Lynnwood’s Petosa Accordions: A key player for 103 years

EVERETT — Strap on this 25-pound musical breastplate, give it a squeeze, and you’re guaranteed to be the life of the party.

Why sing the blues when you can play the accordion?

With undertones of violin, organ grinder, piano, monkey, calliope and three-ring circus – the accordion can be silly or serious.

Tchaikovsky or Devo.

“You’ll find the accordion in nearly every style of music, worldwide,” said Joe Petosa Jr., third-generation owner of Petosa Accordions in Lynnwood at 19503 56th Ave. W.

The accordion, which fell out of a favor in the 1970s and 1980s, is being embraced by a new generation, Petosa said.

Petosa’s grandfather Carlo Petosa, an Italian immigrant, founded the accordion-making business in 1922. Seven years ago, the company moved from Seattle to Lynnwood where it sells, rents and repairs new and used accordions. Today, its instruments are made at the company’s factory in Italy.

Models range from $4,500 to $40,000 and can take up to 18 months to build.

“An accordion can sound like a string section. It can sound like a horn section. It can take the place of every instrument in the orchestra,” Petosa said

Did the violins call in sick? The accordion can fill in.

“When musicians get wind of what it can do musically — it’s jaw dropping. They can’t believe an accordion can do all that.”

In the last decade or two, the accordion has resurfaced — and in some surprisingly hip places – on stage with Nirvana co-founder Krist Novaselic, in concert with singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow and on gaming consoles.

When parents bring in their youngsters, Petosa will ask them how they discovered accordion music. “They’ll say, ‘I heard it on a video game,’” he said.

“You are your own band”

When Josiah Burkman began playing the accordion, people came out of the woodwork to serenade him with stories about “grandma or grandpa playing the accordion,” he said.

The accordion is making a comeback, but it has skipped a generation.

Burkman, a Bothell resident and Boeing engineer, is 26.

Eight years ago, he found an accordion gathering dust in the prop room at his high school in Fargo, North Dakota. He learned to play by watching YouTube videos.

Burkman, who also plays euphonium, trombone trumpet, tuba and piano was smitten. (Dad was a music teacher, and you don’t just play one instrument, he explained.)

“When you’re playing the accordion you are your own band,” Burkman said. “This is actually kind of fun, and pretty cool.”

Now, working the bellows, he’s a hit at parties, family gatherings, the park and his balcony.

Burkman’s main squeeze is a $1,200 number he found at a second-hand accordion shop. But after a recent visit to Petosa Accordions, he concedes — it’s time for an upgrade.

Walking into Petosa Accordions is like stepping back in time into a 1950s-era Cadillac showroom.

Glossy red, two-tone and wood-paneled accordions finished with silver trim, art-deco motifs and scroll work beckon and gleam from display shelves that tickle the ceiling. They’re not just music-makers, they’re works of art.

Burkman test-drove a classic concert model. List price $12,000.

What a difference!

“I like the sound, it’s incredibly smooth,” Burkman said, after a few bars of the folk song “Heart in a Bottle.” “Others are sharp, punchy. This is smooth.”

Turning to his girlfriend, Shawna Marbourg, he said. “Now, you know what I want for my birthday!”

The butt of jokes

First patented by Armenian-Romanian inventor Cyrill Demian in 1829, the accordion acquired a catalog of nicknames through the centuries: squash box, wheezer, windjammer, melodeon, stomach Steinway.

Never a high-brow instrument, it earned its keep early on in dance halls and dive bars.

Besides being funny looking, the accordion was also loud and could be heard “even in the wildest pub above the stomping of dancing feet,” according to accordion-museum.com.

Italian immigrants helped introduce it and the smaller concertina to American audiences in the early 20th century. Early sound recordings, Vaudeville artists and radio picked up the pace.

Today, the accordion is a key player in zydeco, Cajun, klezmer and Tejano (Tex-Mex) music.

In 1948, the stomach Steinway took off in a big way, thanks to a talented teenager.

That year, American audiences went crazy when 18-year-old Dick Contino won a national radio contest, “the equivalent of American Idol,” Petosa said.

The Elvis of the accordion, Contino “wiggled, shook and swaggered,” The New York Times reported.

Fans mobbed the newly minted superstar, and accordion sales surged.

For the next 15 years, it was one of the most popular musical instruments in America. Door-to-door salesmen canvassed urban neighborhoods, peddling inexpensive imports. Music studios sprung up in every city offering lessons and instruction, Petosa said.

Then along came the fabulous ‘60s, rock n’ roll and The Beatles and everyone wanted a guitar. Guitar sales hit a high note, climbing from a quarter-million in 1955 to one million in 1964.

Meanwhile, the accordion hit a sour note. Sales crashed, plummeting from 120,000 in 1955 to a mere 13,000 in 1976, according to “Squeeze This! A Cultural History of the Accordion in America” by Marion Jacobson.

Pegged as outdated and uncool, the accordion was exiled to basements, garages and Lawrence Welk reruns.

America’s accordion manufacturers also suffered.

By the early 1970s, 90% of all U.S. accordion makers went out of business,” said Petosa, who credits his company’s longevity with its emphasis on quality.

“The accordion tanked so quickly that it became the butt of a lot of jokes,” he said. “The only time you saw it was on Lawrence Welk, the Geritol crowd.”

On the upbeat

Now, the musical push-me-pull-me is being seized on by a new generation of musicians who aren’t aware of its former stigma, Petosa said.

“There’s a revival of interest in the accordion,” said David Locke, 81, a Whidbey Island resident who’s been playing the accordion for 72 years.

As a member of the Seattle Accordion Club, Locke has a front row seat. The club’s monthly meetings, he said, “are a great place to hear some fine young players.”

Besides the polka, waltz and tango, the younger set is incorporating the instrument into jazz and French cafe music, he said. A favorite pairing is Creosote, a local accordion duo that blends Brazilian music with western swing and tango. Both musicians, Jamie Maschler and Gabe Hall-Rodrigues, work at Petosa accordions.

Who’s a player? Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Charlie Gillingham of band Counting Crows, comedian Drew Carey and actress Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan Holloway in the TV series, “Mad Men.”

Back in the day, Jimmy Stewart, Marlene Dietrich and Fred Astaire played. Oh, and the 37th U.S. President, Richard M. Nixon, according to the National Archives.

Looking for a fun night on the couch? Type the name of your favorite song into YouTube and add the word “accordion.”

You’ll find everything from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons played on a button accordion by Ukrainian virtuoso Alexander Hrustevich to a romping, stomping version of the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated.” Pogo!

Like the trumpet, flute and piccolo, the accordion is a wind instrument. Musically, it’s a three-ring circus.

“It is the only instrument in the world that offers melody, bass and rhythm at the same time – and you can take it anywhere,” Petosa said.

No power, no plug needed.

Petosa Accordions regularly sees people who’ve uncovered a concertina or accordion in grandpa’s attic and are yearning to play. They can set you up with a teacher and lessons.

Then, stake out a street corner, break out your squeeze box, and you’ll never sing the blues.

“The accordion is being rediscovered every day,” Petosa said.

Janice Podsada is a freelance writer and former employee of the Daily Herald. She can be reached at jpod2024@gmail.com

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in Sound & Summit magazine, The Daily Herald’s quarterly publication. Explore Snohomish and Island counties with each issue. Subscribe and receive four issues for $18. Call 425-339-3200 or go to soundsummitmagazine.com

PLAYTIME:

Considering an accordion has anywhere from 3,000 to 9,000 pieces, here’s a simplified version of how it works:

The right side of an accordion has a button or piano keyboard, while the left side has buttons that play bass notes and chords. Each button or key controls a different reed inside the instrument. By depressing a key or button, air from the bellows flows over the reeds and causes them to vibrate, creating different notes and tones.

IF YOU GO

Petosa Accordions, 19503 56th Ave. W., Lynnwood.

Phone: 206-632-2700

Email: petosa@petosa.com

Web: petosa.com

Hours: Open Tuesday through Friday, hours vary