Danville residents Dave Shilling and Jeanie Bell have been performing together as Vintage Silk since 2012. Dave, a native of Michigan, lived in Texas for a time before moving to Culpeper, Virginia. Jeannie grew up in Alexandria but moved away for a time, living in Maryland and Florida before returning to Virginia. The stars aligned for them one evening in 2011 when the two met at the party of a mutual friend. Jeannie caught Dave’s eye, and he asked his friend about her. His friend gave him a few pertinent details and added that she was an incredible singer. Dave’s interest thus perked. He approached her and introduced himself. They didn’t speak long, but Dave felt intuitively that they would meet again.
A few months later, the two were dating. Their time together was usually spent around music, though their tastes did not exactly align. Dave was a fan of Folk Revival and Jazz music, while Jeannie enjoyed Oldies and Motown, but a common bond was found around the song, “All I Have to Do is Dream,” by the Everly Brothers. They sang it together and found that they naturally harmonized and that their vocal ranges overlapped beautifully.
Having discovered a shared talent and a mutual interest, they began discussing the idea of performing together. Dave had been performing already at local open mic nights in Orange, Virginia and so, one night, he introduced Jeannie into his set. The performance was a success, and so they decided to make it official, coming up with the name Vintage Silk (a nod to their mutual love of vintage music and frequent compliments regarding their silken voices) and compiling a list of songs to perform.
As Vintage Silk, the couple who married in 2015, performs locally in Danville and all-around Virginia at bars, breweries, restaurants, and festivals. They take great joy in sharing their love of music with others. “We’re under no illusions of going to Nashville, or touring the country, or going viral on social media,” says Dave. “I think we found our sweet spot a few years ago. We get a lot of joy from what we do. I’d say that’s enough.” Jeanie seems to agree. “We just wanna play as many places as we can for as long as we can,” she says. “Hopefully, if Danville keeps growing, we’ll be able to play here in town more often.”
Motivated more by the joy of creating than for any aspirations to fame, Vintage Silk, as their name implies, also thrives on sharing the magic of music with their audience and transporting them back to a simpler time. “We’ve always done a lot of oldies,” says Jeanie. “I try to read the crowd and pick songs that they’re in the mood for. It’s hard sometimes because you can’t always tell what they like. But it’s always great to see them singing along with an old song they haven’t heard in forever.”
While Vintage Silk is primarily a cover band, they do occasionally write their own material. One original song in particular, “She’s Too Wonderful,” was featured on the Vintage Silk episode of the Emmy nominated PBS series, “The Life of a Musician.” But with all the wonderful songs out there, Vintage Silk is just as happy covering songs written by other artists. The result is that Vintage Silk’s repertoire is very eclectic and hard to put into a single genre.
In 2017, Dave and Jeannie arrived in Danville, where they purchased a historic home in the Old West End and are now an institution in the local music scene. You can find them on social media at Facebook.com/VintageSilkDuet.
