Surviving with small steps

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part four in a six-part series that takes a look at the local music scene.

On a warm summer evening in June, Kerry Getz sang backup on an outdoor stage in Los Angeles with some of the most accomplished musicians in the world. Their names — Hal Blaine, Don Randi and Chuck Berghofer — may not have been familiar to the average listener, but their songs were: The legendary session players, part of the house band known as the Wrecking Crew, played on dozens of hits by the Beach Boys, the Byrds and other 1960s legends.

Getz, a longtime Newport Beach resident, had no No. 1 hits on her résumé, but she got the Wrecking Crew gig through a personal connection: Her friend, Shawn Bryant, had recently supervised the music for a documentary on the band, and he arranged a live performance to follow the film’s premiere. The show needed an extra female singer, so Getz — who was in kindergarten when the Wrecking Crew dominated AM radio — laid down vocals on “Be My Baby,” “These Boots are Made for Walkin’” and “California Dreamin’.”

The show didn’t pay any money, but Getz, who supports herself entirely as a performer, was willing to sing with her role models for free — once, at least.

“The opportunity to play with these guys was just too good to pass up,” she said.

Getz got home that night about 1 a.m., rested up for a day, then got back to work. In the coming weeks, she had to sing with the Wrecking Crew — with pay this time — for another of her friend’s documentaries; she had to prepare for her annual appearance at the Sawdust Art Festival in Laguna Beach; her next album was due out later in the year. In the life of an independent musician, it was a typical summer.

Seven years ago, OC Weekly proclaimed Getz the “minstrel” of Orange County. Her life hasn’t strayed from that path since. The singer-songwriter has released four albums on her label, World In Motion Records; she’s shared bills with Dar Williams, Richard Thompson and other well-known artists; for the last few years, she’s coordinated acts for the annual International Music Products Assn. convention in Anaheim, which brings hundreds of music industry professionals together.