the car.”

AND BABY MAKES THREE: Blaire Reinhard and Wade Perrin are about to become a trio. They were beaming at Sunday's art show at Zebu Forno in Morristown. Photo by Sharon Sheridan
AND BABY MAKES THREE: Blaire Reinhard and Wade Perrin are about to become a trio. They were beaming at Sunday's art show at Zebu Forno in Morristown. Photo by Sharon Sheridan

And the couple’s Hoboken digs may start feeling a bit cramped, too, so don’t be surprised if Blaire, a Morristown High School graduate, and her fledgling family return to the wide open spaces of Greater Morristown.

Meanwhile, Blaire is still aglow from her gigs with Grandpa Doc. Prior to December, her last big performance with the famed trumpeter was on a Christmas album when she was 9. She sang Silent Night.

Blaire insists she wasn’t nervous about reconnecting with her grandfather in Minnesota, even when he asked her to cook up some lyrics overnight.

Despite the pressure, the whole process was smoother and “more civilized” than pulling together a BRB show, she said, citing all the pros who made the Jingle Bell Doc concerts come together.

“I was less nervous for this show than for any I’ve ever done,” Blaire said. Even though musical arrangements still were being charted on the day of the first show and there was only one rehearsal, she said, the orchestra and choir were note-perfect.

Appearing onstage with her 84-year-old grandfather “was a dream of mine,” Blaire added.

“I was too shy to bring it up. Then he called. He had a Christmas song he wanted to write with me and Gray. Doc sang the melody once, and asked, ‘Can you write a song to this? Can you write words by 8 in the morning?'”

Siblings Blaire and Gray Reinhard during recording of new CD, 'Curtis & Reinhard at the Pigeon Club.' Image: CurtisReinhard.com
Siblings Blaire and Gray Reinhard during recording of new CD, 'Curtis & Reinhard at the Pigeon Club.' Image: CurtisReinhard.com

Challenges like that don’t faze Blaire, whose songs last year landed on TV shows including The Voice, American Pickers, So You Think You Can Dance, and, appropriately, Dance Moms and 16 and Pregnant.

“I stayed up all night and wrote the words. (The Light of Christmas.) Then (Doc) wanted to know if we had any other Christmas songs? And we had a couple. ( This Time of Year and I Remember Christmas.) We sent our songs to his arranger . . . ”

Before they knew it, Gray was playing a big Steinway at Orchestra Hall “and I was singing right up front,” Blaire recounted with a lingering Yuletide grin.

The Clinton Curtis collaboration started with Gray, who has played keyboard with Clinton’s group for a couple of years. Clinton played guitar on the BRB’s Concert for Lauren album, recorded live in 2010 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown.

Blaire & Wade. Please click icon below for captions.

Curtis & Reinhard at the Pigeon Club, which refers to a Hoboken studio, was an exercise in speed-writing and recording, pulled together in about a month. With Wade’s time largely tied up by law studies at Fordham, Blaire said she and Gray were seeking musical projects to stay sharp. The album, coming soon, gives Gray a bigger share of the vocals and lets Blaire experiment with songs written by others.

“It’s like the Traveling Wilburys thing,” Blaire said.

Now there’s a novel baby name: Wilbury Perrin.

Catchy, like a BRB song, don’t you think?

The Blaire Reinhard Band performs on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 9:30 pm in the Famished Frog on 18 Washington St. Admission is free; you must be 21 or over. The band returns to the Frog on Feb. 11.

MORE BLAIRE REINHARD BAND VIDEOS AND STORIES

HOLD ME TIGHT: Blaire Reinhard gives hubby Wade Perrin a squeeze onstage at the Frog last July. By this July, they will be working a little Perrin into the act. Photo by Kevin Coughlin.
HOLD ME TIGHT: Blaire Reinhard gives hubby Wade Perrin a squeeze onstage at the Frog last July. By next July, they will be working a little Perrin into the act. Photo by Kevin Coughlin.

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