First night of the concert season

Last night was the first performance of the 2008 Stringfolks' concert series. We performed at the DeKalb Meetinghouse Museum. This building was formerly a Methodist meetinghouse, and is perfectly designed for shape note singing, with wonderful acoustics and a square shape. It's hard to sound bad in a such a space.

I am playing flute on two dance reels and one Civil War song. I am also singing lead on three songs - quite a change for me. I think my voice is getting stronger, and that I am singing in head voice more and more.

The concert is a combination of songs covering settlement times through the current day, laid out chronologically and interspersed with historical tidbits tied to the town where the performance is. We are using several medleys to cram more material into the limit of the period of time people are willing to sit for a concert. We are a little long and need to do some pruning - a few folks left before we were finished.

I was in good voice and played the flute well, which was a great relief. My MS seems to be a little active right now, and my left hand is not playing as cleanly as I would wish, but it wasn't a problem last night.

This year's program:

"Our Town: Now and Then"

Money Musk Reel (late 1700's)
The Black Fly Song
Peg and Awl
The Frozen Logger
The Ox-Driving Song
Old Plank Road
Erie Canal
Canadian Railroad Trilogy (a great song by Gordon Lightfoot)
Abolition Medley: Amazing Grace/Freedom's Car Emancipation/John Brown's Body
Civil War Medley: When Johnny Comes Marching Home/Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier/Last Letter Home
Dream of a Miner's Child
Fireman's Dance (late 1800's)
1910 Medley: Good Old Summertime/Bicycle Built for Two/Take Me Out to the Ballgame/The Great Titanic
WW I Medley: Over There/Mademoiselle for Armentieres/ Keep the Home Fires Burning
Drunkard's Lone Child
Bert LaFountaine's Packard (a song about rum running filled with regional references)
Brother Can You Spare a Dime
Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (a WW II song)
Railroad Line (written by the Gibson Brothers, musicians from the region who have a bluegrass band)
Our Town (written by James Taylor, from the movie Cars)

This year's concert poster:

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