Neighbors — one 102, the other 88 — join forces to write and produce their 1st album

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published 5 December 2019

The unexpected musical partnership between Alan R. Tripp, 102, and Marvin Weisbord, 88, started with a poem.

Tripp and Weisbord live in the same Pennsylvania retirement community, and right before he turned 100, Tripp penned a poem about life and growing old. Weisbord liked the poem, and as a birthday present, he surprised Tripp by setting it to music. The pair enjoyed the finished product so much they decided to start working on more original songs together.

In September, they hit the recording studio, and in November, the duo released their 8-song album, Senior Song Book. The tunes are reminiscent of the music they listened to in the 1940s, and while they hope their songs appeal to all ages, they really want to reach members of their own generation. "There's no new music being written for people in our age bracket," Weisbord told The Washington Post. "So we're writing songs that are recognizable, in genres that are recognizable, with lyrics telling stories about what our lives are like now."  

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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