An intimate concert in the hills: Watermelon Wednesdays celebrates 25 years of presenting world-class acoustic music

Even the bats are moved.

At intermission they dance out of the belfry of the West Whately Chapel, like musical notes across a sunset staff. And after precisely cut watermelon slices are enjoyed, darkness falls and the second set begins, they flutter in and out of the chapel.

Welcome to Watermelon Wednesdays. As founder Paul Newlin puts it, “It’s very down-home funky.”

On Wednesday, July 10, tonight’s featured musicians are Drew Tucker and Cory Pesaturo, a vibraphonist and an accordionist, longtime Instagram buddies from Georgia and Rhode Island who met at the airport this morning. Tucker’s vibraphone and marimba — both mallet percussion instruments that, as Tucker will tell you, are far more distinguished than xylophones — span the stage. They are on loan from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Tucker is an accomplished musician out of Atlanta who has shared the stage with the likes of Norah Jones. When I ask him what it’s like to be a big-time musician in this hilltown location, he says he loves that there is no cell phone reception here — there are no interruptions, no one wanting to check out the bar across the street. “When I got here, I felt like I was home,” he says. “It feels like home.”

Pesaturo, who has performed at the White House multiple times, has a similarly humble take and prefers to play for attentive audiences. “Especially with … music like jazz or classical, it feels like there’s a wall between the audience and the musicians,” he says. “But it doesn’t work like that — we feed off the audience.”

He immediately settled in, jamming with Tucker on anything from Argentinian tango to the original “Super Mario Brothers” theme song. Pesaturo says that a true pro can create arrangements within a couple of hours of meeting someone: “You can’t have an ego. For the most part it’s all ears.” He and Tucker practiced for two hours before the show, and then they were off on a collaborative adventure — with each other, and with the 85 people in the audience.

Newlin sets an intimate stage. “The acoustics are so good that we don’t use any microphones,” he says. “We want nothing between the music and the ears of the people.” Tonight’s performers play under a chandelier illuminated by one light bulb. There are fans churning in the windows, and some audience members wave their own fans, printed pink and green like watermelons.

Twenty-five years ago, Newlin, a musician himself, started Watermelon Wednesdays because mid-week was often a time when high-caliber performers were between gigs. Now he and his partner Claudia Ciano-Boyce run the nonprofit, booking musicians, arranging their lodging, and hosting them for a home-cooked meal before every show.

“They like that we take care of them,” she says. Happy musicians introduce them to other acts, or they find performers through friends or on social media. In an area populated with performance venues, they are grateful to have found their niche.

Longtime attendee Denis Rosen, who has been frequenting Watermelon Wednesdays for 20 years, describes the cows that used to roam the pasture across the street and the attendees who delighted in feeding them watermelon. Rosen doesn’t flinch — no one does — when a bat darts by. They’re part of the ambiance. “This is about joy,” he says.

“Most of our shows are sellouts, even though our email system is terrible,” deadpans Newlin, who has hosted 250 shows in 25 years. In the past four years, the Whately Town Hall has become a second venue that can hold double the crowd and offer air-conditioning or heat. (In the winter, brownies and cider replace the watermelon at intermission.) New this year, across from the chapel, is the Lombrico farmstand.

Ironically, Newlin plays fiddle and guitar in a duo that, he says, “is no way at the level where we could perform at my concert series.” And he isn’t holding out hope. “We don’t have a Grammy yet — I’m beginning to think it might not happen.” But the privilege of running Watermelon Wednesdays more than sustains him. “I’m just happy to be able to bring pretty serious talent to this out-of-the-way place.”

Learn more about Watermelon Wednesdays at watermelonwednesdays.com. Most shows are on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

Melissa Karen Sances lives in western Mass, where she writes stories about extraordinary people. Reach her at melissaksances@gmail.com.