Last night, we drove way out in the the darkest (read no streetlights) part of the county to go to a house concert given by Peter Kramer and Susan Gladen. Susan and Peter weren’t the musicians – the Weems-Gerrard band did that work. Alice Gerrard, who recorded 3 great LPs with the legendary Hazel Dickens and who founded the Old Time Herald, was the lead attraction. She was joined by a surprising (to me) guitarist — News and Observer Features Editor Tommy Goldsmith who turns out to have a rich musical past and some strong current licks. Mark Weems joined this edition of Alice Gerrard and band to play mostly honky tonk music. The band was fine and the music called for dancing which came later on. Too late for at least one of us (who is not inclined to honky much tonk anyhow), but the general ambiance was wonderful and the sound, handled by novelist and top knotch Elvis impersonator Bill Henderson was just right for the small hall that Peter has built on the farm.
I’m now packing and heading out the door for DC for training in support of our grant for the folkstreams.net project from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The downside is two full days sitting in a hotel meeting room. The upside is that it’s in the Hay Adams Hotel. They have “high-speed Internet access” in the rooms so I may be able to post from there if the meeting lends itself to that.
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