Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship for The Winooski News
WINOOSKI — For a city that covers under two square miles, Winooski has a music scene that musicians say feels larger than its size.
On any given week, local musicians are performing original songs, spinning DJ sets, hauling amps into bars or working out song lyrics in their notes app.
Some of these musicians are locals, while others have traveled from other states, such as New York and Tennessee, and have remained integrated in the Onion City.
From folk to country western to ambient electronica, Winooski’s music spaces are woven together by the people who keep showing up to play.
One of those musicians is Luis Betancourt, a Vermont native who first discovered music through The Beatles as a kid.
Betancourt spent years in Brooklyn, New York, and said he experienced a more crowded and fast-paced musical environment.
“New York is a different beast altogether,” he said. “There’s so much. It’s so saturated.”
After moving back to Vermont four years ago, Betancourt played his way through breweries and bars across the state but kept finding his way back to Winooski.
Betancourt is a frequenter at The Monkey House’s monthly open mic night and said he enjoys how the event is a place for different artists to mesh.
“I really enjoy it because it brings in a pretty wide array of musicians coming from various backgrounds. It’s sort of like a potpourri of talent,” he said.
As Betancourt found his way back home to Vermont, another musician, Julien Foster, made the move from Tennessee to the Green Mountain State.
Foster said music has been a big part of his life long before he even learned his first chord.
“My dad is a country musician and writes music for other people. I’ve been seeing him play since I was, like, a little, tiny baby,” he said.
Foster moved to Vermont last year after playing in bands and DJing in Nashville. He said he wasn’t sure what kind of scene he would find in Vermont, but once he started performing in Winooski, he realized how active and varied the community was.
“There’s a strong music scene that you don’t see in places that are usually this rural and chill,” he said. “It seems pretty diverse and open to a lot of different kinds of music.”
Foster’s music blends the genres he’s picked up over the years, like Americana, garage rock and folk. Now, he leans into country songwriting and said performing in Winooski gives him a space to try out new material in front of a welcoming crowd.
On Halloween, Foster released “Ghosts of Honkytonks Past,” a country album he spent years creating. Foster wants to keep writing and performing, and he said Winooski’s supportive atmosphere makes that possible.
For Mark Halpin, Winooski has become the place he keeps returning to after years away from performing.
Halpin, a native Vermonter, traces his love for music back to when he first saw footage of Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock on television, inspiring him to pick up a guitar.
Now 60 years old, Halpin describes his relationship with music as something that comes in waves. After years of playing on and off, he said he’s finally going to get back into the swing of things.
“There are years I didn’t play at all,” he said. “(So I’m) learning to perform again.”
Halpin said his goal is to get more comfortable playing in front of an audience, and Winooski allows him to do just that.
He’s also working on original material and forming a band called “Moby Dick & the Sperm Whales.” Halpin said performing in Winooski is less about chasing a career and more about rebuilding confidence and returning to a passion.
While some Winooski musicians are early in their careers, others have been at it for decades.
Craig Mitchell, DJ, singer and member of Purple: A Tribute to Prince, said Winooski is just one stop in his long musical journey.
Mitchell has performed sets internationally, including Montreal, Quebec and Jamaica, but said the Winooskians who show up for his music and each other is what draws him to the city.
“I love making people happy,” he said. “People dancing… It’s a great feeling.”
As both a performer and a member of the Downtown Winooski board, Mitchell said he sees firsthand how music brings residents together. He said the wide array of people in the city creates an open environment where different styles and ideas are welcomed.
“It’s the heart of it— the diversity of it,” he said.