Dan & Faith

Hello!

Springtime brings new life and new beginnings! We have been anxiously watching our fruit trees as they began budding out this year. It certainly feels like the blossoms are coming late. Most of our trees are fairly young, and it’s always a treat to see which are simply leafing out and which are producing blossoms. Faith was pretty much convinced that the peach trees were not going to blossom this year, but Dan saw the changes in the buds more clearly. As we walked the orchard on Friday afternoon, we saw the very first peach blossoms opening, and Saturday morning even more greeted the day! We were hoping we would get to see them before we hit the road, and they obliged at the last second. Many of the apple trees are coated with flower buds, and even the Asian pear trees have some buds this year! The farmer who hays our fields delivered us a truckload of (somewhat) composted cow manure which we spread around each tree to fertilize it (a rather, um, aromatic job!). The remainder of the compost got tilled into the garden patch. Once we’re back from our travels this month, it will be time to get the garden started. But first, some shows!

We’re delighted to be back at the Leo Coffeehouse in Norwood, OH on Sunday, May 11th! We have played this music series, hosted by the Queen City Balladeers, several times before. Each time we find a community of music lovers! We’re hosting the Songwriters Collaborative before the concert, starting at 5:15pm. This is open to any songwriters! Come and share a song with other songwriters for encouragement and friendly critiques. The show itself starts at 6:40pm with Queen City Balladeers who have been at the Songfarmers Annual Gathering earlier in the weekend, followed by us, and the Oxford Folk Jazz quintet will close out the evening. The show is free.

Speaking of going back to familiar places, we’ll be the open mic feature at the Parish Center for the Arts open mic in Westford, MA on Sunday, May 25th. We have long considered this open mic to be our musical home. Dan ran sound there for many years while we lived in Massachusetts. Our host John Ferullo runs an incredibly welcoming open mic, and it will be a treat to spend the evening listening to friends old and new, and sharing songs with everyone. Doors open at 6pm, music starts around 6:30, we’ll likely go on somewhere around 8pm. Do come to listen to everyone! We love open mics because you never know when you’re going to hear something amazing there. John asks for a $5 donation for the PCA, and additionally passes a hat for the feature.

In between these two shows, we’ll be at the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) conference in Owensboro, KY from Thursday, May 15th through Sunday, May 18th. We’re hosting a song circle on Saturday afternoon, are playing in several late night private showcases throughout the weekend, and are hosting a private showcase room on Saturday night as well (filling in for a friend who could not attend). If you’ll be there, give us a shout! We’d love to touch base while we’re there.

We have several more reviews of our song, My Name Is George! From the College Radio Charts: “In a musical landscape where loud statements often drown out the quiet truths, Dan and Faith’s ‘My Name Is George’ from their 2024 album Who We Are is a masterclass in gentle defiance and profound humanity.” It’s not every day a song review makes us cry — in a good way! — but these folks see the whole story we’re telling, and the emotions behind it. You can read the full review here.

LA Weekly is a 47 year old weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles that was inspired by the Boston Phoenix and the Austin Sun. Jon Stojan from LA Weekly wrote, “Trans youth are facing an uphill battle. Every day, changing legislation puts their futures at risk. Amid a world of chaos, one song is breaking through, offering hope, acceptance, and encouragement to guide the way.” Here is his complete review.

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.

To quote the review above from the College Radio Charts: “… folk music is still, at its best, the music of the people: raw, real, and rooted in the hope that understanding can follow storytelling.” Support your local folk musicians and the venues that host them!

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