Colorful and playable pianos are popping up around this SC city. Here’s where and why

Anne McAneny has played classical piano for years but it took the coronavirus pandemic to push her to want to play boogie woogie.

She learned by watching You Tube videos.

Then she started teaching senior citizens over Zoom to play boogie woogie.

And as one thing often leads to another in this world, now she’s bringing the vehicle — the piano — to public spaces all over Greenville so people can play that joyous music — and anything else they’d like to play — to entertain others. It’s called Please Play Me Pianos, a non-profit.

The idea is fairly simple. People donate a piano. McAneny enlists a local artist to paint it. McAneny finds a restaurant or shop to host it.

The first, painted by muralist Crosby Jack, is located at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery. Two more are underway, one by David Gerhard of the Governor’s School for the Arts destined for Carolina Bauernhaus and Courtney Lewis for The Artistry Gallery.

McAneny has a few more pianos in her garage, including one that will go to the Greenville Spartanburg International Airport.

The piano program was loosely based on one in Atlanta called Play Me Again Pianos, which has a goal of placing 88 pianos around the city. They’re up to 29. Each piano has a name.

The one at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe is Howard.

McAneny, a mystery writer and book editor, and her husband, Dan McLaughlin, moved to Greenville from Richmond, Virginia, in November. Their kids are grown and they wanted to downsize. She wanted out of the suburbs. They visited 10 cities, looking for a vibrant urban core, walkable with lots of restaurants. She wanted an urban trail and nearby hiking areas.

Not a surprise to anyone who knows anything about Greenville it was a match.

McAneny said she goes to Swamp Rabbit Cafe to dust off Howard’s keys and play a little boogie woogie.

She is heartened by the people she sees playing. Young adults who had to leave their pianos at their family home, older pianists, children, including those who have had lessons and those who are, shall we say, experimenting.

There is something special, she said, about touching a real piano, not digitized.

In just a few months, 20 people have offered to donate a piano — she can’t take uprights — and she’s easily found artists to make a piano a true work of art.

“It has become a true collaborative effort,” she said.