Cooped up together with literally nowhere else to go for months at a time, it's no surprise that crews on ships created their own musical genre with sea chanteys. Boasting influences as diverse as the countries the crew members hailed from and a driving rhythm that tended to make hard labor just slightly more bearable, sea chanteys eased the rough-and-tumble life of a sailor.
Also unsurprising is that the world of sea chantey singing has traditionally been dominated by men with beards and beer bellies—and so in this sense The Johnson Girls (pictured), a four-woman vocal group specializing in sea music, are like a fresh breath of salt wind. The quartet sings everything from French-Canadian and Afro-Caribbean to Irish-flavored ballads and chanteys, and may have lured dozens of sailors to their watery dooms.
Jan. 10, 8 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Society Meetinghouse, 245 Porter Lake Drive, Springfield, (413) 562-3990, www.unicoffeehouse.org.
