By Barbara A. Schmitz
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is always home to the airplanes that flew in World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars, so why not have the music from those times too?
For five years, Ladies of Liberty, of Louisville, Kentucky, have been doing that — performing at the Vintage Circle before the Vintage in Review programs with their Andrews Sisters style of music, as well as costumes and hairstyles of the time.
A pilot and regular to air shows, Wanda Martin officially started the company and group in 2010, realizing air shows were the perfect niche for that type of music.
Besides crooning songs like Pennies from Heaven, Side by Side, and Chattanooga Choo Choo, the group also performs patriotic music, said Wanda, who selects the music, creates samples in the studio, and works with a producer “who keeps them sounding good.”
“We try to stay as close to the Andrews Sisters as we can,” Wanda said. “This is a labor of love for us. We’re at Oshkosh because of peoples’ love of aviation and airplanes, and we just like to make this atmosphere a little bit better. We love to bring people back to a different time with our music.”
The Ladies of Liberty actually has two groups of three that travel to events throughout the country. Also performing in Oshkosh are Nancy Cheak and Deanna Hampton.
They usually end their act singing to a very embarrassed veteran or current military. On Thursday, it was Henry Gross III, who had served in the U.S. Army at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio until last April. “I had no idea this was going to happen,” he said, still looking slightly embarrassed at what had just happened. “My mom is chair of the [Vintage] bookstore, and she set it up.”