Polka Pals to Celebrate New Album with Release Party, Dance
WARREN, Ohio – The Penn-Ohio Polka Pals will release its sixth album Sunday and will mark the occasion with a party and dance.
The new CD, “Penn-Ohio Polka Pals 52nd Anniversary Edition,” features 20 songs recorded by 20 member bands, including local artists Del Sinchak, Bill Bevec, Rex Taneri and The Zolkas and several bands from Cleveland and Pennsylvania.
In addition, three-time Grammy Award winner Walter Ostanek from Canada and Grammy Award winner Joey Miskulin, known as the “Cowpolka King,” with The Riders in the Sky, have songs on the new album.
The Polka Pals will celebrate with a CD release party and dance from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at DiLucia’s Banquet Hall, 2610 Elm Road NE.
Three Polka Pals member bands will perform: Patty C and the Guys, the Rex Taneri Orchestra and the Bill Bevec Band.
Admission is $15 and includes a dinner buffet courtesy of DiLucia’s. Attendees under 18 will be admitted free.
As a testament to the quality of the POPP albums, the “50th Anniversary Edition” CD won the International Polka Association’s Favorite International Style Album of the Year in 2022.
While all of the Penn-Ohio Polka Pals albums are currently available, the newest album will be for sale for the first time at the release party and will be on CD and digital format.
The new album was recorded this year at Peppermint Records in Youngstown. Gary Rhamy, owner and recording engineer at the recording studio, said almost all of the songs are new and never before released.
The Polka Pals, which has about 50 member bands, has been releasing a new album every year since 2022.
“Our mission is to promote polka music through dances and events,” Rhamy said, “but a couple of years ago we started releasing an album of new music every year.”
It started with 2022’s album, which coincided with the Polka Pals’ 50th anniversary.
“It did so well that we decided to do one every year,” Rhamy said. “The bands schedule time to come to the studio and record a song. It’s a way for some of them, who aren’t well-off enough to record on their own, to get some of their new music out before the public.”
The new album is the sixth such release for the Polka Pals, and all were recorded at Peppermint. The previous releases marked the club’s 10th, 20th, 30th and 50th anniversaries. The fifth album was released last year.
Pictured at top: The cover of the “Penn-Ohio Polka Pals 52nd Anniversary Edition” album, which will be released this week.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
