More than 1,200 barbershop singers from six states are competing today for the Dixie District championship in the Tivoli Theatre.

Whether Chattanooga’s chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, the Choo Choo Chorus, is named a finalist won’t be determined until later this morning. But the local singers already enter the contest with a distinction few other choruses can claim.

Chorus member Tom Keegan, 76, is marking his 45th year as a barbershop singer. Mr. Keegan, vice president of sales for a Calhoun, Ga., carpet company, said he has sung the last 25 years with the Choo Choo Chorus. Before that, he joined the barbershop chorus in each new city to which his job transferred his family.

“The music is all a cappella with pure harmony,” he explained. “The sound is wonderful, very entertaining.”

Mr. Keegan and the Choo Choo Chorus will be singing in the 9:30 a.m. competition today. The event is open to the public, said Bob Davenport, district vice president of marketing. Tickets are $15 at the Tivoli box office.

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