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Musical brothers bring ukes to Finkelstein’s

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This weekend, Finkelstein Music will play host to one of Wilmington’s more unusual musical acts — twin brothers playing original Americana-style folk songs exclusively on ukuleles.

Saturday, Nov. 8, local independent recording artists The Del Zorros will play songs from their catalog, lead a ukulele clinic and give away a free ukulele, all in celebration of the release of their latest album, “Summer Fields Live.”

“We just finished recording the album, and we’re having our official CD party at the concert,” said Stede Del Zorro. “The whole CD is really a kind of tribute to where we grew up, outside of Boston. Really takes us back to that flavor.”

Finkelstein Music owner Bobby Hamelburg said the brothers are regulars at his store, which gave them the idea for the concert.

“Stede and Monty have been coming in for the past 20 years or so now,” Hamelburg said. “They’ve bought ukes from me, and one day they approached me and said, ‘We’d like to do something with ukuleles here.’ And that’s where we got the idea.”

Stede Del Zorro said Finkelstein’s is probably the real reason he and his brother moved to North Carolina.

“We’ve bought a lot of our stuff there, and you couldn’t get a better bunch of people running a store,” he said.

Stede and Monty Del Zorro say their musical history dates back to their childhood in Massachusetts.

“We’ve been playing for 50 years. We invented the electric guitar!” Stede Del Zorro joked. “But really, we’ve been playing since we were 15 years old. We had the first rock n’ roll-pop band in our town.”

The Del Zorros describe their musical style as a mix of The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac and The Kinks, and play all the instruments on their recordings themselves.

“We play a little of everything,” Stede Del Zorro said. “I play electric guitar and drums and all the rhythm instruments, and Monty plays guitar, bass and keyboard. All my electric guitars are four-string guitars, like a ukulele has — I can’t handle six strings.”

Monty Del Zorro explained the ukulele is actually a relatively new instrument in the twins’ repertory.

“We’ve only been playing about two years,” he said. “We got tired of lugging all that electricity around.”

Monty Del Zorro described the band’s songwriting process as a team effort.

“We both write the melodies,” he said. “Stede writes more of the lyrics, like 99 percent of the words. We can both write melodies all day long.”

Stede Del Zorro said the band’s name originated from an experience the brothers shared before they moved to Wilmington.

“Del Zorro means ‘of the foxes,’” Stede Del Zorro said. “Back before we came down here, we were living in these cabins in Gloucester, Mass., and underneath the cabins, five baby foxes were born. So our band is ‘of the foxes.’”

The Del Zorros said they hope for a big turnout for their Finkelstein’s concert.

“The show’s family friendly,” Stede Del Zorro said. “All ages should enjoy themselves. Even the old folks should come on down. We’re still the whippersnappers here!”

The Del Zorros will perform at Finkelstein Music Nov. 8 beginning at 11 a.m. Admission is free, and copies of the band’s latest album “Summer Fields Live” will be available for purchase. For more information, call 910-762-5662 or visit www.finkelsteins.com

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