It’s a summer evening at Stratford Place, and Martha and the Moodswingers are doing what they do best: setting everyone’s toes tapping, from gray-haired couples in lawn chairs to young children hopping about on their picnic blankets. A few couples even take to the makeshift dance floor in front of the band.

At the microphone, Martha Bassett keeps flashing her megawatt smile. She waves discreetly to familiar faces while she sways to the swing and forties-jive tunes. She’s been singing with this band at gigs around Winston-Salem for ten years. But if Bassett or her four middle-aged band mates are tired of these same old numbers, it’s hard to tell from the way they launch easily into three-part harmonies and kid with each other between songs.

Bassett, in fact, seems more energized than ever these days. She’s taking her music in new directions - her recent gospel album led to forming a trio, Wilderness Gospel; she plays guitar and upright bass with a rock trio, the Bicoastals; and most recently, she assembled an eclectic handful of young musicians fresh out of the North Carolina School of the Arts and created the Camel City Swingers, offering modern takes on jazz, swing, and country.

The mother of two sons - a teenager and young adult - Bassett also became a newlywed two years ago, moving from Greensboro to Winston-Salem to make a new home with Robert Kirk, who recorded and mixed her gospel album. (Kirk also took the photos on these pages.)

A classically trained singer and longtime voice teacher - not to mention children’s choir director at Centenary United Methodist Church downtown - Bassett has dabbled in nearly every genre of popular music the past few years. She claims her favorite kind of music is whatever kind she’s playing at any particular minute.

“Everything I do feeds everything else. I love the feeling of growth. I’m a better musician for trying all of this.”

Bassett is especially excited about taking Camel City Swingers on the road. By early July the group had finished its second tour, appearing at arts council-sponsored events, private parties, and a few clubs throughout Georgia.

“These guys are in their twenties, and they are incredibly talented. We’re morphing every minute. We began as a jazz band, but we’ve introduced Western swing, now some Buck Owens and country.”

The Moodswingers gigs are moonlighting work, with band members holding on to their day jobs. But the Camel City Swingers are self-supporting musicians.

“I feel so fortunate to be working with them,” says Bassett, who also handles the booking, promotion, and marketing for the group.

“To be a professional musician is truly a gift.”

Sample a few numbers from Bassett’s various bands, watch video clips of the Camel City Swingers, and order “Mortal Flesh,” her gospel CD, at www.marthabassett.com.