Singer-songwriter plays Revolution-inspired songs in Falls Village summer concert series

FALLS VILLAGE – Kent Besocke performed original songs about Connecticut’s Revolutionary War heroes and villains on the lawn of the David M. Hunt Library Friday, June 26, as part of the library’s summer concert series. Besocke, a native Californian who lives in Simsbury, Connecticut, accompanied himself on guitar, banjo and octave mandolin.

Warming up the crowd of concertgoers, Besocke introduced his instruments, beginning with his banjo. It originated in West Africa, he said, in the form of a gourd with a stick attached and a drone string.

His acoustic guitar is what bluegrass players call a flat-top, typically a type of steel-string acoustic guitar.

“I’ve lost track of how many songs I’ve written on this,” he said.

Last but not least, the octave mandolin is similar to a standard mandolin, but larger and pitched an octave lower.

As a self-described “history buff,” Besocke said he researches the subjects of his songs in libraries or online, and when he finds the right story or subject, he waits for inspiration to strike.

When he read about the legend of Abigail Hinman, who is rumored to have aimed a musket at notorious traitor Benedict Arnold during the siege of New London in 1781, he thought, “There’s a song here.”

Overall, he said his songs are “inspired by the people who had enough, who could not tolerate the intolerance of the King.”

The first song in his set, “Life for Liberty,” was meant to “conjure up memories of people who are gone” after giving their lives in the Revolution.

Besocke played a traditional English song based on 1783 pasticcio opera called “The Poor Soldier," which premiered in London as the British and Americans negotiated the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the war.

He also sang about Coventry’s Nathan Hale, an idealistic young patriot who responded to George Washington’s appeal for intelligence officers.

“Unfortunately, he was a terrible spy,” Besocke quipped.

As Hale made his way through enemy lines, masquerading as a Dutch schoolmaster anxious to get to British-controlled New York,he was foolish enough to carry identification, in the form of his Yale diploma.

In a tavern, Hale met what he thought was a fellow patriot, and divulged his mission. Unfortunately, the confidant turned out to be a British officer. Hale was arrested, interrogated, and hung the next day.

Besocke said the Revolution pitted family and friends against each other.

“It was like the Civil War, in the sense that neighbors and families were divided.”

Additional concert listings can be found at
canaanfallsvillage.org/events.