Dan & Faith

Hello!

We finally got to see our apple blossoms this year! This is the first year since we moved to NH that we’ve been home for the month of May and gotten to see our crabapple and regular apple trees in full bloom. They didn’t blossom for long, but we already see signs of little proto-apples everywhere on the trees. Our lilacs are out in force, the bobolinks are flitting around over the hay field, and our raggedy little asparagus patch has fed us for a few meals already. Now we just need it to warm up enough for us to want to be outdoors!

If you like original music, you’ll want to join us on Wednesday, June 12th at Serendipity Cafe in Maynard, MA for the Serendipity Songwriter Showcase. This month, our guest songwriters are David Lister and John Ferullo. This month’s song topic, as chosen by May’s audience, is “Ghosts on the sidewalk“. Stop in, eat tasty food, listen to lots of sweet original songs, and help us choose the song topic for July’s songwriters. Music runs 7:30-9:30pm.

In 2010, our friends Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards spent a few weeks in June hiking through Massachusetts towns to bring live music to towns that might not otherwise have it. This year they are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Massachusetts Walking Tour, their annual non-profit bipedal concert tour of Massachusetts in support of arts and culture. Mark and Raianne, along with fellow walkers Mark Kilianski and Amy Alvey (Hoot & Holler), and Vito Caccavelli, are hiking the Ten Mile River Watershed, starting in Milford and ending in Seekonk, and doing free concerts in the towns along the way. We’re celebrating our fifth year opening for them on Monday, June 17th at the Holliston Library in Holliston, MA. The show runs 6-8pm.

This year would have been Pete Seeger’s 100th birthday, and we’re off to the Burlington, VT area the weekend of Friday, June 21st through Sunday, June 23rd to help celebrate his life and music. The weekend kicks offwith Make Music in Vermont at Kingsland Bay State Park in Ferrisburgh, VT on Friday, June 21st. Grab your picnic basket, a swim suit, and your favorite acoustic instrument, and come out from noon to sunset to play on porches and the main dining hall, or join in on a song circle with a group leader. We’ll be one of the group leaders that day, along with Rick & Donna Nestler, Mel & Vinnie, Rik Palieri and many of the Hinesburg Song Farmers club singers. At 5pm, a sing-a-long circle will form to celebrate Pete’s birthday.

Saturday, June 22nd from 12:30-3pm, we’ll take part in the SongFarmers of Hinesburg gathering at the Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg, VT. The SongFarmers group is part of the WoodSongs Front Porch Association, an international network of “front porch” minded musicians, songwriters and fans who simply love simple, rural music. This organization is about EVERYBODY who loves to pick, play and sing. This is another opportunity for you to jump in and take part!

The festivities continue Saturday evening, June 22nd at 7pm at the Black Box Theater at Main Street Landing in Burlington, VT with a special presentation of the film, “Broad Old River, Pete Seeger’s Oral History of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater“, followed by Rik Palieri, Mel & Vinnie, Barry King, us, and many more as we celebrate the life of Pete Seeger through story and song.

Sunday, June 23rd we carry on the celebration at the Great Vermont Barn Dance Show, streamed live on Facebook from the Hinesburg, VT Town Hall from 1-2:30pm Eastern. Based on the old Barn Dance radio shows of the 1940s, all the performers gather around one microphone. But instead of using the radio waves as in the old days, this is live-streamed to reach a global audience. If you’re in the Hinesburg area, there is limited seating open to the community. The show will include stories, songs, and a few surprises, too! Join the Great Vermont Barn Dance Live Stream group on Facebook ahead of time so you don’t miss the show.

We close out the weekend later Sunday afternoon, June 23rd at 4pm with a live on-air broadcast of Folk Live on WBTV-LP, 99.3FM in the Burlington, VT area, or streaming live at 993wbtv.org. Tune in to hear what a bunch of folks who’ve been celebrating Pete Seeger practically non-stop all weekend sound like!

Our CDs Seeking and Simple Grace are available from us at our shows, on our website, or you can find them at CD Baby, iTunes and most other online music stores.

As always, you can find additional schedule information on our website, www.danandfaith.com. For more frequent news updates and information, check out our Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter (@danandfaith).

Not only should you seek out live local music, you should talk with the musicians after the show. Let them know what their music means to you. And while you’re at it, let the venue know, too!

Dan & Faith