Mentone Ukes

Women’s Impact on Music: Singers, Songwriters, Influencers
2024-04-27 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Join us this Saturday, April 27th at 1:00 PM CT at Moon Lake Library for a special session that will explore a few songs written and/or sung by women, or other songs that speak to or are about women (relationships, love, family, longing) that we haven’t played for a while: Brown-Eyed Girl, Sweet Caroline, Circle Game, Barbara Ann, The Water is Wide, I Can Help, Don’t Think Twice, Across the Great Divide, and Angel from Montgomery. We will also learn a new song at this session: Bye Bye Love recorded by The Everly Brothers (1957). This song reached #2 on the US Billboard Pop Charts and is ranked in the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” And, as always, newcomers and beginners of all ages are welcomed to attend our FREE sessions. We offer an introduction to the ukulele at the same time as our regular session, and loaner ukes are available for you to try out. So plan to attend and bring a friend! Strum and be happy!

Mentone Farmer's Market
2024-05-03 15:00 - 17:00 | Mentone Farmers Market, 5200 AL-117, Mentone, 35984, United States
Calling all players: This Friday, May 3rd we will perform at the Mentone Farmer’s Market (3-5 pm)!! We have an awesome Spring 2024 Song Set. The more the merrier! Invite your family and friends to come on out and support our local growers and—of course—the Mentone Ukes!

A new month brings new songs!
2024-05-12 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
We’ve got a great line up of songs to play at our session on Saturday! Some are familiar tunes we haven’t played for a while (Sloop John C and Somewhere Over the Rainbow); some songs were recently introduced that we’re still learning (Wagon Wheel, Bye Bye Love, I Can Help, and You Plant Your Fields); and a couple songs we’re very familiar with (Take Me Home, Country Roads and Sweet Caroline). Plus, we’ll be introducing two brand new songs — Don’t Be Cruel (Elvis) and Bad Moon Rising (CCR). We’ll spend a little time on strumming patterns, introducing a muted strum technique for the Elvis song and a staggered strumming pattern for the CCR song. And of course, these strumming patterns are totally optional! So come on out and join us as we learn two new songs and enjoy playing through a great song set! And as always, newcomers and beginners of all ages are invited to attend, and a beginners class is offered at the same time as our regular session, and loaner ukes are available. Hope to see you on Saturday! Bring a friend

Big Art Pop-Up
2024-05-18 11:00 - 13:00 | Mentone Inn Linger Longer Pavilion
Jerry and I are so looking forward to seeing you all at the Mentone Ukes Performance THIS Saturday, May 18th at the Little River Arts Council Big Art Pop-Up mini-festival on the grounds of The Mentone Inn. We play once again on the totally new and very cool Make Your Mark on Mentone Stage. Players, arrive at 10:30 AM; we start playing at 11:00. Bring your instrument, tuner and Spring 2024 Song Set. And after we play you will have plenty of time to browse all the farmers market and artists’ booths. Invite your family and friends to this EPIC PERFORMANCE AND ART SHOW! See you on Saturday!

Celebrating the Songs from "O Brother, Where Art Thou"
2024-05-25 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Bring your whiskers. Bring your banjolele. Be prepared for some good pickin’ and strummin’! I’ve been wanting to do this session for a long time! We’ve got nine great songs from the movie soundtrack. Gospel, Bluegrass, Traditional. You name it! If they were good enough for George Clooney they’re certainly good enough for the Mentone Ukes! Plus we’re already familiar with three of the songs: I’ll Fly Away in the key of F (and I added the key of G), Man of Constant Sorrow, and In the Jailhouse Now. New songs for this session include: You Are My Sunshine; Walk That Lonesome Valley; Down to the River to Pray; Big Rock Candy Mountain, and Keep on the Sunny Side. All of them are easy, familiar chords so don’t hurt your head over it. Just show up and prepare to have a good time! And remember, newcomers and beginners are always welcomed to attend our FREE sessions, and loaner ukes are available. Strum and be happy!

“50-plusers” of the Mentone Community
2024-06-08 16:00 - 20:00 | AL
Reminder! No Mentone Ukes session this Saturday, June 8th. We are performing at a get-together for a church senior group that afternoon/evening. And be aware that GREAT THINGS are in the works for our next regular session on June 22nd! It will be lots of fun and informative, too. More info on that session as we get closer!! Keep strumming. Stay happy.

Feel the Warmth from these Great Summertime Songs
2024-07-06 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
With Debra suffering from multiple bites from her extremely well-mannered and gentle 20 year old cat Jake, she and Jerry haven’t been able to practice all that much this week. Saturday’s session will be an amalgamation of songs that we’re practicing for our Fall Festival performance as well as some feel good summertime songs. We’ll open with This Land is Your Land to help extend our 4th of July celebration, then we’ll move onto Bye Bye Love, Sloop John B, and Margaritaville. Three Little Birds by Bob Marley, Surfin’ USA by The Beach Boys, and Under the Boardwalk by The Drifters will all make you smile as you sing along and tap your feet. You Plant Your Fields reminds us of the continuing circle of seasons (with the first day of Autumn only 83 days away!). We will close out the session with the complete verses and chorus of the hymn, Will the Circle be Unbroken. As always, newcomers and beginners of all ages are welcomed to attend these FREE sessions, and loaner ukes are available. So, strum and be happy! See you on Saturday and bring a friend.

Picking on the Mentone Ukes
2024-07-20 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Join us this Saturday for a truly unique and exciting session! Hank Allen is one of our very talented pickers. He will be demonstrating flat picking on the ukulele and go over the differences between flat and finger picking. Hank will have extra picks of various styles for anybody that wants one.
We will start off with “Keep On The Sunny Side” to warm up. On our new song, “Get Together” by The Youngbloods and “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, we will play an arpeggio pattern on the verses and strum on the chorus. “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Fly Me To The Moon” both have tabs for melody/lead parts. Before playing “Wagon Wheel” and “Hesitation Blues”, Hank will briefly speak about the differences between playing a banjolele as opposed to a standard ukulele. “Don’t Think Twice” is another song you can optionally pick arpeggios, and we will end with “On The Road Again” and “Ripple”. All of our songs can be found on our web site, www.mentoneukes.com. And as always, newcomers and beginners of all ages are welcome to attend our free introduction to the ukulele class, and loaner ukes are available. See you on Saturday and bring a friend. Strum and be happy!

World's Largest Yard Sale Performance
2024-08-03 11:00 - 14:00 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
This Saturday, August 3rd will be an epic performance by the House Band of the Moon Lake Library (aka the “Ambassadors of Joy” — the Mentone Ukes) as we play for an extended period of time while the library remains open to the public. It is a rare opportunity for you to come and support your local library while at the same time enjoy playing (or just listening) to your Mentone Ukes perform many familiar songs. Our song list draws from multiple genres including rock, gospel, folk, blues and country. So come on out and plan to stay awhile. More details to follow in the coming days

Three NEW Songs in One Session
2024-08-17 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Along with a few familiar songs, members Romey Atchley, Sandra Monk, and Lila Roberts will each demo and then introduce a song that they selected for the group to learn. Romey will introduce “Take ‘Em Away” by Old Crow Medicine Show. We love playing Wagon Wheel and this should be an exciting new song to learn. Sandra will introduce “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” popularized by the Grateful Dead. This song has been recorded by many artists since it was introduced in 1923 and is an example of the 16-bar blues. Lila will introduce the gospel song “Unclouded Day” (aka “Uncloudy Day”) popularized by Willie Nelson but recorded by many artists over the years. As always, newcomers and beginners of all ages are invited to attend our free sessions. A beginners class is offered at the same time as our regular session, and loaner ukuleles are available. So plan to attend and bring a friend! Strum and be happy!

It's a Monster Mash-Up Session
2024-10-26 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States

Veteran's Day Picnic Performance!!
2024-11-09 11:00 - 14:00 | 195 Cove Road, Mentone, 195 Cove Road, Mentone, AL, United States
Join us for a day of celebration and fun as we “play for our dinner” at the annual Veteran’s Day picnic hosted by the Mentone Post 215 (195 Cove Road, Mentone). We will play from our awesome Fall 2024 Song Set (bring your music). Chairs will be provided. Arrive when you can and leave when you must. This will be an informal affair. Lunch will be provided for all players!! Let’s have some fun as we celebrate and honor our local veterans at this event. NOTE: This performance takes the place of our regularly scheduled session at the library.

Canyon Christmas
2024-12-07 10:30 - 2024-12-09 14:00 | Canyon Center, 4322 Little River Trail NE, Fort Payne, AL, 35967, United States
“Canyon Christmas” Saturday, December 7th at Little River Canyon Center (4322 Little River Trail NE, Fort Payne, AL — off Hwy. 35). Players, please arrive by 10:30AM. Chairs will be provided. We will set up and play in the lobby starting at 10:45 and we will play through our Christmas 2024 Song Set. Mickey Luck will be our leader.

Holiday Social at the Moon Lake Library
2024-12-08 14:00 - 16:00 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Sunday, December 8th at the library from 2:00 PM-4:00 PM. Arrive when you can, leave if you must. We will play from our Christmas 2024 Song Set. Romey Atchley will be our leader. As we’ve done in the past, this will be an informal and fun time for us to entertain the library patrons since we are the House Band of the Moon Lake Library!

Fort Payne Culture Club
2025-01-02 13:15 - 14:30 | Dekalb Council on Aging, 600 Tyler Avenue SE, Fort Payne, AL, United States
First Mentone Ukes performance of the New Year will be next Thursday, January 2nd.We’re providing the entertainment for the January meeting of the Fort Payne Culture Club on January 2nd. The meeting will be at the Fort Payne Senior Center (DeKalb Council on Aging, 600 Tyler Avenue SE, Fort Payne). We will play a 20-minute set after they bring the meeting to order at 1:30. Refreshments will follow our performance. We will play from our Fall 2024 Song Set.Players, please arrive by 1:15 and ask for Carol Argo who will show you where to set up. Players who have signed up to play thus far include Mickey, Don, Ray, Hank A, Halee, Tricia, Romey, Janet and Lila. If anyone else would like to attend that would be great. Just let me know. (Here’s a photo of the Culture Club members from this year’s Christmas party).

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head
2025-02-15 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Our session on Saturday will feature a mix of familiar songs along with some we haven’t played for a while, and our own Hank A will introduce a new song to the group: Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head!
“…But there’s one thing I know, the blues they send to meet me won’t defeat me, it won’t be long til happiness steps up to greet me!” This fun and uplifting song was written by Burt Baccarat and Hal David for the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” In the film the song starts out with one instrument—the ukulele—while Paul Newman is riding a bicycle with Katherine Ross sitting on the handlebars. The song won an Oscar for Best Original Score and the single reached #1 on the Billboard charts. Although simple and catchy lyrics, this is a challenging song with fairly rapid chord changes, some truly beautiful chord progressions and a total of ten chords (only one new chord) in the song. But no worries. As we always do, we will go over the song, review the chords, and play it through a couple of times. Learning a challenging song is a good thing.
Other songs on the playlist for this session include:
Warm up: City of New Orleans
Keep on the Sunny Side
Introduce New Song: Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
Dead Skunk
Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Wayfaring Stranger
Fly Me to the Moon
King of the Road
Walls – Tom Petty
Closing Song: Wagon Wheel
This is going to be a great session! Our sessions are always free, and beginners and newcomers of all ages are welcomed to attend and loaner ukuleles are available. So plan to join us and bring a friend!

Our first Spring 2025 Practice Session
2025-03-29 08:00 - 17:00 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
This will be our first practice session in Spring 2025! We will be playing through several of the songs in our Spring Song Set that includes some new songs! I hope you are able to join us!

Mentone Ukes @ Big Art Pop Up Show
2025-05-17 10:30 - 13:00 | Mentone Inn Linger Longer Pavilion
We will perform at the Big Pop Up Art Show which will be held at the Mentone Inn. We will be on the stage. Please plan to arrive by 10:30am to get ready to start playing around 10:45am. We will play until around 1pm (taking breaks as needed). Please come for any or all of our time on stage.
Parking is always a challenge so keep that in mind as you plan your arrival time.
This is always a fun event so I hope you can come

Saturday Play Along
2025-06-07 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Come join us to play and sing some songs! 1pm CDT at Moon Lake Library in Mentone.
Beginners (even complete beginners), novices, and experienced players are always welcome. We have loaner ukes available if you want to try it out.
We always have a lot of fun so join us if you can!

Americana--Patriotic and Folk Songs
2025-06-21 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
At our session this week we will celebrate America by playing and singing some American patriotic and folksongs. This is our last session before July 4.

Oh Susanna, Stephen F. Foster (1848)

America the Beautiful, Katharine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward (1910)

You’re a Grand Old Flag/I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy, George M. Cohan (1906/1904)

God Bless America, Irving Berlin (1918)

This Land is Your Land, Woody Guthrie
(1940—Guthrie was tired of hearing God Bless America on the radio)

Paradise, John Prine (1971)

Angel From Montgomery, John Prine (1971)

On the Road Again, Willie Nelson (1979)

Crawdad Song

(“very old”–sung by levee builders on Mississippi River, sung by Woody Guthrie, Andy Griffith, Foggy Bottom Boys, etc.)

City of New Orleans, Steve Goodman (1971)

Will the Circle Be Unbroken, original 1907,

reworked in 1937 as a funeral hymn by A.P. Carter (Carter Family)

Showtime in the Valley Talent Show
2025-07-11 18:30 - 20:30 | SonRise Retreat, 8272 AL-117, Valley Head, AL, 35989, United States
Our own Halee Odell will be performing at the Showtime in the Valley Talent Show. It will be held at the SonShine Retreat (formerly Nena’s) on July 11. Time is 6:30-8:30pm. Halee is going to do Mentone Ukes proud! Come on out and support Halee. We know how talented she is and now she’s going to show it off to the world!

Practice at the Library
2025-07-19 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
We’ll be playing and singing through songs for our upcoming performances! Practice time is 1pm Central time and location is the Moon Lake Library. We hope to see you there.
Players of all levels are welcome! We have loaner ukuleles and if you are a beginner we can help you get started with this wonderful, fun instrument. We would love to see you!

Let's Get Ready For WLYS
2025-08-02 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Hope you can join us on August 2 as we practice for our performance at Moon Lake Library for the World’s Longest Yard Sale.
We will practice at 1pm CDT at Moon Lake Library.
Newcomers who want to learn to play with us, visitors, and our members are welcome. We are excited to have beginners (even absolute beginners), novices, and experienced players join us.
Loaner ukuleles are available, thanks to a generous donation of great ukuleles to the library by our own Debra and Jerry.
Hope to see you on August 2!

Celebrating the World's Longest Yard Sale
2025-08-09 10:30 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
The World’s Longest Yard Sale is August 7-10, 2025. The library will have a book sale and since Mentone Ukes is the house band of Moon Lake Library, we will provide entertainment on Saturday August 9 at the library.
We will gather around 10:30 and begin playing around 10:45. During breaks, individuals and/or small groups are invited to perform songs you’d like to share.
The librarian has generously offered to provide something for lunch for us!
We will play through the afternoon, until we get tired, run out of songs, or it gets to be around 2 or 2:30, whichever comes first.
This is a fun event and I hope you can join us for as much of the day as you can!

Practice For Upcoming Performances
2025-08-16 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
We had a great day today celebrating WLYS!
Next Saturday (August 16) we will have our regular practice at 1pm CDT at the Moon Lake Library. We will be practicing from the summer and fall songbook https://mentoneukes.com/shared-files/1826/….
We will practice some of the songs that need some polishing, focusing on starting together and staying together! We sounded great today and one way we can make our performances more crisp is to start together and listen to each other so we stay together.
Hope you can join us!

International Play Music on the Porch Day
2025-08-30 10:45 - 12:00 | Little River Hardware, 5190 Al Hwy 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
August 30 is “International Play Music on the Porch Day” for 2025. We will be meeting at Little River Hardware. Get there at 10:45am and we will play from 11 to 12. Bring your chair and music from the 2025 Summer & Fall Songbook.

Mentone Ukes 6th Anniversary and Christmas in August
2025-08-30 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Get ready to celebrate the Mentone Ukes 6th Anniversary and we will be have our Christmas in August set as well. Wear your Christmas decorations and Santa or Elf hats. Also bring your kazoos and bells to make the music more festive. We are hoping that Debra Fey and Jerry Megli, founders of the Ukes, will be able to make it. With a couple of exceptions, we will be playing Christmas songs and three that we have never played before. Just pretend we are in the southern hemisphere where August is part of winter.

Practice Session
2025-09-13 13:00 - 14:30 | Moon Lake Community Library, 4607 AL Hwy. 117, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
On Saturday, September 13 at 1pm CDT we will meet at Moon Lake Library for our regular practice session. We will be preparing for our upcoming performance at Mentone Americana Nights. The list of songs we will work on is forthcoming. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Mentone Ukes at Mentone Americana Nights
2025-09-27 15:00 - 15:45 | Shigley Amphitheater, 5866 E River Rd, Mentone, AL, 35984, United States
Mentone Ukes will play in the Mentone Ukes Americana Nights series at 3pm at the Shigley Amphitheater on the Moon Lake Campus. Bring chairs and music! It is a 45 minute performance.
We will practice for our performance at our regular practice at 1pm and then transition over to the stage for set up.

Harvest Ukes in Rainsville
2025-10-11 13:45 - 15:00 | Rainsville City Park, Broadway St SE, Rainsville, AL, 35986, United States
We will play for the Rainsville Harvest for a Cause on Saturday, October 11. We need to be set up no later than 12:45pm. Our plans are to play 2 45-minute sets consisting of songs from our current song list. Hank will be sending out the songbook.
Location: Rainsville ParkBroadway St SE, Rainsville, AL 35986https://maps.app.goo.gl/EJNUYnwvGKUenqoY9
Our set up will be near the monuments, close to the parking area.
Bring your uke, music, and a chair for this great event. At this time the weather forecast calls for a beautiful fall day. Come on out and play with us.
