South East Tour 2012- How I love Farmers Markets and the Blue Ridge Mountains

A beautiful home coming for me in both Asheville North Carolina and Southwest Virginia. The Journey began with a gig at the Sacred Embodiment center in Asheville, North Carolina, a sweet community space that hosts music, dance and other community enhancing events. The raw food was great and the audience was attentive and good singers see the video clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJT2nOf7GM .

The rest of my stay in Asheville involved several lovely Farmers Market performances, at the Montford COmmunity Market and the North Asheville Tailgate Market. I love the bustle and colorful montage of community at Farmers Markets. We had several successful sing alongs and dance numbers with children and their parents passing by. Ate locally made tamales and basked in the shady Ash tree canopy at the UNCA Market. My Favorite aspect of the markets are the constant flow of people walking by, providing consistent opportunity for spontenaety and energetic family interactions. The movement of the crowd all around our performance, enables us to interact with our music in a truly unique way, and the excitement of family and friends gathering at the market to celebrate local food and crafts, is uplifting and good for the heart. I enjoy the movement of the crowd, a constrast to the sometimes stagnant environment of a “sit down” concert.

Later, in Blacksburg VA , my beloved place of birth, I played two concerts. One at the Vegetarian Restaurant, Gillies. and the following evening in Floyd, VA at the Dog Town Music Hall. Dog Town was a special treat. Bass Player F.M. Turner, my long time friend and very best music teacher, joined me for the concert. The music hall was packed with eager fans and locals, excited to see us. Our friend Billy joined us on stage with his Flute. The beauty of Flute, Upright bass, and Guitar/voice, took us on a journey of inspiration and vision. At the end of the night, the Dog Town asked us back for another show. Playing music with F.M turner just gets better and better. I couldn’t ask for a more talented and versatile musician to fit my also versatile and ever evolving style.

 

The tour finished with a sweet gig back in Asheville NC at the Firestorm Cafe and Bookstore. A small crowd that night, however, we had rich sing alongs and we were graced with the presence of Ballad Singer and Community Organizer Saro Lynch Thomason of the Blair Pathways project. Saro is one of my favorite musicians and song collectors in the Blue Ridge area, and she is the facilitator of the Bi-weekly Asheville Community Sing, a group that has changed my life and deeply inspired me to dig into musical Appalachian roots.  Blair Pathways works to “Celebrate Blair Mountain through Music”, basically an organization that seeks to protect Mountains and raise awareness about Mountain top removal through collections of stories and songs.  Truly inspiring and beautiful !  Please visit the website to learn about Cd that Blair Pathways is about to release , August 1st, a collection of songs about the mountains.

 

Now, back on the North West corner of the United States, I say farewell for now to my home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and push my nose to the ground , writing new songs and enjoying the watery landscape.