Category: Music

syn·chro·nic·i·ty with a twang

1 Comment

Earhart
Today being the 115th birthday of Amelia Earhart had me thinking of a song my father used to play written by Red River Dave McEnery, titled "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight". I have always been in love with this song and for some reason during my mid twenties I was on a quest to find a recorded version of this song. At the time I was living in DC and stepped into a small record store in Silver Spring, Maryland, just to browse. I picked up a copy of Freakwater's 1993 Thrill Jockey release Feels Like the Third Time.  My youngest sister, Jess was with me, saw what I had in my hand and said, "oh, I think you'd like them, I saw them at Iota." I flipped over the CD to see the track names and right there on track #10 there it was… my song! My heart flipped and I'm pretty sure I squealed. I could not wait to get home and listen to it. What happened next is that I also fell in love with the band. I was so pleased that my quest for a peculiar, seldom recorded song led me to find a band whose weird voices definitely struck a chord. Synchronicity. 

Fw

Catherine Irwin and Janet Bean have voices that are pretty in a Mary McCaslin, Alice Gerard and Hazel Dickens, Lucinda Williams, Victoria Williams kinda way. To me they are as crystalline and lovely as Allison Krauss and Patty Griffin, just a lot more honest, whiskey smoked and hard working. They are the voice of a woman who's tired like she's been waiting tables all day, has had it up to here with your shit, and has better things to do with her time. 

I remember going to see Catherine Irwin at a SXSW daytime show and recounting that very story of stumbling across her music while looking for the Amelia Earhart song that my father used to sing… she smiled. Awkward. This reminded me of a night years before when I waited on Lucinda at the Ausitn Grill in DC and told her that I'd just seen Darden Smith the week before at The Birchmere and he was raving about her just released Sweet Old World, she stared at me with her heavily-lined eyes without blinking and said, "can I have a Dos Equis?" Again, awkward.

 

You Say Harvest, I Say Blue

Leave a comment

Bill-Monroe-Bluegrass-Ramble

There are two things that I will forvever be grateful to my father for. One is for perfectly seasoning my cast iron skillets, and the other for taking me to see Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys at Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois.  Their gray suits, ties and white Stetsons just killed me. Because I had musician parents my musical tastes have always been eclectic, but that summer night in Illinois, I fell in love… with Bluegrass. I really did.

I named my teensy stationery biz, Bean Blossom Press, after his Bean Blossom Festival.

Today would be the centennial birthday of Bill Monroe.

Tonight when you're gazing at the harvest moon, give a little nod to Bill's Blue Moon of Kentucky

 

Finally…ready to play (ahem, learn)

4 Comments

IMG_0751

It took more than a couple trips to the hardware store for me to realize I needed to mix my own stain color.

IMG_0749

 The inside of the resonator is glossy cherry red. I'm sure noone will ever notice it, but I know…and it makes me happy.

IMG_0748

After staining I stamped these blossoms with silver ink on the back. I had to do this twice, because I rushed the first coat of poly finish and smeared the ink. Smile to frown in 2 seconds… what am I, five?  Imaptience rarely pays off.

IMG_0750

ready to play learn

IMG_0752

This is a boring photo of my boring bumpy grey laminate kitchen countertops. Yawn.

807

Here is the new laminate color to be installed soon. I know, it's hard to believe I want laminate countertops when my husband makes concrete countertops, but this is much more in harmony with the warm, cozy retro vibe of my kitchen. He's done so much of the heavy lifting on our home remodeling projects, that it's nice to actually pay a professional when you can. The wisdom of choosing battles wiesly comes with age.

6a00d83451c8d569e20120a7ac5a8f970b-800wi
 
6a00d83451c8d569e20128775a1c99970c-800wi