Tales from the Road: Chicago's anthem duo helps tradition live on

Tales from the Road will appear throughout the season on BlueJackets.com as Jackets Insider Jeff Svoboda writes about the places and people that are part of the team's travels across the NHL world.
It's something that happens in every venue in American sports, but this one is unique.

There are plenty of fantastic renditions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before sporting events around the country, including the one performed by the Blue Jackets' Leo Welsh that is preceded by fans yelling his name each game, but there's nothing quite like the version of the national anthem performed before Chicago Blackhawks games.
There's the tradition of fans standing and cheering throughout the entire song, something that dates back nearly four decades to the old Chicago Stadium. There's the fact that it's performed by one of the true greats, Jim Cornelison, who has become so synonymous with the song that his Twitter handle is

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But there's also a unique and perhaps overlooked aspect of the Chicago anthem that stands out. Cornelison is accompanied by veteran organist Frank Pellico as he performs before each game, a unique marriage that has become as much a part of Blackhawks games as the opening faceoff, "Chelsea Dagger" and Patrick Kane.
"Frank and I have been doing it together for so long that we've developed some little quirkiness or idiosyncrasies or some trust," Cornelison said before Thursday night's Blue Jackets game at the United Center.
"Which is why I'm still here!" Pellico interjects with a laugh.
And yes, you could say they almost finish each other's sentences at times. That's the result of a working relationship that spans more than a decade, as Pellico has been at the helm of the team's custom-made Allen organ since 1991 while Cornelison emerged from a rotation of singers to take on the full-time job in 2008.
Their early years were spent performing nightly in front of a fan base dying to see the franchise return to its storied roots, but the team's Stanley Cup runs in 2010, 2013 and 2015 made Pellico and Cornelison celebrities in not just Chicago but the entire hockey world.
Listen to either sing or play and it's clear they're as talented as anyone out there, but what has made the duo successful is their ability to work together. Considering the organist must work in concert -- no pun intended -- with the singer in a live environment like the one in Chicago, collaboration and experience are key.
"I think it's probably the most special to play the anthem for Jim because he does it the way he feels he wants to do it," Pellico said. "It's different if he's playing with an orchestra. They're not going to follow him, but they keep a nice, even tempo. Here, Jim has the freedom to sing the way he feels he wants to do the song at the time. And 99 percent of the time, it's within the same feel for me."
It's a song and dance -- or song and play -- that has worked into a true partnership. The son of two World War II veterans, Cornelison has his own unique touches on the "The Star-Spangled Banner" when he sings at games, with the most unique his point to the American flag in the rafters of the United Center as he sings the lyric "And our flag was still there."
The tenor also will reach a crescendo as he sings "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air," playing off the evocative imagery of the lyrics. Cornelison also finishes on a high note, all personal touches on the anthem that are suited to match the pregame energy of the United Center -- and an organist has to pay attention to.
"When I came in and started doing this and you hear the crowd cheering, which is so unusual, you think as a performer, how do you create a feedback loop?" Cornelison said. "As I was thinking about an anthem that would make sense in this environment, I came up with a concept of how I wanted to sing it in order to feed into that energy."
"There's a tremendous amount of phrasing that he does, a lot more than a person that just sings it nice and even all the way through and says hello and goodbye," Pellico said. "Jim has his own personality in it, and thank God after all these years I believe I know exactly what he's going to do."
It's clear people have taken to it, as Cornelison has become one of the foremost anthem singers in the country. He's performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to NFL games, at the Ryder Cup and before sporting events of all kinds, and he's taken over for the legendary Jim Nabors in performing "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the yearly Indianapolis 500.
But there's nothing better than a United Center at full throat before a big game, and there have been plenty of those in Chicago in recent years. This poses a unique problem, though, when the crowd can in fact be so loud it overwhelms both performers.
"There are more than enough times that I cannot hear him because the crowd is so loud, and it comes back into my headset," Pellico said. "I just feel that this is where he is at, and we end on time."
"We have kind of a default, too, because there are times I can't hear anything either," Cornelison said. "That's not a normal night that you can't hear anything. People say, 'Oh, yeah, it's the best place to never hear the anthem.' There are jokes like that, but there are times during a playoff series where the crowd is just insane and you might not hear large sections of the anthem at all. I can't (hear) down there -- not Frank, not even myself. I know my mouth is moving, but I am not getting any feedback or anything."
One of these days, like all things, the partnership will end. After three decades at the keys, Pellico has ceded some of his gameday duties to understudies like Carrie Marcotte, who he says could take over the anthem tomorrow if need be. Retirement could one day be in the cards, but Pellico also says that might not happen until he falls over at the organ and goes out with a mighty racket.
But no matter who does the anthem in Chicago, it has to be right. Everyone involved feels a responsibility because of the tradition and the meaning of the song, especially considering Cornelison sings it next to active-duty military and veterans at each game just like Welsh.
Being on the ice for the Chicago anthem is one of the most requested events in the country for the USO, and some people can wait up to 10 years to get the chance to be recognized.
"It needs to be right because it means so much to the Blackhawks fans, but also you have the military people down on the ice," said Cornelison, who has made unique Blackhawks challenge coins for the military members who join him at the urging of a friend in the Navy. "These guys and gals who come, they will be on this list forever. If they're on active duty, they can be in Hawaii, they can be in Italy, they are hopping on some sort of military jet if their commander will let them if they can come here.
"There's a feeling that what you're doing is bigger than sports and really gives back. It needs to be good. It means a lot to them."