Fans of the old Lee Mace's Ozark Opry may have seen or heard the local library director and her sister decades ago.
Director Connie Walker and her sister Linda Cable, a library volunteer, were teenagers when they got the opportunity to share their musical abilities with homes from Arkansas to Michigan.
From their Versailles home, they had learned talent and modesty from their father, Glenn Housworth, in whose steps they would follow as professional musicians.
They also followed their father's lead, being active in libraries - first at the Morgan County Library and the last six years in Moniteau County.
It was for a Friends of the Moniteau County Library fundraiser Saturday that the duo agreed to perform, revealing their decades of experience to their new community.
Walker always has taken the harmony vocal and plays the electric bass. Cable has a versatile, tenor voice and a fondness of Jerry Lee Lewis keyboard tunes.
"Faith, Hope and Charity" was the earliest, popular tune the sisters remember singing. Their "stage" at the ages of three and 4 was their elderly neighbors sidewalk.
Their home was often filled with music, as their father's band, The Missouri Valley Boys, would rehearse or their mother would practice piano for church. And the girls would join in and sing.
They joined The Missouri Valley Boys on the Ozark Opry stage when only in the fifth and sixth grades, when their father had been invited to fill in while Mace's regular crew were on tour.
"That was a big deal back then, for a couple of girls to be on television," Cable said.
Soon, they were playing parties and dances. But, Cable preferred the rock-n-roll songs to the more traditional country tunes, she said.
Supportive of their musical pursuits, their parents, including mother Beulah, invested in a portable electric keyboard - something uncommon in the 1970s, a bass guitar and other performance necessities. Beulah even sewed their early stage costumes.
Cable's first break came as a senior in high school, winning the annual Lee Mace talent competition and performing her last semester on the show. Soon after, an opening in the Mace band's female trio came open and Walker was brought on board.
The next chapter of their performing history began when they met a tenor and bass duet from Waynesville and they formed the Blue Springs Gospel Quartet, named for the little country church where they met. They were among the top eight finalists from more than 200 original contestants at a Fantastic Caverns Gospel contest.
Then, they formed a four-piece band, playing a variety of more popular music. As soon as Cable learned the ropes, she formed her own "Linda Cable and the Osage River Band," which became the house band at the Lodge of the Four Seasons about 1980.
"The more we played, more stuff we booked," she said.
They were playing county fairs, Christmas parties, lots of country clubs and weddings. And they were the regular band at the Top of the Round in Jefferson City for seven years.
In 1985, she won a statewide amateur songwriter contest with her original "Hypnotized," which she sang later as an audition for the Nashville Network's You Can Be a Star.
Although she didn't win the latter competition (nor did Trisha Yearwood), she did receive a call later from the show's producer who wanted to bring her back for another talent show. But by that point, she had realized she preferred having a "normal life," not the demanding schedule of show business.
"It was quite an experience to be in Nashville," she said.
All the while, they were working full-time day jobs, too.
By the mid-1990s, the sisters had stepped away from their busy musical schedule.
Only recently has Cable rejoined a Mid-Missouri band and started playing again. And the sisters have sang a few times at California Care Center, where their mother lives.
"It's so awesome when she does Jerry Lee Lewis for the people; it just delights them," Walker said.
As more people in the area learn of their talent, the sisters said they are open to singing at other engagements.
"We've had so many wonderful experiences playing around here," Cable said. "As long as people enjoy it, we'll still do it."