Photo via Barefoot Beck & the Ivanhoe Dutchmen
Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen
Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen (2024)
“I grew up on a farm and went barefoot all the time. My mom still only wears flip flops and dances barefoot, so the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.”
Photo courtesy of Barefoot Beck & the Ivanhoe Dutchmen
Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen
Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen
Asking a musician about her footwear may not be an ordinary opening question for an interview. But when that musician is known as Barefoot Becky, and she really does perform sans shoes and socks, the topic of exposed toes, arches heels, and soles seems pertinent. She will be barefoot performing with her band, the Ivanhoe Dutchmen, as they co-headline day one of Wisconsin Polka Boosters' annual three-day music festival at Richfield's Sterling Chalet. Becky and The Ivanhoe Dutchmen will alternate with sets by Wausau’s Music Connection on Friday June 5 starting 4 p.m.
“I just prefer being barefoot, and I happen to do it on stage too,” says the bandleading accordionist (Becky Livermore). But does inclement weather ever persuade her to cover the body parts from which she derived her stage name?
“I'm so used to being barefoot, the weather-cold doesn't bother me. If I had to stand in the snow, that would be when it might be too cold, but I wouldn't be performing out in the snow anyway!” she continues. So, yes, odds are she will be playing in Richfield alongside her four Dutchmen with feet unshorn.
Barefoot Becky and band trade in musical variety. Though her group's name may allude to German-style polka repertoire (“Dutch” being an Americanization of Deutsch, not Netherlander), their diversity encompasses a wide swath of polka permutations and other genres.
Sonic Smorgasbord
“I introduce our band as a polka-variety band,” she notes. “We play German, Czech and Slovenian polkas and waltzes. We also do a variety of old country, western swing, big band, Latin, line dance, Cajun, party favorites etc. There are some venues that we hardly play any polkas at all."
Venues included in their post-Covid, mostly Midwestern itinerary include nursing homes, churches and farmers markets apart from the ballrooms and halls many people most expect polka functions. And though Southeast Wisconsin may have a relatively thriving polka scene, it's at those halls and ballrooms where Barefoot Becky sees what might be viewed as the music's demographic winter.
“I can only speak of our gigs and our type of polka-variety music and the venues and area we play,” she qualifies, adding, “We play many ballrooms that have weekly or monthly dances and that is what I see a decline in. Once our older generation is gone, there are not enough younger people who are supporting these dances. Not to say young people don't like to dance. Things are changing in our area, and line dancing seems to be real big." Still, there are guaranteed occasions where crowds gather for the Dutchmen's kind of sounds. “I see Oktoberfests, German restaurants, anniversaries and town celebrations, and special events always existing.”
Her husband Terry Ard plays trumpet, baritone horn, guitar and banjo as an Ivanhoe Dutchman, and she professes that they are compatible in their life as a couple as they are as members of a band.
“I think my husband and I are an unusual couple in many ways. We exist together 24/7, and it has really worked for us. We get along and see eye to eye on most things,” she affirms. “He is my right-hand man with the band. I honestly don't think the band or marriage would have worked if we didn't do them both together. We have been married 20 official years but have been together as long as we've had the band and that will be 40 years in 2028. I wouldn't change a thing!”
As for what attendees of the Boosters' fest can expect of the happy couple and their bandmates, she assures, “Hopefully people can expect a group of professional musicians and friends getting together and having fun playing a variety of music for everyone.”
Though it doesn't showcase her fine singing voice, here's a clip of the Iowan ensemble (Barefoot Becky and The Ivanhoe Dutchmen are the only non-Wisconsinites playing this year's Wisconsin Polka Boosters event), there's evidence of Becky's bare feet in this clip from their 2017 appearance at West Bend German Fest ...
