Dan & Faith

Hello!

We were out on the road for much of April and May, and right after we left, we started seeing foxes on our home cameras. Two adults and three young kits call the culvert under our driveway home. Our carpenter and his crew were in doing work on the house while we were gone, and they said they saw a lot of the foxes. We figured once we got home, they would make themselves scarce. At least one of the kits has been very shy, and we’ve rarely seen all three out and about. But one kit in particular is very curious, and very bold! He’ll pop his head up out of the culvert while we’re out walking; he watched us plant the garden this past week. And this evening, he wandered over to the patio door off our dining room and peered through the screen at us! We’re not doing anything to entice him, he’s just curious. (We say ‘he’, but we don’t actually know whether he’s a ‘he’ or a ‘she’.) We figure we share this property with the foxes, and as long as they’re not doing anything problematic, we’re happy to have them coexist with us. And they’re beautiful animals! No idea if they’re music fans, though.

This Friday, June 10th, we get to play at a new venue for us, One Broadway Collaborative in Lawrence, MA. One Broadway is a community music and arts center providing collaborative workspace and performance spaces for musicians, visual artists of all media, and performing artists in all disciplines. We’ll be playing in the round with John McDaid and Brian Zudeck. The show runs 7-9pm. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased either online or at the door.

Serendipity Cafe in Maynard, MA has been the home of our Serendipity Songwriter Showcase since 2015, when Laura & Johnny Hobson gave our showcase a home after our previous venue closed. Since Covid, we have done a few scattered showcase events online, but it hasn’t been the same, and we had been looking forward to getting back to running the shows live at the cafe again. Sadly, the cafe is closing this summer. We’re getting many of our showcase guest songwriters together at the cafe on Saturday, June 18th to thank Laura & Johnny for all their support over the years, and to wish them well in their future endeavors. Join us for an evening of music written from showcase themes chosen at the cafe! Music starts at 6pm.

One of the wonderful things about warm weather in New England is farmers markets, and one of our favorite farmers markets is the Acton-Boxboro Farmers Market in Acton, MA. We’ve been playing at ABFM for many years, and 2022 is no exception. We’re delighted to be kicking off their market season on Sunday, June 19th. Stop by, pick up a bunch of produce, some bagels, and enjoy some tunes by us! The market runs 10am-1pm. Bring the kids, too — we’ll be set up right by the playground.

Since 2010, co-founders Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards have organized an annual non-profit walking concert tour of Massachusetts towns and trails in support of arts and culture throughout the state, known as the Massachusetts Walking Tour. Every day, they hike along the planned path, carrying full packs with camping gear and musical instruments. And every evening, the walkers present a free concert in a town on the trail, with invited local musicians and poets opening for the walkers. They weren’t able to do this in 2020 or 2021 because of Covid, but they’re back this year! Mark and Raianne are joined on the trail by Vito Caccavelli and Kyle Swartzwelder, and their walk will be along the Appalachian Trail through western Massachusetts. They’re starting Friday, June 17th in Sheffield, and finishing Sunday, June 26th at the summit of Mount Greylock. Since 2015, we have joined them as an opener one night of their walk, and have done day hikes with them a few times as well. This year, we will be opening for them on Tuesday, June 21st at the Lee Library in Lee, MA. The show starts at 6pm. You can find their full schedule of hikes and concerts here, and you’re welcome to hike with them as well as attend the concerts.

We finish out our very busy month quite close to home! The Acworth Village Store Music Festival and BBQ on Saturday, June 25th is a fundraiser for the Acworth Village Store in South Acworth, NH, a great little community general store. This is always a great day of music, BBQ, and craft vendors on the banks of the Cold River in back of the store. The music runs from 11am to dusk. Bring sunscreen, bug spray, and a picnic blanket or lawn chair. We currently expect to be opening the show, but the schedule for the music has not yet been finalized. As soon as we have the final schedule, we’ll post it on our website and Facebook page.

Last month, we attended the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) conference in Black Mountain, NC. One evening after all the regular activities were done, we wandered out next to one of the fire pits in front of the retreat center, where we found Jacques Labouchere singing a song we had heard at an open mic earlier in the weekend. The song was for Ukraine, and it was incredibly moving. Someone asked to record it, and a bunch of us jumped in to add additional instruments and vocals. Sometimes magic happens at these conferences, and this was one of those magic moments! Share in the magic — here is “Song For The Madman (Slava Ukraine)” by Jacques Labouchere.

Our albums Then and Now, Seeking, and Simple Grace are available from us 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 and follow us on Twitter (@danandfaith).

Accept folks who are still wearing masks. A lot of us still wear them in stores and crowded areas.

Dan & Faith