An article from the Summer 2009 issue of The Saratoga Experience 

"Perfect Harmony ~ Saratoga's Rick & Sharon Bolton"

Story and Photos 
by Francine Grinnell [continued]

Both Sharon and Rick were actively involved in the world of local music; both were in pre-existing relationships. Sharon owned the Hub, the bar and Saratoga musical institution located on Church Street and Railroad Place on the site where the Mabee Building was to be built in recent years. She was the mother of three children, and worked as a graphic designer. A Rochester Institute of Technology graduate, Sharon was always accomplished in her design work.
Sharon recalls music being a part of her life since childhood. “My mother and father sang in the car; my sisters and I heard different parts and harmonies being sung. My mother would dish out the parts; I had to find the spot that wasn’t taken”. Sharon’s mother, Judy Packevicz, was a singer for Sweet Adelines, one of the world's largest singing organizations for women committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony. She grew to possess a voice that moved audiences to believe every word she sang; life had infused her singing with an edge for the blues that came naturally.
Time went on. Rick’s daytime position as a cabinetmaker working for Warren County provided him with a stable job that offered providential health benefits. Bolton discovered that was a diabetic; the health benefits became a blessing, and he became aware of the importance of taking good care of his health. He and Sharon kept running into each other, but history had to wait.
In 1991, Sharon resurrected the Hub, a popular tavern, and started an open mike night on Wednesdays, with Jeff Walton hosting. The couple whose voices were meant to be paired was soon joined in marriage on September 1, 2000.  In a ceremony shared with family and friends aboard the Horicon, the wooden cruise yacht that traverses Lake George, Rick and Sharon became husband and wife.
“The kids were in the wedding; we formed a circle and Rick said his vows to me and the children”, says Sharon.

“They are the icing on the cake. I’m so fortunate. They’re courteous, and creative; they’ve never given us any difficulty”, says Rick.

Rick currently plays in a few bands, including Big Medicine and one called Rick Bolton and the Dwyer Sisters, featuring Sharon, her sister, Molly Dwyer, and bass player Arlin Greene. They   regularly perform at Gaffney’s Restaurant, on Caroline Street in Saratoga.

Sharon says “That’s my gig with my husband, four or five times a month.  It get’s hectic. John Baker and Kim Smith saw that music was drawing people in at Gaffney’s seven nights a week; they been enormously supportive of local musicians. We do a huge variety of styles, including blues, folk, rock, Irish, and swing. We do numbers by the Grateful Dead, Marshall Tucker, Bonnie Raitt, the Waifs, Jason Moraz, KT Tunstall, Van Morrison and Tom Waits, the Dixie Chicks, Leon Redbone; it goes on and on.”

It would seem that now is the best of times for the Boltons. “The greatest gig is a night down the road; Saratoga is the greatest musical community” adds Rick. We’ve been lucky. I show up at the gig and have fun; it’s a release”. As well as singing in a voice that seems to adapt to a multitude of genres, Rick plays a Fender Telecaster and an acoustic Jean Larrivee six-string guitar, and a harmonica. A musical chronicle of their lives together can be heard as portrayed in Rick’s original songs performed live and on CD; his love for Sharon has been preserved forever in the tune “Sharon’s Song”. His solo efforts and CD recordings of Rick Bolton and the Dwyer Sisters and Big Medicine are sold locally at retail locations such as Border’s and Saratoga Guitar, both on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Rick is known by many as “that guy who runs on Route 9N” in Greenfield, where they have lived with their family for many years.

Sharon continues to delight attendees of the Annual First Night Saratoga each year with the posters she designs for the region’s biggest New Year’s Eve event. Her employer, Ambrosino Design, Inc., has donated the posters each year since the event’s inception. They have become collector’s items that can be seen framed and hung in businesses and homes throughout the area. It is her design work that adorns each musical release they issue, including an upcoming CD recorded at Arlin Green’s studio due out next month.

Today, Rick and Sharon Bolton live the full busy lives of talented people whose lives manifest the level of proficiency and confidence they have worked so hard to achieve. You can’t help but hear and feel the love. •