Former state representative and inaugural ball orchestra leader says last night’s inaugural ball was only his sixth time providing music for the gubernatorial event.
Jerry Ford, who’s a former state representative, decided to make a switch six inaugurations ago, and became the inaugural ball orchestra leader.
Ford says music has always played a major role in his life, and he’s honored to have provided the music at these past six inaugural balls. “I’ve been performing throughout the Midwest since 1960, so music has been a part of my life the whole time,” he says.
“And we continue to play and we continue to kind of change the styles a little bit and update it a little bit for the younger crowd for weddings- but we also play a lot of concerts.”
He says some crowd favorites over the years at the ball are Motown songs such as ‘My Girl’ and others. “Even for the young kids, they love Glenn Miller’s ‘In the Mood.’ That’s one of the most classic songs of all time,” he says. “And they love the ballads. We do a lot of ‘Blue Velvet’ and old Bobby Vinton tunes.”
Ford says the music provided at the inaugural balls is what he calls “a little bit of everything,” but don’t expect to hear country or rap songs at these events.
AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (1:04)
To listen to the entire interview with Jerry Ford at the Inaugural Ball click here. (2:51)