Darlene Shatford hasn't sung in years, but now she has a reason to sing the blues - not to mention jazz.
Shatford take to the stage Saturday night at Art Space Songs of Bob Dylan.
Shatford's hiatus from the stage is easy to explain.
"I've had a number of musicians move away," said Shatford, who owns Top Drawer Yarn Studio to fulfill her other creative endeavours of knitting and fibre art. "I had Terry Kosowick on piano and trumpet for years before he moved away and Bruce Baycroft [bass player] went away and things tend to just dissolve a bit so I played with Single Car Garage, Mike Foottit's band, for a while but that's what happens with musicians -- they come and go."
She's happy to return to the stage to perform Bob Dylan songs as tailored for such singers as Madeleine Peyroux and Adele. And besides, Shatford's husband asked her to do it.
"My husband [Rob Ziegler] is quite a Bob Dylan fan and I used to sing quite a bit of jazz around town," said Shatford.
"He's like, 'Dar, you haven't sung jazz for a while and you haven't done any performances -- how about an evening of Bob Dylan music?' And I thought 'Yeah, we could do this and turn it into the stylings that I'm used to.'"
The result is some Dylan pieces with bluesy tones, some with jazzy beats and others straight, original renditions.
To round out the sound Murray Gable plays guitar, Curtis Abriel provides bass and piano accompaniment, Barry McKinnon is out drums, while Rob Ziegler performs dramatic monologues.
The show starts at 8 p.m. at Art Space, above Books & Co.
Tickets are $15 each at Books & Co., 1685 Third Avenue.
