PORT ANGELES — The words “Fill-a Me Up,” from a song title, jumped out at Michael Rivers.
It helped that his choir, the 16-voice Peninsula Men’s Gospel Singers, were making those words into vigorous music.
He decided to make this song the theme of the Spring Show, an annual gathering this Saturday.
The men’s choir, replete with guest singers and even a Little Brass Band, will start the concert at 7 p.m. in the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave., with songs ranging from “I’m Gonna Sing till the Spirit Moves in My Heart” to “You Raise Me Up.”
Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” the gospel number “Nobody Knows” with baritone Steve Campbell, “Elijah” with bass Butch Patterson and “Glory, Glory” from Rivers himself are also part of the evening.
And the Spring Show brings women: Soprano Jolene Dalton Gailey, director of the choirs at Port Angeles High, will switch roles and sing in the Crabfest Revival Choir, a group Rivers formed for last October’s Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival in Port Angeles.
“I love to sing,” Gailey said, “and it gets even better because I have the opportunity to sing alongside three of my choir students, Beth Ann Brackett, Clare Wiswell and Scott Anders.”
Altos Victoria Helwick and Sarah Almond and soprano Karesandra White are also part of the Crabfest Revival Choir. They’ve been rehearsing every Tuesday night — and those practices have been musical highs for Rivers.
“Now I want to share this high with our audience,” he said.
“I think they will be as moved as I have been by the music this little choir can make.”
Another guest, cellist Marlene Moore, will join Peninsula Men’s Gospel Singers pianist Penny Hall for a medley of “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder,” “Wonderful Words of Life,” and “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling,” all arranged by the late Richard C. McCoy of Port Angeles.
This medley, Moore said, “just transports you.”
The whole concert is “geared to take you out of your day-to-day routine.”
The Little Brass Band — made up of Peninsula Men’s Gospel Singers members who also play saxophones and trombones — will have two guest artists: double bassist Michael Helwick and drummer Kyle Sholinder, both Port Angeles High School seniors.
They will debut Rivers and Hall’s new arrangement of “Abide with Me,” as well as a rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Tickets to Saturday’s show range from $10 to $15, or $8 for students. Proceeds support the Peninsula Men’s Gospel Singers, a nonprofit organization Rivers founded in 2001.
With his 16-voice choir and so many guests, he seeks a community-building concert experience.
To make that point just a bit more clear, a sing-along of “This Little Light of Mine” comes toward the close of the evening.
“’Fill-a Me Up’ is also an invitation,” Rivers added.
“My hope is that through all the songs we sing — some silly, some touching, some rousing and inspirational — that our audience will experience love in the form of music,” filling their hearts.
