On a perfect and only slightly spooky October evening, members of the Austin Ukulele Society from near and far got together for our in-person monthly meeting. We so appreciate everyone making time for our evening of music and the extra effort to share the spirit of the season with so many great Halloween accessories and costumes. Our evening started out with shout-outs from visitors from afar, introductions by all, and some local ukulele news. Then we warmed up our voices and hands with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” before diving into our new song.

Bob shared some information about the inspiration behind Austin-based band Fastball’s terrific 1998 hit “The Way,” and how we landed on it as an eerie pick for our Halloween month tune. (This hugely popular song was inspired by the haunting, true story of a local couple’s disappearance in 1997.)

Bob performed the song for us, to demonstrate his great arrangement. Next, he took us through helpful exercises to learn each component of the song, before we put it all together. When we played and sang “The Way” through a couple of times, we sounded terrific!

We took a break to enjoy our talented open mic participants. Karen shared a lovely medley of classic hymnals, Bill and Kathy rocked out on a terrific take of Buck Owens’ “Monster’s Holiday,” and Rich serenaded our favorite newly married couple – Aaron and Sana – with the timeless love song “Always and Forever.”

After this lovely interlude, we got back to practicing “The Way” and recorded ourselves for you to enjoy and play along with from home. Look for the video coming soon to our YouTube channel. We hope you have as much fun with it as we did! 🙂

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for Bob’s arrangement of “The Way” or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide (what we project on the screen for all to follow along, including exercises and drills).

As always, a big thanks to Jen Richardson for all of the behind-the-scenes coordinating, to Lyda for her impeccable slide progression, to Aaron for keeping us on beat with his U-bass, and to our other amazing supporters who always help the in-person meetings go smoothly!

We look forward to seeing you all at our November 9, 2023 in-person meeting, as we dive into the holiday season with a holiday song to be announced! Keep strumming and be well until then! 🙂

For more downloadable music, visit our Ukulele Music Library. For more Austin Ukulele Society videos, check out our YouTube Channel.

We appreciate your support and interest. If you’d like to make a donation to the Austin Ukulele Society (a 501(c)(3) organization), visit our Square Donation site. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please fill out our this short sign-up form. For any other inquiries, please contact us or shoot us an email if you have previous correspondence with us.

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
We are proud to unveil our latest shirt, new for 2022: the “AUS Classic Ukulele,” design, hot off the presses! All of our shirts are thoughtfully designed by the talented Lyda Guz!

The shirts are silk screened here in Austin at a fantastic locally-owned print shop and are available for purchase. The new “AUS Classic Ukulele” design, “Ukulele Around the World,” “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” “Austin Lasso” and other shirts are $25. We also have vinyl decals with the AUS logo for $1 each. We can accept cash or a check made out to Austin Ukulele Society; you can also make payment via Venmo or PayPal. Please drop us a line if you’d like to purchase a shirt (or two or three). 🙂 At this time, we can only ship orders within the U.S.