Nearly one year ago, to benefit two core island causes, the Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center and the San Juan Agricultural Guild, the genre-bending band Righteous Mothers whipped their audience into a frenzy at Brickworks. For those who were unable to see them then, they are back, May 10 at the Grange May 10 from 7:30-9 p .m. The performance is sponsored by the Alchemy Arts Center, tickets will be by a requested donation of $20 at the door.

“The audience can expect to laugh, cry and stomp their feet,” Lisa Brodoff said, adding that they came together and began writing when Reagan was president. They tackled topics of the day, ranging from Title IX, women’s rights, domestic violence, environmental issues, including pollution, all which are still relevant today.

Their first gig was a talent show that left the audience on their feet cheering for more, bu the band at that time only had four songs.

Forty years later, these four women, Brodoff, Clare Meeker, Marla Elliott, Wendy Crocker and manager Lynn Grotsky, have gone through careers, raising families, marriage and sometimes divorce, empty nesting and retirement together. Their repertoire now includes multiple CDs and extends far beyond four songs.

They tackle these issues with humor, which they attribute a large portion of their success. “We did a vission/mission statement,” Brodoff added “which made continuing to have fun a priority.”

“One of the interesting things about the Righteous Mothers is the wide range in ages they attract,” Grotsky said. “It might partly be their sense of humor, but they also play a wide variety of genres, from blues, reggae, folk…”

“We don’t lean into any genre which has made marketing challenging,” Elliott added, though the band is has never been their primary source of income which frees them up to write the music they want to write.

To be clear, every member of the Righteous Mothers as a band are songwriters. Sometimes one will bring in a rhythm and the group will work together to fill it out. Other times a more fully formed song will be brought to rehearsal, and the band will add to it, polish it. If they feel a song wants to be reggae, they learn reggae, or if it’s blues, they brush up on their blues.

Each musician has had classical music training, several grew up in musical households, but it was coming together and the freedom of the Righteous Mothers where they fell in love with music again.

Meeker, for example, said, “I was a music major in college, and was going to be a music teacher, but by the time I finished the method courses, I had had it. I thought it would spoil my love of music. Righteous Mothers has freed us up to do it our way.”

The band is looking forward to returning to the islands and hopes to play even more concerts locally. “It was a really good listening audience, they were right there with the lyrics and the questions afterward were right on,” Brodoff reflected on last year’s Brickworks concert.

This performance will include a mix of songs played there, perhaps like “Misogynistic Hetero Man,” and “Old Fat Naked Women for Peace.” as well as new songs.

Check out their website at https://therighteousmothers.com/ to listen to their music and learn more. To learn more about Alchemy Arts, visit https://alchemyartcenter.com/