Mad Hatter Barbershop Chorus logo

Spreading Joy and Harmony Since 1966

 Mad Hatter Barbershop Chorus Members

Mad Hatter Barbershop Chorus

About Us

Group photo of Danbury Mad Hatter Barbershop Chorus

The Mad Hatters at a rehearsal in November 2006. Seated on floor: Joe Hudson, our director. Front row: Don Sutherland, Bill Manion, Bill Keenan (seated), Doyle Stoppel, Jim Hopper. Second row: Chuck Kreiger, Bob Bartley, Jim MacKerracher, Robert Golenbock, Fred Baran. Third row: Terry Dunkle, Nick Godano, Bill Gleissner, Augie D'Aureli, Carl Zlamany, Lyle LaPlante. Back row: John Bradley, Bob Bradley, Charlie Rosa, Dick Zang, Danny Anderson, Art Roberts. (For names of members not shown, see the comprehensive list at right.)

Who We Are

The Mad Hatter Barbershop Chorus is a nonprofit fraternal organization affiliated with the worldwide, 30,000-member Barbershop Harmony Society. Based in Danbury, Connecticut (once the world’s leading hat-manufacturing center), the Hatters have been singing since 1966. We have 41 members, including 31 active singers and 10 who are retired or helping in other capacities. Our music director is Joe Hudson (read his biography).

What We Do

We sing barbershop! Not just “Sweet Adeline” and other chestnuts, but a rich panoply of four-part a capella numbers featuring the close blending and “ringing” chords of this favorite American genre, which began as a melting-pot of African folk and spirituals, European hymnody, and 19th-century vaudeville. Today, barbershop includes songs from the Gay 90s and Roaring 20s to Broadway, novelty, pop, and doo-wop.

We also perform publicly. We sing for civic events, in schools, at senior centers, for shut-ins, and for anyone else who enjoys the kind of music that brings tears, laughter, and joy. Each spring, we produce an annual show. And once or twice a year we compete on stage with other barbershoppers from around the United States and Canada.

It’s not just the music…

…that brings us together, but the fun and fulfillment of meeting friends from all walks of life. Current members range in age from 22 to 85 and include a pediatrician, a tennis coach, a software entrepreneur, a CPA, a high-school principal, a philatelist, an insurance-fraud investigator, a deli counter man, a math teacher, an oil-company executive, a landscaper, a hospital credit manager, a college student, a chemical engineer, a life-support technologist, a science teacher, a nuclear-power engineer, a gymnastics coach, a drug-company executive, two real-estate agents—and lots more.

You Can Hire Us

Click here to learn how to order a command performance for your social, family, or civic event—or for your sweetie on a birthday, anniversary, or Valentines Day.

You Can Join Us

Click here to see whether you have what it takes to be a Mad Hatter.

You Can Support Us

Click here to donate to our cause, or here to buy tickets to our events.