Dan & Faith

Hello!

This past month of shows near home was a delight! Much as we love traveling, it’s still a treat to have a show within an hour or two’s drive of home. This month we’re mostly sticking around home again for personal stuff — annual checkups, dental visits, etc. We’re also doing a bit of upkeep on our camper van. Nothing major, just a few things that need tweaking. That goes for both the van and us! And while we’re home, our music is still finding its way around in the world. The track My Name Is George from our recent album, Who We Are, is especially getting a lot of notice!

Rebecca Cullen, the founder and editor of Stereo Stickman, an online music magazine out of the United Kingdom offering the latest in underground music news, writes, “Reflecting on the nature of transition and wishing to be known as someone new, My Name Is George takes the traditional folk format of intimate, unedited musicianship, and a catchy, uncomplex melody, and proceeds to weave in a deeply honest and vulnerable take on the feelings experienced by a young trans boy.” Read her review here!

“Sometimes the quietest songs carry the loudest messages.” Thus begins a review of My Name Is George, along with a good mention of our Who We Are album as a whole, from The Industry Times. Since their founding, The Industry Times has established itself as the premier destination for discerning readers seeking thoughtful coverage across entertainment, business, technology, and culture. You can read what they have to say about us, the album, and the song here.

We’re even getting some good press on the other side of the planet! Broken 8 Records, an independent music platform and marketing group in Sydney, Australia, published an extensive interview with us. Check it out here!

Wiley Koepp at Coyote Music in Austin, TX has been promoting the careers of talented musicians all over the world for the past 25 years. He recently published a very thorough press release about My Name Is George, and a bit about us as well. That alone would have been pretty cool. But then he also published a review that put the song “in the tradition of Baez, Guthrie, Dylan.” OK, that’s excellent company right there! And beyond that, he clearly showed that he understood the song as a call for love and acceptance of transgender youth, and included links to the crisis support pages of PFlag and The Trevor Project at the end. We were wiping away tears by the time we finished reading it. Wow! Thank you, Wiley, for this amazing review.

Do you have any music venues in your area where you think we would be a good fit? Send us their names! Or if you’d like our music in a more intimate setting, consider hosting a house concert for us in your own home. We can talk you through how to do it if you’ve never done it before. Drop us an email if you’d be interested!

Our albums Who We Are, Then and Now, Seeking, and Simple Grace are available from us at shows and on our website, through Bandcamp, or you can find them at iTunes and most other online music stores. Our music is also available streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.

As always, you can find additional schedule information on our website. For additional content, follow us on Patreon. For more frequent news updates and information, check out our Facebook fan page.

Pete Seeger is quoted as saying, “I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.” Pete is the one who introduced the song We Shall Overcome to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yesterday we sang that song along with many other folks at our local Hands Off rally in Bellows Falls, VT. Music is powerful stuff.

Dan & Faith

Hello!

This past month has been quite a journey! We started the month at the South Florida Folk and Acoustic Music Festival, where we connected with friends, played a great main stage set, soaked up as much Florida sunshine as we could, and finished up the festival on stage with Sara Lee Guthrie (Woody’s granddaughter, Arlo’s daughter), singing harmony on City Of New Orleans and This Land Is Your Land along with all the other musicians from the festival. So cool! We then headed up to Montreal for the Folk Alliance International Conference, where we connected with friends, played several great late night showcase rooms, did our best to keep from freezing in the arctic chill, and became friends with a brilliant songwriter from Iceland. Also very cool! Some days we truly marvel at how lucky we are to be able to live our lives with these opportunities. And we’re looking forward to spending this very busy next month a wee bit closer to home!

We start the month with a brunch show at the prestigious Press Room in Portsmouth, NH this Sunday, March 2nd. The Press Room has been in business for almost 50 years, providing a place for musicians to perform and their fans to gather for “nourishment of the body, mind, and spirit.” Doors open at 11am, music starts at 12pm. Come have brunch and enjoy the music! Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 the day of the show, and can be found here. The Press Room recommends advance reservations.

Later in the week, we’re off to Boscawen, NH to feature at the High Street Coffeehouse at the Boscawen Congregational Church on Friday, March 7th. This monthly open mic series has been running for more than 6 years now. We’ll start with a feature set, then 8 open mic players will do their thing, and then we’ll close out with another short set. We’d love to see you there! We know a lot of the folks who play in the area, and can safely say you’ll be in for a treat with the open mic folks. There may even be an open mic slot or two open, if you’re inclined to play yourself (open mic slots must be reserved in advance by emailing highstreetcoffeehouse@gmail.com). Doors open at 6:15pm, music starts at 7pm. Entry is free; a hat will be passed for the feature.

Our friend Pastor Liz Magill has asked us back to play music for the church service she leads at the UCC Church On The Common in Rindge, NH. The congregation there is warm and welcoming, and Liz’s insights in her sermons are always meaningful. The service is Sunday, March 16th at 10am. All are welcome!

Every few months, we like to play Open Mic America, a national online open mic that showcases 6 to 8 performers in any musical genre. They also celebrate local open mics across the country. Tune in Sunday March 16th from 8-10pm Eastern on their YouTube channel. If you miss the show, the YouTube video will stay up for you to enjoy at a later time.

We close out this month of New England shows with a trip across the Connecticut River to Stage 33 Live in Bellows Falls, VT on Sunday, March 23rd. This intimate listening room is a favorite of ours! We’re playing a split bill with Temple Mountain, whose musical journey has taken him from Long Island to New York City, Austin, and now New Hampshire. With a background in psychology, he weaves human complexities into his songwriting, creating a captivating exploration of the human condition. This is a matinee show. Doors open at 2:30pm, music starts at 3pm. Tickets are $10 in advance here or at the door as available. Advance tickets guarantee entry. Only 40 tickets will be sold. If you don’t do online transactions, just drop an email to stage33@stage33live.com to reserve, and bring cash to the show (they can’t do credit card transactions at the venue).

When we first moved to New Hampshire, we went to a talk at the library here in town. The speaker, Dan Szczesny, told tales of his travels in Alaska with his wife that he documented in his book, Mosquito Rain. After his presentation (which was fascinating!), we struck up a conversation about his writing, his travels, our music, and music in general. From that, a friendship has blossomed. Dan interviewed us last month about music and songwriting in general, and our new album in particular, and the two-part interview was published this week! Dan has a daily Substack column called Day By Day, where he posts daily observations about the world, his ten year old daughter Uma, writing, music, and generally whatever he or Uma finds fascinating. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of the interview from his column. We’re incredibly grateful to Dan and Uma for their interest in live music, and their interest in sharing our story! We highly recommend subscribing to his Substack. It’s an oasis of beauty in a crazy world.

We’re delighted with Bill Copeland’s review of Who We Are, our most recent album. Bill has been reviewing New England musicians for more than 15 years, and publishes insightful news and information about the New England music scene. His website is worth a look!

And finally, Friday March 7th is Bandcamp Friday. We have all our in-print albums up on Bandcamp for purchase or download. On select first Fridays throughout the year, Bandcamp waives their proceeds from all purchases. In past years, they have turned over those proceeds to the musicians; last month, they donated those proceeds to MusiCares to support those musicians who were impacted by the southern California wildfires. We’re not sure which they’re doing this month, but either way, it’s appreciated! If you’d like a copy of one of our albums, either digital or physical media, Bandcamp Friday is a great day to get it!

Our albums Who We Are, Then and Now, Seeking, and Simple Grace are available from us at shows and on our website, through Bandcamp, or you can find them at iTunes and most other online music stores. Our music is also available streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.

As always, you can find additional schedule information on our website. For additional content, follow us on Patreon. For more frequent news updates and information, check out our Facebook fan page.

Music brings people together. Live local music creates community. Support live local music!

Dan & Faith