December 2021/January 2022 News

...“-let” – the diminutive - because it was only 3 concerts, but that’s 3 times the number of live concerts I’d done up ‘til then in 2021. By Dec. 1st, Rick Burkhardt had moved into our guest room for 3 days of rehearsals. Dec. 2nd opened the tour, right here in Shelburne Falls, to an enthusiastic crowd-let of…7 people. But they were very fine people, and we gave them a full and enthusiastic concert. And if it weren’t for the fact that we had rented an entire church for the gig we might have ended up in the black.

Dec. 3rd was the annual concert at Boston’s Haley House Bakery and Café, hosted and MC’d by media maven Grace McEnery. Our audience numbers swelled to 25 and, as in years past, they all came to sing. Listen to our group send-up of “Brett Kavanaugh – Just Like a Rich White Guy".

From Boston we drove to New York & the Peoples Voice Café – again an annual event. About 40 people attended (not bad for a pandemic) and another 25 paid to attend online.

All in all a fine weekend, one we hope to replicate or expand in May – stay tuned.

Shortly after arriving home I jumped into rehearsals with the wonderful Annie Patterson for Episode 2 of “What the World Needs Now… Odd & Unpredictable Love Songs.” It was presented on Zoom and Facebook on Dec. 9, supported by a grant from the Musicians Performance Trust Fund, so it was free and open to the public. If you missed it you can watch our dress rehearsal here.

Episodes 3 & 4 are planned for January & February so keep reading for news on those.

Officially, a sabbatical should last at least a month, but we were happy to get a way for 9 days – a 6 day trip to the Weston Priory in Vermont followed by a 3 day trip with my daughter Nell to visit my younger brother and his family in upstate NY.  I’ve been spending Christmas at the Benedictine priory in VT for a dozen years or more, and Candace many years before me.  It’s a restful, centering place of quiet beauty.

Although Covid precautions prevented us from sharing meals and fellowship with the brothers, we were able to join them for prayer & song several times a day while staying at a guest house with a beautiful view of the old mountains of Weston.

Back at my desk, I face the question of how to make a go of it as a self-employed performer in the Age of Covid for yet another year.  That’s where you come in.  So far I’ve been able to stay in the black with concerts and the sale of recordings.  For the first time ever everything I’ve ever recorded is available as a download, album by album, song by song; and most are still in print as CDs which I am only too happy to ship to your door or the door of someone you’d like to share them with.  You can find them all here. Downloads are at the top of the page, scroll down for the shippable CDs.

As for upcoming concerts, most will be online.  January 30th Rick Burkhardt and I present Episode 3 of “… Odd Love Songs…”

Save the date and buy tickets here.

And on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, for Episode 4, I will be joined by the remarkable Seattle based vocal duo, Rebel Voices. Again, save the date – and stay tuned for information on how to join us on Zoom or some other social media platform for a heart warming and eyebrow raising night of sweet harmonies and unpredictable lyrical plots. And bring your Valentine!