February/March 2022 News

...is actually a song, and a very lively one, by the inimitable duo, Peter & Lou Berryman. You can listen to it here. These days I hardly ever sing a concert without a Lou & Peter song – maybe two. But more about this later.

Meanwhile, it’s been a strange winter here in the Berkshires. Snowfall has been comparatively light, but once it fell, it never left. The closest we got to seeing the ground was when a snowfall was followed by rain. But then a plunging temperature turned everything to ice. And it stayed that way.

The rivers froze and so did the sidewalks, making walking treacherous – even with cleats. Candace and I try to get in 3 to 4 miles a day, some days it’s been at risk of limb, if not life. This too shall pass.

Episodes #1 & #2 last year featured Annie Patterson. Episode #3 was January 30 with Rick Burkhardt. In the past 7 years I’ve performed with Rick more than any other musician. And before that I toured with The Prince Myshkins (Rick plus Andy Gricevich) and Karen Brandow, of blessed memory. Although the “O&ULS” series is mostly cover songs, Rick is a prolific writer so it featured more than a few of his original songs. Also songs by our mutual favorites Lou & Peter Berryman. You can hear “the full catastrophe” here.

Episode #4 – what a delight! Rebel Voices, Janet Stecher and Susan Lewis, signed on for a Valentine’s Day show. It turns out I had signed on for a series of pre-concert rehearsals that wouldn’t quit. RV are such meticulous and sophisticated arrangers and performers, and Zoom is such a challenging medium for complex arrangements, that practice was a necessity, and mostly fun. We ended up with a show of 19 odd/unusual songs including an unprecedented 8 trio performances. It was a night full of surprises and show stopping RV performances. It was our largest audience to date, but if you weren’t among them you can re-live it here. It starts with a Berryman lyric “A china pooch…” and takes off from there.

We decided to give the O&ULS series a rest this month, and replace it with two great theme concerts. The first was Passing the Word with the wonderful Elise Bryant. Elise and I started doing Zoom concerts in 2020 and haven’t stopped. We are unusually well-matched – a pair of passionate tenors with a repertoire of justice songs and a love of working together. This was a great night and if you want to know why, listen here.

And March wouldn’t be March without a Saint Patrick’s Day Concert, which wouldn’t be quite right without the incomparable Annie Patterson. This is the fourth year we’ve celebrated the good saints holiday with a fresh selection of songs from Ireland. Every year we dig deeper and come up with a grand parade of new (to us) music, from the sublime to the villainous. If you missed this concert, or want to share it with friends, you can view it here.

...is yet another Berryman song. And these two months bring a return to O&ULS. Episodes #5 & #6 are scheduled for April, so mark your calendars. April 2nd I’ll be joined by my long-time singing partner, Colleen Kattau, a powerful singer and guitarist. There’ll be a range of songs from the tragic to the comic, from Leonard Cohen to Lieber & Stoller. I love singing with Colleen!

And on April 21st the incredible, multi-Grammy winning duo, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, will join me for a night of high spirited songs featuring their strong harmonies and incendiary instrumentation – they play more instruments than you can shake a stick at - but why would you want to do that anyway? Just mark your calendar and check mine for the concert details.

The game plan is to do two concerts per month, on into the future. Next newsletter will cover May & June. Sneak preview – May will have two live, in person concerts with Colleen Kattau, and June will have an O&ULS show especially tailored to Father’s Day with the other Prince Myshkin, Andy Gricevich. Stay tuned...