Robin and Linda Williams: September's newsDear Friends, It's rainy today as the remains of Tropical Storm Lee moves up the east coast and it feels as if Fall is in the air. The school buses are running up and down the roads now, the black walnuts are starting to fall in the back yard and the nights have cooled off. Though I know we'll have more sunny, warm days, one can't help but feel that summer is on the wane. And it ended in fine style for us as we, along with our friends Mary Chapin Carpenter and Mary Beth Aungier, went to Livingston, MT for a few days of rest and relaxation. We haven't had such a nice vacation in years. We visited with old friends and made some new ones and played music every night. We hooked up with a distant cousin of Robin's, Parks Reese, who is a wonderful and wacky western artist that you folks should know about (www.parksreese.com). We rafted down the Yellowstone River and went to museums in Bozeman. It was a memorable trip and the perfect way to get our minds off of canceled gigs and hurricanes. MCC even came up with a parody of our song "Lonesome" called "Bozeman" that made us laugh. Now we're thinking about the 9th annual Fortune Williams Music Festival (www.fortunewilliamsmusicfestival.org). The closer it gets, the more the excitement level rises. Larry Smith, the director, has all the nuts and bolts taken care of and we're just waiting for September 23 & 24 and for the music to begin. The festival starts on Friday with our co-host Jimmy Fortune and us doing a special performance at our local hospital, Augusta Health Center. Then it's the Friday night Songwriter Show with this year's guest songwriters Dean Dillon (www.deandillon.com) and Gail Davies {www.gaildavies.com). This is the show that really distinguishes our festival from others as top notch songwriters sit in the round and, with humor and candor, straightforwardly talk about and sing their songs. Saturday's show starts with Bruce Molsky (www.brucemolsky.com), the "Rembrandt of Appalachian fiddle." Bruce's profound effect on the world of Old Time music is impossible to measure and once you see him in performance you'll know why he is so highly revered by musicians and audiences the world over. Laurie Lewis (www.laurielewis.com), the award winning vocalist and fiddler, will also be on the Saturday show with her band, The Right Hands. We all dream of being Grammy-nominated but Laurie has WON a Grammy. As well she's twice been voted the International Bluegrass Music Association's Female Vocalist Of The Year. We are so fortunate to have her at our festival. And closing the show will be Suzy Boguss. We've been following Suzy since the early days when she was traveling by herself playing folk music venues and we still have a signed copy of her first record from the early '80s where she says she'd like to open some shows for us. Needless to say, the days of her opening up for us are long past and in the interim she has sold millions of records and recorded many hits. She has one of the purest voices in Country Music and is always expanding her musical horizons. Her latest CD, "American Folk Songbag" is a joy to listen to. She joins a host of other iconic figures in American music who have graced our stage and we are honored to have her here. The good folks at Huss and Dalton Guitar Company (www.hussanddalton.com) have donated one of their guitars to be raffled off Saturday night before Suzy's set. It's a beautiful instrument, a Model DM with mahogany sides and back with an Italian spruce top. They are such good friends of the festival and we appreciate them more than they know. For information about the raffle contact Nancy Sorrells at 540.292.4170 (or lotswife@comcast.net) or Larry Smith at 540.885.8180. It'll be another outstanding festival. As usual we and Jimmy Fortune will play both days. We're looking forward to being with Jimmy and his wife, Nina. They are wonderful people and, as Mary Chapin once said about Jimmy's singing, "he always gets the best microphone." And as usual the festival will be held at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA, an incredible venue for a festival. There are some tickets left so get them while the getting's good. They can be ordered by calling the museum at the number listed below. We'll look forward to seeing as many of you there as can make it. Lastly, and we hope we're not taking too much of your time here, we'd like to mention again our cruise to Alaska next July. Lynette Miller at Traveling Troubadour (http://www.travelingtroubadour.com) has set up a wonderful week of music and travel. We're thinking the more of you the merrier. Bumper Sticker Of The Month: I want my ashes scattered over WalMart. That way my children will visit me twice a week. We hope this finds you all doing well. We appreciate your interest in us and our music. Your pals, Robin and Linda
Williams Robin and Linda's web site: www.robinandlinda.com |