A Cup Of Coffee with Jule Carenbauer

By Dave Parsons

Starting with the coffeehouse days of the 1960’s, the Troubadour was a musician who played for the sheer enjoyment of playing, and to bring people together.  During the pandemic in 2020, there were any number of touring musicians doing Facebook live concerts from their homes, to keep in touch with their fans, since they couldn’t tour.

On March 19, 2020, a music veteran of 40 some years, Jule Carenbauer, took to his bedroom in Wheeling, WV and hosted the first Jule’s Music Night on Facebook.  Doing covers everyone knew and loved, he got feedback from those watching that it took their minds off of what was going on in the world.

The next week led to another, and then another, and unless something changes, it will be 5 CONSECUTIVE years next month. Despite, rain, cold weather, not weather, being out of town, or personal illness, Carenbauer has donned guitar, harmonica and cellphone to provide music to those in attendance, and those at home watching.  His paycheck is the tips in person and on line, and his only merch are T shirts.  A Troubadour in every sense of the word.

On the occasion of his 250^th consecutive show, I sat down for a cup of coffee with Carenbauer and talked about his long innovative career.

Me:  Tell me how Jule’s music night started.

Jule Carenbauer: Basically, I was working like everybody else. I worked at the track, and I got laid off.  And, somebody had said, why don’t you play on Facebook?  I’m like, why would I play on Facebook?  Then I’m sitting in my house. there’s nothing, nobody could do, we’re all locked in.  

So, I’m like, okay, I’ll start playing on Wednesday night. So, I started playing, and my neighbor got nice, and she said, I can hear you from your room, why don’t you come out and play on the porch? So, I started playing on the porch. When the summer came, people were starting to be comfortable being outside so they would come and hang out, and it was fun.

So, over the fall, I moved it back into my house. Then in the spring, I came to Wheeling Park, and I just said I do this for tips. I’m trying to get people together, because they couldn’t get together, and now, there are people in person, and online and it became a community they could reconnect and talk.  The Park was really cool about it and let me use the shelter every week, and when the weather got colder, the Comfort Kitchen, Restaurant and catering are letting me use their space in the Triadelphia Methodist Church downstairs.

It’s just for tips and, you can bring anything.  Water, soda, bring food, and just have a good time. And, now somehow, I’ve been doing it 250 consecutive weeks. This March 19th will be the start of five years.

Me:  Did you ever see it going 250 weeks or five years?

Jule Carenbauer:  I never saw it doing that at all. I just did it for something to do. And just one week rolled into another week, and then pretty soon it just got to be people would check in and it’s nice because it’s kind of a therapy for me to play because I don’t get to play a lot because of work.

I work Saturdays, and that’s a big day to go out and play. So, I get the Wednesday night steady to play every week.  One of the guys that comes every week, Fred, says let’s do T-shirts. We did that with a little thing with my name, and we had fun with that. Now, years later, I hired a girl to design one, so she did the shirt design and we sell them for 20 bucks and that money goes back into the shirts.  It’s great advertising to get the event out there in person. 

Me:  I’ve seen on your Facebook page early in the week, people making sure when and where the show is that week so they can plan to make it. So, you’ve actually built a core.

Jule Carenbauer:  There’s people that check in every week. I went to eat the other night and this guy walks up, and asks are you still doing that?  We came over in the summer and saw you.  I’ll have to keep an eye on that.

Me: Which artists do you like covering the most?

Jule Carenbauer:  The most, well folks say I sound like James Taylor a little so I do a lot of his stuff.  I do 60s and 70s, and my originals. I’ve got two CDs on Spotify, and Amazon.  I started doing some of the background stuff with it and I kind of feel like I’m cheating, but at the same time, I wrote them.  I usually use the drum machine and play guitar live but I had the full produced tracks, so, why not?  I just don’t want it to become a karaoke night.

On the other hand, if a couple of people want to sing something, that’s fine. If I can play it, great, or I’m more than welcome to any acoustic players to come in and sit in. Again, it’s just the whole idea is to get people out.  If someone throws a song at me that I don’t know, I have my phone hooked up to the guitar tabs website.  It’s a cheat sheet.  It’s not perfect, but it gives me the song enough that people will know it.  

Me: You have been at this long enough that your two albums came out on cassette, and recently you converted them to CD and online.

Jule Carenbauer:  Yeah, been so long that Brad Paisley played two rhythm tracks on it. That was his first or second paid studio gig, and he was like 14.  In those days, it was all done live in the studio together so it’s harder to play with. The second one, I played the tunes, the tracks were assembled around it.  So, the second one I have the background tracks, and I can play to it. 

Me: Tell me about the band Amici.

Jule Carenbauer:  I moved to Clarksburg, WV back in the early 90s for a job. I went to see a band in a local club with a friend and we hit it off. Six months later, their lead guitar player quit.  I don’t play lead, but I tried it anyway. They said let’s try it with you on probation.  I’ve been with them 32 years on probation.

We went to New York this summer to play on Columbus Day.  It was a good experience, but it was TV.  You go on stage and two minutes later we were done. Then you might not play for a half hour.  It was a good experience.  And, we still do Italian festivals especially in Wheeling and Clarksburg.  We play weddings too. I mean the Italian mix is nice but we also do fluent Italian.  How many bands do that?

But, the good thing with the acoustic, is I don’t have the pressure of I have to draw….I have to put these people in the seats. I can just do it and have fun. I’ve done shows where I had one person, and I’ve had a hundred people. It’s just a real treat when people check in, and say Hey, what’s going on? Great to see you, how are you?  And that’s been a part of the show, too, because some people are shut in.

We’ve got people up in some continuous care centers, and they can check in.  And for a couple of hours a week, you know, it gives them some levity and being able to say I’m just going to relax.

Me:  Besides having folks like Brad Paisley on your musical endeavors, you made some history while in college.

Jule Carenbauer: Yeah I was the first graduate in the interdisciplinary degree program.  I was going to go into pharmacy, but I overloaded.  I was in the reserves, working full time, and going to college. I didn’t have the background in the math and the sciences that I should have had. So, I said I’ll just switch to marketing.  But, music is what I wanted to do.  So, I explained that, and they said there was an interdisciplinary degree program that no one had ever done yet. They said if I had so much in marketing and so much in music, it would be an interdisciplinary degree in music and marketing.

A friend of mine put the money up to pay for the studio and all that stuff. A friend majoring in art did all the artwork. And then I did a report, like, if I had the money, what would I do with it.  So, it tied both things together.  I think there’s only one other person since that has done that degree program.

Me: After college you went in the military? 

Jule Carenbauer: I was in the Air Force.  I did talent shows there, and learned to play guitar. There were talent shows in the Air Force, where I was overseas in Spain.  If you won the talent show, you went to another base, which was in Europe.  If it was in the States, you’d go to another state. But I went to Italy, and then won there, and then I went to Germany and lost. If I had won in Germany, I’d gone back to the States and tried out for Tops in Blue. That would have been my job.  Just doing music.

When I got out, I tried out for You Can Be a Star, a TV talent show on the Nashville Network. I went down and auditioned. I got to do the BlueBird Cafe a couple of times on writers’ night. I do all of that and the show ended!  Luckily the rolled those of us who didn’t get on over to a new show called Charlie Daniels Talent Roundup.  It was a good experience.

Me: You had a few other trendsetting first in this area as well right after that, didn’t you?

Jule Carenbauer:  Yeah, I was the first one in the valley to do Uber when it first started. I just happened to be one of the ones that got signed up and got moving.  I also was in the first graduating class of casino dealers when the laws first passed and the classes were offered. 

Me:  So where do you see this all going for you, Jule?

Jule Carenbauer:  You know, I’m a realist. I know I’m not going to get big, but I enjoy what I do, you know, and that’s the big thing.