Members of the Big Chicken Chorus will deliver singing Valentines from Douglasville to Rome this weekend.
The Marietta-based barbershop singers have been singing love songs since they organized in 1985.
Call the group's sweetheart line and four men dressed in tuxedos will drop by your home or office and sing "Heart of My Heart" and "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." Quartets will sing on the phone if you don't want them at your door.
Six quartets will deliver the Singing Valentines Friday and by special appointment Saturday. Fifty bucks buys you a card, a rose and two songs. Phone valentines are $15.
Arthur Brause, who heads the Cupid Quartets, said men make most of the requests. The women who receive them often cry. "It's like a command performance, up close and personal," Brause said. "We spread joy through harmony."
Drayton Justus, a barbershop singer for 49 years said the music is an American art form with a small town flavor. He said the four-part harmony and ballads, some more than 100 years old, are music for the man on the street.
"We're not professional musicians. We're the cop on the beat, the construction worker, anyone who loves to sing," Justus said.
Brause said the average age of the 90-member Marietta group is 60. They're looking for younger members to join. They rehearse Monday nights at John Knox Presbyterian Church in east Marietta.
A singing Valentine for Your Sweetheart: 770-573-7583 or www.bigchickenchorus.org.
Support real journalism. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. See offers.
Your subscription to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution funds in-depth reporting and investigations that keep you informed. Thank you for supporting real journalism.