Fred Simmons’s and Leslie Vogel’s personal and musical journey began when they met as students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
He graduated in 1973, and she did two years later, after a stint in Vienna studying classical music. After college, their journey took them to San Francisco, where they were in acoustic band that played at Fisherman’s Wharf.
“We got a lot of exposure, and a lot of practice with different audiences,” Vogel said.
Simmons, 71, and Vogel, 70, are married, and their first daughter was born while they were in San Francisco. The next stop on their journey was southern Oregon, where their second daughter was born and they lived for five or six years.
Among their gigs was the opening act at a festival featuring The Grateful Dead.
“It was a lot of fun,” Simmons said. “We played our set, and we played a set at the end.”
They also met novelist Ken Kesey of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest fame, who had a piece of advice for them – move to Alaska because the economy in Oregon was not great.
“There was no money in Oregon, so he suggested we go to Alaska,” Simmons said. “It was the last frontier.”
Simmons originally journeyed to Alaska alone, as Vogel did not join him because their children were young. He joined a band that he said could draw crowds by playing old rock ‘n’ roll with just a standup bass, acoustic guitar and trombone.
“That was a lot of fun to travel light like that and make a living,” he said.
Once the band petered out in 1986, all the members moved east separately, and Simmons’ and Vogel’s journey brought them to New Hampshire, where they had their third child. They live in Greenfield, where they heat their house exclusively with the wood he cuts on their lot.
Instead of working extra to pay for winter heat, he said he gets to spend an hour to 90 minutes outside exercising.
“We don’t use heating oil and we don’t use gas,” he said.
Simmons worked as a music teacher for a year, but said he did not like it and was not good at it.
“I was happy to give that up,” he said. Instead, he painted houses for 25 to 30 years to make money, and Vogel taught piano lessons.
Simmons said they had a band within a year of arriving in New Hampshire, and are now in three. Tattoo is their longest-surviving band, having started when they were playing Fisherman’s Wharf and continuing through Oregon, Alaska and now New Hampshire.
Their music includes rock, soul, swing and Cajun, and the current lineup consists of Simmons on vocals, trombone, guitar and tambourine, Vogel on vocals, piano and accordion, Paul Day on vocals and drums, Dan Wheeler on bass and Walden Whitham on vocals, saxophone, clarinet, flute and rubboard.
The Folksoul Band started about 15 years ago, founded on New Orleans music after Simmons first went with a friend in 1993.
“It was a great learning experience and inspiring to go to New Orleans,” he said.
Simmons again in 2005 for Mardi Gras, and then with Vogel in 2014 for the French Quarter Festival as bands were working to get back together after Hurricane Katrina.
“It was really special to hear that,” she said.
Along with Simmons on trombone, Vogel on piano and accordion, Whitham on saxophone and flute, The Folksoul Band includes Richard Doherty on guitar, Tara Greenblatt on drums and Ramsey Thomas on standup bass.
The Folksoul Duo is Simmons and Vogel, playing trombone, piano, guitar and accordion. According to their website, folksoul.com, their repertoire includes “folk, oldies, originals and songs that might not fit into a band set.”
The bands play weddings and other events, including at assisted living facilities.
“The people enjoy it,” Vogel said of playing at nursing homes. “Their feet are stomping, and faces are smiling.”
They have played at Children in the Arts Festival in Peterborough on the Town House steps, and performed around the state with Doris “Granny D” Haddock when she ran for U.S. Senate in 1994.
They played even through COVID, at first only doing outdoor shows and then indoor performances where people were vaccinated and distanced. Simmons and Vogel built an outdoor stage on their property after they got rid of their goats and horses, which gave them a place to rehearse during COVID because they wouldn’t be blowing toward each other.
The stage was also the home to their Folksoul Music Festival, which they started in 2010 and held for 10 years before the pandemic. The festival is usually the third week in August, and they plan on resuming it this year.
Their daughter Liz Simmons has a band, Low Lily, which plays the festival along with local musicians they know.
“The second year, we could have had it, but we figured there would be low attendance and it could wait one more year,” Vogel said.
Simmons said it has been a challenge, but it has been worth it.
“That’s all we know how to do,” he said. “People have seen us. We have experience. We have something to offer.”
Vogel says they hear from people happy to still hear live music.
“It’s an embodiment of bringing music to the town square,” she said. “It’s a lot of years. It wasn’t easy, and we’re still doing it. You don’t retire when you’re a musician. You don’t get rich doing this. It’s all about what you want to do with your life.”
So how long will the musical journey continue?
Simmons said he would like to get another 10 years out of life – “After that, we’ll see what happens.” – and brought up “Mad Dog” Don Wright, a clarinetist he played with who he said died while performing at age 80.
“That always seemed to me to be a good way to go,” he said.