While most of us plug our ears with earbuds or pop CDs into car stereos for our music fixes, the Midwest Vocal Express (MVE) continues to make music the old-fashioned way, singing a cappella.

The Greendale-based group, which has been around since 1989, features about 60 men who sing traditional barbershop favorites, showtunes, spirituals and popular music.

Milwaukee Vocal Express will perform multiple 20th anniversary shows this weekend. Performances are Saturday, June 13 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 901 15th Ave., and on Sunday, June 14 at 2 p.m. at the Stefanie H. Weill Center in Sheboygan. Prices range from $18 to $25 with discounts for senior and students available.

The show features Crossroads, an international silver medalist quartet, and Barbershop Harmony Society CEO, Ed Watson, will emcee the event showcasing the group's "storytelling through song" style.

The group includes dedicated members like Richard Kirwin who are determined to keep the traditional art form alive by recruiting new talent and appealing to younger audiences. Programs like Real Men Sing and master classes for high school boys support this effort.

"There is a great push to promote youth in harmony," says Kirwin. "Nationally, there has been keen interest by young men because we sing the full gamut of popular music, show tunes, gospel and Broadway."

Currently, the group has one high school member as well as college-aged chorus members, but they would like to recruit more. Kirwin says that barbershopping has changed focus from traditional music of the past, and draws from many different genres. Aptly, "Storytelling Through Song" will include songs from many different eras. 


"The show entertains the family-friendly audience and moves through different types of music from religious to patriotic to Broadway to Beatles to Sinatra to Irving Berlin," he says.

Marilyn Taylor, who was appointed Wisconsin's Poet Laureate by Gov. Doyle in 2008, wrote lyrics to honor the group's 20th anniversary. The piece, called "Cuddle Up A Little Closer," invites audience members to sing-along.

Kirwin, 64, has been a member of MVE for three years, and prior, sang with the Milwaukee Opera Company, the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and the glee club at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says the unique sound, and the simplicity of the music, attract audiences who want time away from a technology-heavy world.

"Singers and audiences feel the music because we do not amplify the sound. It's pure harmony without guitars and amplifiers," says Kirwin.