Dan & Faith

Hello!

One year ago, we were starting our trek homeward after spending all of January in Florida and Georgia, soaking up the warmth. Though our original plan was to stay south until March, the weather was starting to turn, and there were starting to be news reports of this weird new virus. So we figured we should start moving north again. In the 12 months since we arrived home from that trip, we’ve not been any further south than Massachusetts, nor further west than Vermont. We do miss the road tremendously! But we’ve been grateful for good internet, and for good friends we’ve been hanging out with online.

This coming Wednesday, February 3rd, we welcome Jennifer Evans to our Midweek Song Swap. Jennifer is an accomplished fingerstyle guitarist with a rich voice. She performs the honed, socially relevant compositions of her songwriter brother, Griff Evans, as well as traditional ballads and humorous material by other artists. We’ll be streaming live on our Facebook and YouTube pages starting at 7:30pm Eastern time.

Years ago we joined a group called GoGirlsMusic.com, an all volunteer organization to promote women in music (“cuz chicks rock!”). The network of friends we developed from GoGirls has helped us a lot since then, and we were heartbroken when GoGirls shut down back in 2017. Well, GoGirls is back! A group of us have been meeting weekly for much of the last year, and Madalyn Sklar, the GG founder, is kicking off what we hope will be a recurring music series. The Invasion of the GoGirls starts on Saturday, February 6th at 2pm Eastern time with a series of interviews and songs from some of us who have stuck with it this past year. We’re happily taking part in this kickoff concert! Keep an eye on the GoGirls Facebook page and YouTube channel for more details. As soon as we have final links, we’ll post them as well.

We continue our Midweek Song Swaps with Steve Deasy on Wednesday, February 17th. Steve is a socially conscious writer in the tradition of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, but with the contemporary musicality of new folk, classic rock, pop, and jazz influences. Add some humorous Steve Goodman-style story songs and you have Steve: relevant, complex, funny and talented. Join us at 7:30pm Eastern time on Facebook and YouTube.

The Wild Hog in the Woods Coffeehouse has been bringing folk music to the people of Madison, Wisconsin since 1978. We have been lucky enough to perform there twice in the past, and have enjoyed an enthusiastic welcome from a great listening audience. Obviously, with the current Covid situation, their weekly live concerts at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center are not possible, but the Hog is offering “Phillup the Pig’s Virtual Concerts” as a fundraiser for the center. We are delighted to be their featured act on Friday, February 19th. We’ll play a set on the Wild Hog in the Woods website starting at 8:30pm Eastern time, followed by a Zoom meet-and-greet (link will be posted during the concert). The concert is free, but we encourage you to “Phillup the Pig” by donating at the link provided during the show. The proceeds will be split between us and the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center.

The Serendipity Songwriter Showcase has decided to extend its winter vacation until March. If you’re in the neighborhood of Maynard, MA, stop by the Serendipity Cafe, get yourself some tasty takeout, and tell Laura and Johnny we miss them!

If you’ve subscribed to our YouTube channel already, many thanks! If not, we’d love to have you subscribe. It lets you find our videos much more easily, and get notifications when we post new content. Just login to YouTube, head to our channel, and click “Subscribe”. If you’ve missed any of our past shows, you can watch them while you’re there.

Our albums Then and Now, Seeking, and Simple Grace are available from us on our website, 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).

February is the month of love. Give your favorite musicians a little love this month. Check out their music online, order CDs to give to your sweetie, maybe drop a couple of bucks in their online tip jar if you can.

Dan & Faith

Hello!

Happy New Year! And give yourself a pat on the back for making it through 2020, the year that lasted a whole decade. Didn’t it feel that way? Last January’s meanderings through Florida feel like a lifetime ago. We ended the year missing a lot of things — eating in restaurants, hugging our friends, playing music in front of actual physical humans. We also lost some people very dear to us. But we had a lot of good things happen, too, including the best garden we’ve had since we moved to New Hampshire. Yesterday’s dinner included the last of the fresh broccoli from our garden. We still have one or two small cabbages in the fridge. And we have enough frozen kale and fruit to last us for months. One of the other positives out of 2020 was discovering that, even though travel was curtailed, we could still spend time swapping songs with friends across the country without any of us leaving home.

Our first Midweek Song Swap of the new year is this coming Wednesday, January 13th, when we’re joined by Stephen Lee Rich from Madison, WI. We met Steve and his music partner Sandy Andina at a music conference years ago, where we all fell in love with each other’s songs. He advertises himself as a “Singer/Songwriter, Yodeler, Comedian, Harmless Crazy Person,” and we can vouch for that description. We’ll hang out, chat, and swap songs at 7:30pm Eastern on our Facebook page or YouTube channel.

One week later, on Wednesday, January 20th, we welcome the opportunity to spend some time and swap some songs with Martin Swinger from Asbury Park, NJ. Martin writes about Alzheimer’s, Autism, oysters, fish, dogs, plastic, paper boats, Betty Boop, closets, and love. He’s also just about the nicest guy we have ever met! Sadly, we won’t be able to join him in a spontaneous musical improvisation, as the internet doesn’t handle that, but we can enjoy some great conversation and share some songs. You can listen in on our Facebook page or YouTube channel at 7:30pm Eastern.

The Serendipity Songwriter Showcase will return in February.  Meanwhile, if you’re in the neighborhood of Maynard, MA, stop by the Serendipity Cafe, get yourself some tasty takeout, and tell Laura and Johnny we miss them.

As we mentioned above, we lost some dear people in 2020.  One major loss for the country was Congressman John Lewis of Georgia.  Dan’s song Walk With The Wind, a tribute to the man known as “The Conscience of the Congress”, was inspired by Rep. Lewis’ own words in a full page essay printed in the New York Times on the day of his funeral.

If you’ve subscribed to our YouTube channel already, many thanks! If not, we’d love to have you subscribe. It lets you find our videos much more easily, and get notifications when we post new content. Just login to YouTube, head to our channel, and click “Subscribe”. If you’ve missed any of our past shows, you can watch them while you’re there.

Our albums Then and Now, Seeking, and Simple Grace are available from us on our website, 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).

January has been crazy so far, and it won’t surprise us if it gets crazier still. If you need a break from the news, and need a lift for your spirit, find some music. As our friend Rolly says, music helps.

Dan & Faith