If You Could Read My Mind…

I hope you will forgive my long silence on this platform. I have 2 announcements to make now regarding my latest creative and life projects, but the biggest and I hope most exciting ones will have to wait a little longer, my loyal fans, More on developments later.

First of all, I want to send my sincerest condolences to all of you who have suffered tragic loss during the pandemic, whether it was caused by Covid, or just happened during the pandemic. My heart is here for you, my ears too. If you wish to reach out to me, please do. I will try my best to be here for you.

Second, a NON-development! Due to various circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, I was not able to continue work on my solo folk album, Hand Made. Just as it was all starting to come together in March of 2020, my engineer had to shut down, my access to the nine-foot Steinway grand piano I was recording on also shut down, and some of the piano tracks that were the base on which I was building the recordings turned out to have a buzz due to an electrical problem beyond our control. Frustrating. worse, I did not feel I could promote myself and book future shows without the album to represent all my new material of the last four years.

I know many musicians who found a way to successfully livestream, produce shows, and even record during this time, and I am filled with awe and admiration for their plucky attitudes and the remarkable results!

I did try livestreaming, (on facebook) but was not satisfied with what I consider to be mediocre results, so I decided to go another route. (I don’t think the fact that I debuted my series of livestreams on April Fool’s Day, 2020 was responsible!)

As a musician who expresses herself best as a violinist and singer primarily, I really needed and wanted to perform with others accompanying me, and that just was not possible to do safely.. The only exception was a wonderful show that was filmed for TV with no audience. It is available now on Youtube. I thank the Mayor and the town of Woodbridge, New Jersey, The Barron Arts Center, and all the staff, engineers, cameramen, technical help, etc. as well as my dear friends, musicians Ted Brancato and Tom Charlap for helping me throw together that concert on only one rehearsal!!!

(You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/DhJUqPslwjc )

But that was just one show…

So, I took a long hard look at myself, my career, my abilities, and my resources, and came up with a plan to completely change the way that I put out my music. This plan is only now starting to come to fruition, but when I am ready to reveal the results, I know that I will be proud of the quality, and I hope you will find it exciting, touching, and beautiful. I can’t share the details just yet, but soon.

There ARE 2 developments I CAN announce now:

1) Annie Capps, the brilliant singer-songwriter from Michigan, member of Diamonds and Rust as well as her duo with super-talented husband Rod Capps, is putting out an amazing new album, due in September 2022, called “How Can I Say This.” It’s filled with songs about her experiences as the woman she is and the girl she was, moving through this man’s world, and all that goes along with it. Only partly because I am playing on 2 tracks of this new work, and the fact that she had ONLY women work on the project, (I believe as many as 40 of us gals!) I am saying this: buy it!

It is, to me, the culmination of the most mature, gritty, and lovely work of hers I have heard in the many years we have known each other. I HIGHLY recommend that you follow her project, and buy yourself a copy when it is available. Annie Capps will also be setting up a kickstarter campaign to help her pay for the MASSIVE expenses involved, so I hope you will also consider supporting her kickstarter when it goes live.

Many of us know her also as the (still, but soon-to-be-former) director of the FARM (Folk Alliance Region Midwest) conference, and although I am sad to see her go in that capacity after this year, I am excited to see what the fresh new perspective of her replacement brings to my favorite music conference.

Here’s their website:

https://maynardmusic.com

AND

2) I was SOOO EXCITED to perform at an outdoor festival two weeks ago (dedicated to Pete Seeger) with another amazing musician, one whom I greatly respect in all sorts of categories, Reggie Harris!

Some people shared video on facebook of this show, and there will be upcoming live shows where I will be playing with him again.

I was lucky enough to record a couple tracks on Reggie’s first solo album, Ready To Go, and he already has the second solo album out, On Solid Ground. Reading the lyrics of the title track makes me feel like I am reading sacred text.

“We will not rest ‘til the storm is over.

We will not lay this burden down:

We will keep each other strong,

We will love and carry on,

Till we stand, all together, on solid ground!”

How uplifting!

Reggie has the gift of really seeing what IS, knowng what must change, and finding a positive way to distill it down and express it that always keeps hope in our hearts, no matter how dark a situation seems. (With the possible exception of when his beloved favorite sports teams are underperforming!)

https://reggieharrismusic.com

Okay, folks, I hope you enjoyed this teaser/update, and that I will be seeing you soon, maybe at one of Reggie’s shows!

Til then:

Stay strong!

Love!

Carry On!!!!

God bless you., and

Amen.