Alexandria's Ragtime Band quartet was first organized in April, 1980 with
Donald Anderson singing bass, Alan Durick singing baritone, Mike Wallen
singing lead and John Adams singing tenor. In February of 1981, Don needed
to step out due to business commitments and was replaced by Craig Odell to
do the bass part.
That fall the quartet placed second in the Mid-Atlantic
District contest. The foursome kept at it and hit paydirt in the fall of
1984 by winning the MAD Quartet Championship in Virginia Beach. Meanwhile,
the quartet did qualify for and sing in the International Quartet Contest in
the summer of 1984 and 1985 with a best finish being 22nd.
At the end of 1985 Mike Wallen stepped out of the foursome. After a short period, he was
replaced by Barry Galloway taking over the lead. The quartet remained active
doing shows locally and out of town until the decision to disband in the
latter part of 1992. Overall, as might be expected, in the 12 years of the
quartet's existence it did hundreds of performances ranging from singing the
National Anthem twice at Redskins football games before over 50,000 fans
each to small private parties to national association meetings in the
Washington area to appearing on numerous chapter shows.
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