Random #banjoy

I came across this when I was Autoplaying my way around YouTube the other day. Some mean banjo from Mean Mary. Enjoy:

2018 Word of the Year

***BLOGGERS NOTE: I wrote this post in December, but wasn't ready to publish it until now. It feels like my new year is starting a bit late.***

It's Word of the Year time again.

Last year's word was realization and I think I pulled it off – manifesting a cabin out of a vision.

The cabin is almost finished with the end of 2017. It's so close I can taste it.

The selection process for 2018's Word of the Year has proved difficult. I thought I had the perfect word and then lost it and I have had a hard time finding another.

There have been many contenders: recoup, recovery, grounding, presence, celebration, home, settle, joy, gratitude, shelter, safety, release, reboot, rest, solitude, anchorage, nest, peace, centre, lucky...

I've been on a streak of R words for the last several years, and I sat on the fence for a long time about whether I wanted to stick with R or if it is time move on.

After much thought, I have decided that my Word of the Year for 2018 is:

hermitage

I have loved this word for a long time. As a teenager, I was a big fan Richard Lovelace's poetry. The final stanza of his poem, To Althea, from Prison reads:

Stone walls do not a prison make,
    Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
    That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
    And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
    Enjoy such liberty.

A place of contemplation for an innocent and quiet mind.

A place for dreams and daydreams.

A peaceful place.

A safe place.

I have managed to have such a place built for myself. I plan to take full advantage of it this year, to transform my longing by recreating this spirit of safety within my own heart and mind.

With the companionship and inspiration of my fluffy, orange guru, of course.

If you are contemplating your own Word of the Year, or just hanging out while 2017 draws to a close, may I invite you do so while listening to the New Year's playlist I put together on YouTube? This time of year always gets me in a playlist-y mood. There are some old favourites, some of this year's new favourites and of course, some #banjoy! 

Galway #banjoy

Someone who knows me well shared this link on my Facebook page and the #banjoy that resulted was worthy of a post here:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/banter/trending/watch-sensational-byrne-brothers-bring-galway-street-to-a-standstill-36387732.html

Enjoy!

Banjoy: Rhiannon Giddens

Yesterday, I saw the documentary Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. It's a very interesting and revealing film. I learned a lot.

I hope to post more about it later, but for the moment, I'd like to share this song by Rhiannon Giddens, to whose music the documentary introduced me. Pure #banjoy:

July #Banjoy

A friend shared this on FB. I love the stripped down instrumentation of banjo and cello. And fab vocals!

#Banjoy (Netflix Edition)

I was watching Grace and Frankie last night, winding down after a long work day, and this song came on. The banjo is a background element here, but I love the way it pops out from behind the song, which itself popped out from behind the action in the scene on the show:

Seasonal #banjoy

I'm not a huge fan of this time of year.

Which means that #banjoy is more welcome to me than ever.

Here is a beautiful song written and performed by my friend Craig Werth.

I hope you will enjoy listening to it:

Random Banjoy – Joe Dassin

A friend and colleague put me on to listening to Joe Dassin while he and I collaborate on typesetting a bunch of French financial reports.

While listening to a 50-song YouTube playlist this morning, I came across this one – with #banjoy.

Had to share:

Banjoy Break: Kermit was one of my early banjoy heroes

Sometimes I forget about Kermit's contribution to my love of banjo music.

I would have been nine years old when this episode aired. I'm pretty certain I would have seen it that night – we rarely missed an episode of The Muppet Show:

Banjoy Break: Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne

A little #banjoy from fellow 2014 Labrador Creative Arts Festival visiting artists, Jim Payne and Fergus O'Bryne:

What an honour and pleasure it was to be a visiting artist at the same time as these two splendid musicians!

Banjoy Break –– Ola Belle Reed

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a house concert with Sam and Joe Herrman. They were awesome and I'm sure at some point, I will share some of their music here. But today, I feel like sharing the original version of a song they covered that evening: I've Endured, by Ola Belle Reed. 

I had never heard of Ola Belle Reed before and I am very grateful to have been introduced to her music, and the spirit that shines through it. 

Enjoy:

4th annual Pennybrook Festival report

What a weekend!

I have been one of the core organizers of the Pennybrook Festival every year since it began, but this is the first year that I was living at Pennybrook Farm during the festival. In past years I have sometimes tented and sometimes gone home to my then-house. How much more awesome was it to have my own Tiny Home right on the festival grounds? Much more awesome – to have my own comfy bed right here and to have no reason to leave all weekend, because although the Festival is technically only on Saturday, our home overflowed with music for the entire weekend.

Friday was the biggest set up day. A number of friends came by to help erect the tents while Charlie put the roof on the stage that Jude had built through the week. As dark fell, the banjos came out. #BANJOY! We had two fine pickers here: Darren Arsenault and a wandering minstrel who goes by the name of Railroad Ty. Jude joined them on mandolin and each of them switched to guitar on occasion. It was a fine night of songs.

I'm really bad about not taking photos during events.
I prefer to be right in the experience instead of watching it from behind my camera.
So, the last Pennybrook photo I took was of the stage on Friday night.
And I didn't take another one until the one at the end of this post:
a photo of the site this morning, now that it's all over.

Festival Day on Saturday dawned grey and overcast, threatening rain. The weather here is so changeable that we decided to take no notice. We proceeded to finish the last preparations – we hung our new black curtains (donated by my stepdad – THANKS!) around the stage and set out more chairs. By noon, the sun was in full force and we had a perfect day for the festival, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. A fair few mosquitoes, but we survived the bites!

The line-up was truly stellar. Jude has a gift for booking great musicians who are also really nice people. Everyone who came and performed added to the fun. And so did the audience. It was a joy to see everybody get along. We used my Wholehearted House as the green room and it was a very fun for me to provide food and drinks and a warm welcome to the musicians. I loved having so many friendly and talented hearts in my home throughout the day! I also invited everyone in the audience to feel welcome to poke their heads in to have a look at my home if they were curious. Many people came and expressed their interest in and appreciation for my sweet little home.

In terms of the music, I think my favourite act of the day was Lucas Reeves and the Lunar Skyline. Lucas has a simply phenomenal voice and his three-piece band brought a very danceable up-tick to the day's tempo. But 15-year-old Liam Potter also blew us all away and surprise substitutes Sahara Jane and Dant Lee (who filled in for all but two of the songs of flu-stricken Erika Kulnys' set) were an unexpected treat. Everyone was brilliant – those are just my personal highlights.

The potluck supper was a smash success again this year: Spatchcocked BBQ chicken, beans, salads, chili and much more (om nom nom).

The music didn't stop with the end of the scheduled musicians. The party moved to the bonfire and the music opened up to musicians and audience members alike. Some late-comers arrived with guitars and smiles and hugs. The party went late (I must admit I staggered off to bed long before it was over, but I could still hear the music from my home until I fell asleep).

Sunday dawned sunny. I made some bacon-cheddar scones to share and our friend and neighbour Kerriann (who is our coffee guru at the West Dublin Market) made coffee and hash browns for everybody. I had nice chats with my fellow early-risers.

I was feeling wiped out on Sunday. It has been a very busy summer for me and the past couple of weeks had been emotionally exhausting as well (for reasons I won't get into here). I did a little work collecting recyclables, particularly wanting to get the glass bottles up off the ground. I did a survey of broken cups and glasses – that's one way to downsize possessions – volunteer the breakable things to be used at a folk festival! I washed several dishpans full of dishes and retrieved my silverware from the pool that had been used for the potluck.

I spent the rest of Sunday lying in my chaise lounge and napping in bed. I felt so happy and relieved to have the pressure of helping with the festival off my shoulders. The music continued with an all-day jam that went electric in the afternoon. I drove a stranded festival goer home and picked up a little more booze on the way back. That evening, Kerriann came back after work and we had a little visit in my house. We were joined by more and more folks – I think at the peak I had 8 people in my tiny home, shooting the breeze and drinking whiskey. It was so much fun! It felt like exactly the warming that my house has been needing.

The evening was soft and gentle and at the end, three dear friends and I were sitting on my deck singing a Capella gospel songs and glorying in a beautiful summer night. That was my favourite moment of Pennybrook 2014. Warm arms around me, warm hearts with me, warm voices weaving harmonies. Perfect.

It was back to work for me yesterday – I had a client meeting in Wolfville and files to wrap up for another client. We got the rented gear returned to Long and McQuade in New Minas. There is still clean-up to do, but I am officially on a semi-vacation. No more pressure, no more stress and a break from heavy responsibilities.

I'm going to enjoy this little pause. My next big task will be winterizing Wholehearted House (I had many conversations about how to do this with various festival-goers). I expect that will be my next blog post, too.

A Little Banjoy: Rising Appalachia - Remember What You Told Me

It's been a while since I posted some banjo music for you all. These folks were recommended to me by Adam Kirk, who created my Tiny Home.

Rising Appalachia are amazing – love the blend of banjo with beat boxing and hand drums. SO GOOD! Enjoy!

Days 15 and 16: KIOS Blog-A-Thon

Day 16: Favourite songs

SO, SO many!

Here are just a few:

1. "Moonshine and Mischief": I have to include my favourite of my own songs. This one was written in a funny way. The people in the song showed up to tell me the first part of their story on Christmas Day, 2007. Just out of a long relationship that had gone really sour, I was sitting home alone, and the first two verses of the song came to me like magic. Then, those verses languished in a journal for almost three years until I was flipping through and the other two verses and the chorus instantly came to me. (This is the version I recorded for my most recent album, Blackbirds, with the wonderful Tom Terrell of the Modern Grass singing the male part of the duet.) 
2. Temptation of Adam by Josh Ritter. I think this is the very best love song EVER WRITTEN. I wish I had written it myself, but I don't think I could have ever come up with the missile silo metaphor. It's something else.
3. Lantern by Josh Ritter. The sound quality on this video is not great, but it's lovely to see the audience surprise Josh and the band with glowsticks - and you can still here the best lyrics in this song: "If there's a Book of Jubilation, we'll have to write it for ourselves." (If you'd like to hear the studio version, here it is).
4. The Rear Guard by Old Man Luedecke. More great lyrics (do you sense a theme here? I like good lyrics – a lot), "The couches sure are comfy in the salon to refusés" and "My hands are on fire, I ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars." Plus, the banjoy – SWOON!
5. The Bridge by Oh Susanna. More CanCon. This is utterly compelling – six minutes of beautifully-constructed heartbreak. 

Oh, I could go on forever. But I must get to work! Have a wonderful day, all y'all.

Day 15: Who do you love?

Many, many people. I have a heart brimming with love. 

But, I don't like to put pictures of people up on the Interwebs without their say-so.

So, here is a picture of my brand new Kitteh, Salinger, who is going to come live with me when I move into my new tiny home in May.

Day 7: Kickin' It Old Skool Blog-a-Thon

As best you can, capture your day in one sentence!

My day is... euphoria, work and the promise of a brilliant bluegrass show with The Modern Grass at the end of the day – sweet!

This post is one of a series as part of the Kickin' It Old Skool Blog-a-Thon taking place through the month of December. You can join in anytime, here.

Self-Love Dance Playlist

It's been a long time since I posted on this blog. It was a very, very busy summer. And now, it is a busy fall. I'd like to post a summer sum-up at some point, but for now, I felt like posting the playlist that I've been dancing to in the mornings this week:

Up to Our Nex / Robyn Hitchcock
Kiss / Prince
Red Beans & Rice / Spearhead
Doo Wop (That Thing) / Lauryn Hill
32 Flavors / Ani DiFranco
All Together Now / The Beatles
Big Girl / Dolores Dagenais
Oh Heart / Jill Barber
Lark / Josh Ritter
The Rear Guard / Old Man Luedecke

Happy Dancing!

Pharis and Jason Romero – West Coast Canadian Banjoy

Last week I had the privilege of hearing Pharis and Jason Romero in concert at the West Dublin Hall, around the corner from my home.

Pharis and Jason live in Horsefly, BC, but they were on their way to perform in Gros Morne, Newfoundland and they stopped in to play for us because they are friends of my wonderful neighbour, Jude Pelley (a stunning musician in his own right, Jude forms the duo Pennybrook with Charlie Wilson).

Pennybrook opened the evening in fine style, playing a scant handful of songs, including a couple that Pharis wrote when she was with the band Outlaw Social. Then, Pharis and Jason took the stage for an amazing show with banjo, guitar and resonator guitar. Their voices are perfect for the bluegrass songs they sing and they harmonize seamlessly together. There is not much that I love more than hearing our old wooden hall ring with the talents of genius musicians. I was a very happy soul last Thursday night.

Here's a little sample of Pharis and Jason from YouTube:

I bought both their CDs and have been listening to them non-stop in the car. I think my favourite song is "It Just Suits Me".

Check 'em out. Oh, and they make banjos, too. My heroes.