Music in the Tavern: Soupeater - Peter Lehndorff and Sue Hill

Sue and I perform together as often as we can. She teaches ukulele to different groups in Connecticut and played old-time fiddle for community dances before the pandemic. We were able to do a few concerts on Zoom for facilities like nursing homes during the last year as well as a few outdoor gigs.

Both of us have always been interested in Tin Pan Alley era music — anything from the 1900s through the 40s. The category is pretty loose but songs like “Hello My Baby” or “Shine on Harvest Moon” come to mind. We had one concert outdoors at a nursing home and we wanted to send the activities director a thank you card but we had nothing ready. They were still promoting Sue based on the old name of her group “Black-Eyed Susie” so we needed a name. We toyed with “Lehndorff Hill” because it sounds like a place. But my name is hard to spell and pronounce. We also looked at naming us after one of my songs but that didn’t fit either.

Then I kept saying our names Sue/Peter and came up with Soupeater. We are working up the Tin Pan Alley show as well as a Country/Folk and traditional show. Both shows would have a little bit of musicology added in. We like to talk a little about the history of the songs and the writers. We also have our “History of Funny Songs” show. We are still working on the repertoire but the Tin Pan alley show is likely to be almost all covers unless I can sneak one of my jazzier songs in. The country folk show would have a few of my originals.

Stanley-Whitman House's Music in the Tavern Series presents artists and shows differently than a club show- instead, our house concert is more up close and personal. All of the artifice is stripped away. There is no stage, no dressing rooms, and no barrier between the performer and the audience. The SWH Music in the Tavern series is more like being one step closer to how music was intended- an artist traveling from town to town, telling stories, and making friends. Come check this out!

In 1935, Stanley-Whitman House was established as Farmington's first museum. It is a nationally recognized historic house museum and living history center that teaches through the collection, preservation, research, and dynamic interpretation of the history and culture of early Farmington, Connecticut. Programs, events, classes, and exhibits encourage visitors of all ages to immerse themselves in history by doing, acting, questioning, and engaging in colonial life and the ideas that formed the foundation of that culture.

Located in the historic village of Farmington, the museum facility centers on a circa 1720 National Historic Landmark house furnished with period antiques to reflect the everyday activities of Colonial life in Connecticut. Surrounding the house are period-raised bed gardens, an apple orchard, and heritage stone walls.

The public service areas of the museum, constructed in 2004, include a modern classroom, a period tavern room, a post-and-beam Welcome Center, a research library, an exhibit gallery, the Nancy Conklin History Gallery, and a collection storage area.

In addition to managing Memento Mori, Farmington’s ancient cemetery on Main Street, and the Village Green, located at the intersection of Routes 4 and 10, the museum also oversees the Scott Swamp Cemetery on Route 6. The Stanley-Whitman House is supported in part by the Farmington Village Green and Library Association.

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Host or Publisher Stanley-Whitman House