Happy Holidays!
Winter flowers from my yard this morning!
CONCERT: FRIDAY DEC 12, 7 PM RICHARD GILEWITZ with special guest ELAINE MAHON
Richard is an extraordinary instrumentalist with a broad musical palate. I will open the show and he will provide accompaniment on some of my songs. What a treat!
For more information and reservations: email sandhillstage@gmail.com
Now that we are entering the height of the holiday season I thought it would be a good time to look back over all the wonderful events of the past couple of months and then to fast forward to some of what we can look forward to in 2015. I would also like to share links of a number of artists with you that I encounter in my musical journey. This is a wonderful journey of discovery, and it is always fun to share with friends and fans music that tickles my ears and touches my heart. I am so grateful for the opportunity my line of work provides for getting to know such a diverse group of interesting, talented and genuinely nice people.
Besides performing I am really buckling down into recording my next CD. It is an arduous but rewarding process of honing new songs into their best form. I am again enjoying the rewarding experience of working with Lis and Lon Williamson of Gatorbone Records and Gatorbone Band. Lis and Lon are two of the nicest human beings I know, who also happen to be wonderfully talented and creative. You can hear them play at Sandhill Stage this coming Spring.If you’d like to help me finance my next CD you can easily do this by purchasing RISE and SEAMLESS for Christmas gifts!
EXICITING NEWS!!!
I’ve been invited to play the 2015 South Florida Folk Festival, Jan 17-18 and the 2015 Sarasota Folk Festival, March 21-11
It such a honor to be included as a performer in these festivals. I do hope to see some of you there!
LOOKING BACK
In September I had the honor of kicking off the first annual Folk in the Springs Festival in the lovely Secret Garden at Secret Garden Bakery in High Springs, Fl. My brother surprised me by driving my parents out for the show and many friends showed up too. Thanks to all of you, it was a blast. To top it off, Michael Landzak, the festival organizer, asked me to sign a guitar for their museum. What a thrill – that was a first for me! The owners of the bakery were very gracious and Sharon provided fresh baked cookies for all. Thank you Michael for all you do for your community and the artists within it. A week later I had the honor of leading off for dulcimer pioneer Bing Futch at Villa Conroy in Orlando, Florida. Bing plays hauntingly beautiful native flute as well. What a fantastic listening room and a lovely group of music loving folks. A special thanks to Connie, Roy and Sigi for their hospitality.
In October Shane Myers and I teamed up f0r John French’s Songwriter’s night at Olivia’s Coffeehouse in Eustis, FL. My friend and fellow songwriter Larry Mangum introduced us at Mudville Music Room in Jacksonville where we performed as songwriters in the round. Shane just blew me away with his gorgeous rich voice and compelling songs. What a wonderful surprise to find my friends and guitarists extraordinaire Lauren Heintz and Brian Smalley in the audience, as well as folk artists Joe and Katy Waller who also organize the Barberville Fall Jamboree! Thank you John French for inviting Shane & I to play at Olivia’s. The evening ended with a slice of Olivia’s coconut creme pie (her grandmother’s recipe) to eat on my way home – thanks Olivia, it was sinfully delicious!
November started out with the Barberville Fall Jamboree. It was very cold and windy and my sweet husband agreed to go with me and do some primitive camping in our little tent situated amongst the many RVs. I played on three different stages, one of them in a little church with awesome acoustics, another next to a train depot, and the final one next to a seriously vocal goose who punctuated every song with loud squawkings. His timing was hilarious. We got so cold we decided to go on a date and drove off to find a warm restaurant on the river. It was a lot of fun and we were fortified to return to the camp for the night. It is a sweet festival with lots of honey vendors from the Ocala National Forest and some really cool pioneer demonstrations: dancing, blacksmithing, woodworking, spinning etc. Notable at this festival was the presence of several excellent family musical groups. Familial harmony blend has to be some of the best singing ever. November’s high point for me. was the return to the Wolf Howl in St. Petersburg, FL for a house concert with Rebecca Zapen . Rebecca and I played together for the first time last year at the Wolf Howl. We went on to play the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs, FL as a trio with Chelsea Chason on bass. We love singing together, and she gives me a chance to stretch outside my comfort zone by playing lead guitar and djembe on some of her songs. I love the addition of violin to my songs and Rebecca has a great ear for accompaniment. She is the consummate musician, a wonderful songwriter and singer, and really fun to perform with. A special treat at this show was the display of the painting “Dust Tracks in the Road” by Jenny Bleackley. Jenny was inspired by last year’s performance of the song to make a painting. A picture of her painting is on my home web page. She also made some beautiful cards of the painting for us. A very special thanks to Jeff and Ann who are the most gracious hosts in the world and to Jeff who does a great job on sound!
At the beginning of December, Lauren Heintz and I drove up to New Bern, NC for a private house concert. It was a wonderful show, and our hosts treated us like royalty. Thank you Dale and Sarah for the lovely dinner, lodging, conversation and for the great setting for a show! Dale Swan opened our set with a few songs from his brand new CD, Even Yesterday, produced by Donna and Kelly of Still on the Hill. It turned out beautifully. Sarah has now became another one of my Words with Friends competitors, a great pastime for this passenger on the drive home, along with listening to a riveting serial podcast that Lauren had downloaded. For the show Lauren and I traded off songs and I sang harmony with most of her songs which have become serious ear worms for me. She played a brand new song for the first time and it was wonderful – way to go Lauren! It takes a lot of guts to play a new song to an audience for the first time, but every song must get it’s first introduction to the world!
It’s harvest time for the lemons, kumquats and oranges and a few summer flowers are holding on for dear life!
LOOKING FORWARD
This coming Friday, Dec 12 at 7 PM I will be opening for Richard Gilewitz at Sandhill Stage in Gainesville, FL. Richard heard me play last summer when I opened for Pierce Pettis . I introduced four brand new songs that night, so it was a particular honor have Pierce take the time to learn them a the night before his show. Richard suggested after the show that perhaps we could play together and so we agreed on some songs to rehearse and look forward to sharing them with you. Richard is a fantastic instrumentalist in his own right and I think that you will enjoy his show. It promises to be extremely varied in content and full of surprises.
You can learn more about shows at Sandhill Stage through the Sandhill Stage newsletter. To sign up for that just click here.
My last show of the year will be: Wed Dec 17 11am – 1 PM at Arisan’s Way, 5910 Hampton St., Melrose, FL
Shake Rag Coffeetalk presents Elaine Mahon and Lauren Heintz I will be harmonizing with Lauren. If you haven’t heard her yet, here is a wonderful opportunity.
In the New Year I am looking forward to playing the South Florida Folk festival in January, the Sarasota Folk Festival in March, and a couple of shows up in the panhandle of Florida at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and Robert’s Hall in Lynn Haven hosted by Mike and Maggie McKinney of Lucky Mud. John and I met Mike and Maggie at the Florida Folk Festival and we just clicked, and Maggie and I being native Floridians didn’t hurt! Mike and Maggie played Sandhill Stage this past Fall in a double header with The New 76ers, an absolutely incredible band. It was a great show.
Sandhill Stage has some great shows coming up and you can find the schedule by clicking here or by signing up for the newsletter click here.
The Currys will be at the Thomas Center in Gainesville this Wednesday evening for a Christmas show. They’ll be returning to Sandhill Stage SAT MAY 9th. Last night they gave a house concert at the home of a childhood friend in the neighborhood I grew up in. It was a blast! Note the scarves all around – guess it got a little cold out there on the porch!
Well, if you’ve made it through this long missive you deserve something! Treat yourself to one of the links herein and you just might discover some music you’ve never heard before that you really like!