Hello!
We spent yesterday watching snow fall. It was our first plowable snow of the year. Last night right before sunset, we cleared about 4-5” of light, fluffy snow from the driveway; this afternoon we took care of another 3-4” that wasn’t quite as fluffy but was still rather light. We have a love-hate relationship with winter. It’s absolutely beautiful out there now, and our driveway is wicked slippery. After Faith went tail-over-teakettle on an ice patch in front of the barn last night (nothing damaged but her pride, thankfully!) and Dan had trouble getting the tractor back up the hill after clearing the lower driveway, we decided that maybe we’ll wait an extra day before venturing out. But one way or another, we’ll be out before the weekend!
This Sunday, December 7th, we join our fellow songwriters and good friends Tom Maynard, Merry Trudeau, and Jason Baker for the ISSA Boston/Northeast Songwriter Showcase at the Ship Room in the Hotel Vernon, Worcester, MA. Amusingly, the Hotel Vernon appears to have two street addresses (1 Millbury Street, 16 Kelly Square), both pointing to the same building. The show is in a round-robin format, and will run 3-5pm.
We have lots of opportunities this month to share music with other musicians. On Saturday, December 13th, we’ll take part in the Music Matters Showcase, hosted by Joseph Isaacs. This is another round-robin. We’ll be swapping songs with our host Joseph, as well as Christine Navarro, Frank L, Dave Strauss, Charles Absher, Bunny Barnes (who plays great guitar instrumentals!), and possibly others. Tune in online at Joseph’s YouTube channel, or you can email Joseph (jcisaacs@gmail.com) to get the Zoom link and join us as a “live” audience! Music starts at 7:30pm Eastern Time.
One of our favorite December traditions is Nick Noble’s annual Folk Revival Holiday Show at WICN-FM in Worcester, MA! Our first visit to this show was back in 2014, and we’ve been back every year since (give or take the Covid times). This year it’s Thursday, December 18th. A whole bunch of local New England musicians will descend on the station that evening to celebrate the season. Nick’s only requirement is that at least one of the songs played by each act must be a holiday song. We’ll be bringing Dan’s song Solstice which was written back in 2014 specifically for this show, and which we’ve played for Nick every year. Tune in at 90.5FM in the Worcester, MA listening area, or listen online at WICN.org (click on Listen Live). The show is from 7-10pm; we’ll likely be on sometime in the first half, but the whole show will be a ton of fun!
There’s something magical about a good open mic. We got our musical start playing in all the various open mics around eastern Massachusetts, and we keep an eye out for others across the country when we’re touring. Open Mic America is an online showcase of musical talent from across the US and Canada, any and all musical genres, that we play from time to time. We’ll stop in this month on Sunday, December 21st starting at 8pm Eastern Time, and you can tune in via the OMA YouTube feed.
In our household, December brings more than just the holiday season. Our birthdays are two days apart at the end of the year; Dan’s is the 29th, Faith’s is the 31st. This year, as we have done for the last several years, we’ll be throwing our Online Birthday Bash on Tuesday, December 30th. Tune in to help us celebrate another trip around the sun! Current plan is to stream it to our Facebook page from 7-8pm Eastern Time. Tune in to help us celebrate another trip around the sun! We’ll play whatever we’re in the mood for, and we’ll consider requests as well.
As we mentioned above for the Folk Revival Holiday Show, Dan wrote Solstice back in 2014 for that show. In 2021, we recorded it and put it out as a single. You can listen to it here on Bandcamp. And given that this coming Friday, December 5th, is Bandcamp Friday (where Bandcamp waives their revenue share and passes it along to the artists), you might want to take a look at what else we have up on Bandcamp! Albums make great holiday gifts…
Our music is up on most of the streaming platforms and download services. While the income from these is minimal, it does provide the opportunity for folks to discover our music. And what a year we’ve had with folks discovering us! In 2025 on Spotify alone, there have been over 455,000 streams of our songs from over 270,000 listeners across 164 countries, over 21,000 hours of listening. My Name Is George was the most listened to, but many songs from our most recent album, Who We Are, were prominent in the totals, along with songs from our older albums. Folks listened, added us to their playlists, and shared our songs with friends. The streaming systems do exploit artists, but we’re happy that our music is reaching so many folks around the world.
We’re still working out our schedule for 2026. We would love to play in your area! Got a local venue you think would welcome our music? Interested in hosting a house concert, or have friends who might be willing to do so? If you’re curious about how to get started with a house concert, we can help. Drop us a note, and let’s talk!
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.
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to thank you for listening, and for supporting live local music. We wish you and yours a festive holiday season and a hopeful new year!
Dan & Faith