Links
Here are a few links to some good friends and music connections that are important to us:
- Christopher Smith is a close friend of ours and an amazing songwriter. He wrote the Song “Apple Sauce” and backs us up with mandolin on our version of it on our CD. We sing on his great CD “Sweet River Grace.” He recently released an awesome new CD called “Gravedigger’s Boy.” He’s also released two wonderful children’s CD’s. He’s a much loved kindergarden teacher as well.
- The Waybacks are one of our favorite bands. They’re some good buddies of ours and old campmates from the Strawberry music festival. They’ve got 4 really great albums.
- Stevie Coyle is one of the original Waybacks who also does solo shows and guitar workshops and makes people laugh a lot. He’s a dear friend who’s been very supportive of our music.
- Corinne West is another friend and campmate from the Strawberry Festival. She’s a wonderful singer/songwriter and has been getting great reviews for her CD “Bound For The Living.”
- Houston Jones Band is made up of some of our old Strawberry Fest friends and campmates, several of whom used to be original Waybacks. Travis Jones and Glenn Houston started the band and Peter Tucker, Chris Kee and sometimes Chojo Jacques help to make this another of our favorite bands, with 3 great albums.
- Jamie Byrd has become a dear friend since we met her one magical middle of the night, at the Strawberry Fest a few years ago. She’s an incredibly gifted songwriter. She plays guitar beautifully in all sorts of unusual tunings, and she sings like a bird! Her CD’s are wonderful.
- The Rowan Brothers have been an inspiration to us since we were teenagers growing up in Marin County where we saw them opening for the Grateful Dead at Winterland in the early 70’s. We’ve since had the opportunity to get to know Lorin Rowan a bit and look forward to opening for him at a house concert in the future. His cellist friend, Doug Harmon plays a bit on our CD. Lorin also sings and plays mandolin beautifully on Jamie Byrd’s CD “Garden Of Days.”
- We met Darryl Purpose a few years ago through our friend’s Randy Villa and Tim Konrad of Santa Rosa House Concerts. He’s a wonderful singer/songwriter with some great stories to tell. We’ve made a nice connection with him and hope to get him out to California more often.
- We also met Michael McNevin at a Santa Rosa House Concert and got to know him even better hanging around camp sharing songs and meals at the Strawberry Festival.Not only is he a great songwriter/storyteller, but he’s a world class Etch A Sketch artist! Like all the other folks we’ve listed here, he’s been a great inspiration to us. We even wrote and recorded a song named after his first reaction to it…
- Paul Kamm and Eleanore MacDonald are wonderful singer/songwriter’s who have been an inspiration to us since we first met them up in Nevada City back in the ’80’s.
- Peter Wilson is another great musician/singer/songwriter who has inspired us for years since he released an album in 1982 called “Folk Music.” He and Eleanore MacDonald recorded a song called the Endless Mile which was written by Julie Snow. We loved the way they did that song and were inspired to learn it ourselves.We eventually recorded it on our CD. We hadn’t seen Peter in years and finally reconnected with him at The Strawberry fest just a couple of years ago.
- Our friend Charlotte Gibb plays guitar and sings beautifully. She started the Lafayette Concerts and has been a great supporter of independent folk musicians and the local arts.
- Our friend Barbara Arhon writes childrens music. She started the Petaluma Folk Concerts, and has also been extremely supportive of local folk musicians.
- Eric Gavin is an old friend who we met on a beach in Greece in 1976. He’s a British singing dentist who we’ve stayed close friends with all these years! He has written and recorded some great songs, and he’s a fine dentist as well.
- We met Megan Mclaughlin (also at a Santa Rosa House Concert) several years ago. She was great. We didn’t actually get to know her until recently when we found ourselves in a song circle with her at the 2005 Kate Wolf Fest. Megan not only entertained us with her great songs but she made us laugh a lot. She’s also a kindergarten teacher with 2 great CD’s.
- Tracy Grammer and the late great Dave Carter have inspired and encouraged us since the first time we heard them several years ago at a couple of Santa Rosa House concerts. We were fortunate enough to meet them a few times before Dave left this crazy world behind. We had asked him if he’d mind if we perform and record some of his songs and he said he’d be honored. His song “Gentle Arms of Eden” was the one we put on our 1st CD. Tracy is still touring and spreading Dave’s wonderful songs around. She’s also started writing her own songs and has released 2 beautiful CD’s with Jim Henry.
- Charlie Cutten is another dear friend and fellow musician who we lost last year when he was tragically killed by a careless driver. We knew Charlie from the Strawberry festival. He’s mentioned in a line of our song “Strawberry Jam,” which sadly took on a new meaning after we lost him. His music will stay with us and you can learn more about him or buy his wonderful CD, “Basic Transportation,” at his website.
