It’s Thyme to spice up your next event! No fun gathering is quite complete without a good old fashioned barbershop quartet. Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet hails from the Lansing-Owosso area, and is guaranteed to charge in and lend some flair to any event you might have with an entertaining show song package. We sing a variety of songs, organized to fit the unique needs of your event. Some of our songs are also assisted by antics and stage props to add some visual enhancement to the family friendly performance. Five extremely charming individuals, Jim, Tim, Brad, Pat and Jacob, combine to produce four part harmony when we can get 4 in the same room at the same time. Two members have perfect pitch, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, anything that might make you laugh of course! So come on in and book a performance with Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet today!!
Meet the Quartet
Jim McKay (Bass)
Jim is a veteran of the US Navy and sang with the renowned Bluejackets Choir while stationed at the US Navy Great Lakes Recruit Training Center (Boot Camp) in 1961. He has been a member of several choirs, including the Michigan-Ohio Concert Chior under the direction of Thurlow Spurr, and several gospel quartets during his life-time. He joined The Barbershop Harmony Society (SPEBSQSA) in 2009, due to an appreciation for male acapella music in the Barbershop style. Jim is the “Founding Bass” of the Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet.
Jim has been a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ and has been active in the leadership of his church for most of his adult life.
Jim is a Certified Director of Safety (CDS) in the Trucking Industry and retired as an Over-the-Road truck driver accumulating over 3 million miles of accident-free driving in the US and Canada.
He and his wife Brenda live in Owosso, Michigan, have been married over 62 years, and have 4 adult children, 14 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
Tim Oliver (Baritone)
Tim is a member of the Lansing Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society as well as an experienced baritone for the Capitol City Chordsmen Chorus. Tim is also an honorary member of the Marquette barbershop chapter. He has sung lead for registered quartets Sufficient Grounds, Weekend Agenda and Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet. Weekend Agenda won the Pioneer District Senior Quartet Championship in 2007!
Tim lives in rural Owosso (Shiawassee Twp) with his wife Marcia. They have four sons, four daughters-in-law, and six grandchildren. He is a medical doctor and board-certified family physician, but retired from active practice in 2023.
Tim got his first taste of barbershop quartet singing with the Owosso Community Players when they presented The Music Man in 2001, singing lead in the very popular quartet of the show. Many years ago, he played trumpet for Michigan State University marching band and the Spartan Brass. He also still sings for the First Baptist Church of Owosso.
Brad Sharlow (Lead)
Brad is a third generation musician, who has been singing barbershop for a total of seven years. Among other things, he has a bachelor’s degree in music, which lends well, overall, to the barbershop experience. He sings lead with Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet and has also sung lead and baritone with other notable quartets. He is now the director of the Capitol City Chordsmen which is the Lansing chorus for the Barbershop Harmony Society.
Brad and his lovely wife, Carrie and their beautiful daughter Anna, reside in Haslett, Michigan. Brad and his family attend the Perry Church of the Nazarene, where Brad has served as their Holiday Choir Director, a singer for the worship team and one of the leaders of the Men’s Ministries.
In addition to his music degree, he holds a Master’s Degree in Urban & Regional Planning. Brad has been a servant to his community, employing his expertise directly back into the areas where he has lived. He served on the Perry, Michigan City Council as well as the Planning Commission when he was a resident.
Brad has worked with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) since 2002. He currently is a Transportation Planning Manager of Asset Management.
Brad originally joined the Barbershop Harmony Society in 2007, at the recommendation of his father-in-law, a 40+ year BHS member. Since then, he has sung in three quartets, including Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet, which he joined in 2018 and he has thoroughly enjoyed performing and singing with every one of them!
Although Brad officially left OTHQ to sing with Mackinac Express quartet, he still fills in for us frequently.
Jacob Welty (Lead/Tenor)
Jacob is the youngest member of the quartet. His story goes back to 1988, when Don, our original baritone, then lead and finally bass singer before passing on, met Jacob’s grandmother at a real estate seminar. She invited his quartet to sing at her company Christmas party that year, and when they came, Jacob was about six months old. Don was rocking him in his arms, singing to him. As the years passed, Don performed for Jacob's family with a variety of quartets almost every Christmas season.
When Jacob was about seventeen, Don invited him to sing a tag with the quartet. From then on, Jacob was hopelessly hooked on barbershop. Jacob has arranged several songs for Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet, including his own original, “What It Takes to Make You Smile?” He lives in Fenton, Michigan, and works as a licensed builder, restoring houses with old-world charm. He is a self-published author, pianist, and in addition to quartet singing, he also is one of the worship song leaders at his local church.
Pat Hefner (Tenor)
Pat Hefner is the Tenor singer. He is a quartet member in 4GVN (Forgiven) Quartet, Overtime Quartet and Olde Thyme Harmony Quartet. Pat has sung tenor for Four Colors Quartet and several pick up quartets. He has sung a song with Quartet Champions such as Midtown and OC Times.
Pat has been a member of the Big Chief Chorus for 8 years and a member of the City Lights Chorus for 4 years. Big Chief Chorus is the Pontiac/Waterford Chapter in Waterford. The City Lights Chorus is the Motor City Metro Chapter in Northville. Pat had the privilege to go to International competition with City Lights last year and scored 15th place. This year the chorus was even better and broke the top 10 with a 9th place victory on the world chart.
Pat retired 5 years ago and is starting to get good at it. He was a Service Porter, Service Dispatcher, Service Biller and a Service Advisor. Pat has worked at several dealers across several car manufactures. While he was at his first dealer as a Service Dispatcher he had the opportunity to design the software for GM’s new parts catalog and the new repair order process for service repair orders for EDS which GM purchased. This changed the system from hard paper copies to a digital computer system.
Pat lives in Ortonville MI and Piscah Forest North Carolina but not at the same time. He enjoys singing and ringing chords.
Contact information Pathefner1@aol.com 248-935-7267