July 31, 2007
Dear The Best Fans in the Music Business,
Every once in awhile, I think about all of you, collectively and individually (that is—those of you whom I know by name or face) and am overwhelmed by love and gratitude. Katryna and I have been richly blessed by the best fans on Planet Earth, and we are well aware of this truth. Once you bought us a van. You have harassed CD stores and radio stations into procuring our music; you built us websites; you named pets and personal artifacts after characters in our songs. So when we were reminded of the right way to live by Erica Jong, who said, "If you don't risk anything, you risk more," we knew that we were in the right company to do so—that is to say, take risks. Last month we wrote about how we are launching our own record company. This month we're going to ACT like
a record company by trying to sell you records. Here goes:
Sister Holler is here at last! You really should buy it! Why?
Ten reasons to buy Sister Holler:
- It's a collection of original songs masquerading as old folk songs
- It's a collection of old folk songs masquerading as new folk songs
- It bridges the gap between Trad folk (AKA "Fields and Stream"—see Stan and Garnett Rogers, Cindy Kallet, etc.), singer/songwriter pop (AKA Greenwich Village/Montreal beatnik—see Dylan and all the new Dylans plus Leonard Cohen, Suzanne Vega et al), and American populist (the Guthries, the Seegers, the Old Guard). (These are the terms Dar taught us when we first were coming along in the early 90's.)
- It has banjo on it
- It has tuba on it
- It has Dar on it
- It has amazing vocals by Ben Demerath
- I think these are the best songs I ever wrote
- Katryna and Dave and I co-wrote the first track
- It has "This Train" on it, which is the first recognizable song Lila has ever sung
Sister Holler is full of twisted takes on tradition: a sea chantey, a blues, a couple of
ballads, some gospel, New Orleans flavored ragtime, and even a touch of singer/songwriter pop. It's my favorite CD we've ever made, and though I know I always say that about our new CD, that's because it's always true.
Now, being as I am one of the presidents of the record company, if I want to stop marketing, all I have to do is say so. So, I want to take a break from writing about this CD to write about last weekend at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
For those not in the know, FRFF is a yearly event, which takes place on Dodd's Farm in Hillsdale, NY, a town in the Berkshires, just 10 miles from Great Barrington. The festival goes for four days, the fourth weekend in July, and next year will be its 20th anniversary. It is more than a folk music festival. It is a happening; it is a community; it is a movable family.
Katryna and I have been performing at Falcon Ridge every year since 1993 (with the exception of 1997 when we were at the Calgary Folk Festival that same weekend.) We've gotten to watch the festival grow and blossom over time, watch festivarians turn from children to adolescents to married-with-children adults. We've lost friends—Dave Carter, Larry—and
we've watched our colleagues become parents, seen their children learn to walk and dance and sing. We've shared the stage with hundreds of amazing musicians who have taught us how to play better, write more honestly and sing from the heart and gut.
There's a huge main stage at Falcon Ridge, but I usually remember moments on the workshop stage. Workshops consist of a handful of performers doing a round robin around a theme. So for example, we did a Beatles workshop on Friday afternoon: Lucy Kaplansky lead us in "Let it Be;" The Kennedys got the whole crowd dancing to "I Want to Hold Your Hand." My favorite moment was watching Stephen Kellogg and two of his band mates throw their arms around each others' shoulders and sing an almost a cappella version of "Blackbird."
Saturday night, I watched my dear friend Dar mesmerize the audience with old and new songs, and she invited John Gorka and me to join her for harmonies to "The Christians and the Pagans" and "Iowa." She talked about hearing John Gorka on the radio, saying (about the music business), "I just feel so grateful to get to make a living making music—the rest is gravy."
"And that's how I feel," said Dar.
And that's how I feel, say I.
And then, she asked all the members of the audience to extinguish their lighters and cell phones until she gave them the word to light up again. She called for her 3 year old son Stephen to join her onstage, with his father, Michael; and as she lifted him in her arms, the field filled with the lights of thousands of cell phones and lighters and other lighty things, like fireflies on steroids. I bet Stephen remembers that one.
Yesterday, Arlo Guthrie closed the show. At one point, he said, "My dad wrote thousands of songs," (3500 still don't have music!) "and he didn't always write the music for his songs. He'd often just put down words to some song that already existed. We used to call this stealing until Pete Seeger came along and called it the Folk Process."
Thank you, Pete! That most neatly sums up Sister Holler – a big old nod to the folk process. We took as our premise that we would compose an entire album of songs inspired by some other song. Links in the chain. Hopefully, we will not get sued. So if these songs sound familiar, it's
probably because they are.
The fun is not over! We are playing the Rowayton Festival this Sunday Aug. 5 in Connecticut. On Sat. Aug. 11, we are back at our beloved Passim singing a set that promises to be chock full of Sisterly Hollers, and on Friday August 31 we're doing our annual noontime show at the Boston Children's Museum. The fall will be full of CD release dates.
Also, here's the deal: we are going to need your help. We have a gigantic army of one: Patty Romanoff, our loyal and fearless manager and friend. She could probably use your help. How? I don't know. Start by buying the CD. Also, send her tickets to WNBA games and cheap weird basketball paraphernalia. If you know of a friend who might like our music, tell them to check out our website. Bug your local CD stores, if such exists. Buy local organic food and recycle. Be kind to children and animals. Forgive the Republicans, for they know not what they do. Write poetry. Rip off our songs and re-write them as your own. And come to our shows!
We love you,
Nerissa and Katryna
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