Fall Rambles, September 16, 2018
Today is a stormy day here in Galax, Virginia and storm Florence is giving us a deluge of rain! We hope all of you are safe and sound. Carl and I were supposed to play a festival in Norfolk, VA but it was cancelled so we are enjoying a quiet day at home. I brought in our fresh herbs before the rains and hung them to dry. They smell beautiful and aromatic. Then I made a big batch of fresh pesto and did some baking. Carl made his signature dish Tamale Pie (it’s awesome) so I guess this storm is inspiring us to cook a lot. We’ve also been catching up by organizing fall tours and putting up our schedule on www.Dittyville.comWe’ve been doing some singing/picking tunes and I finally have a chance to write you a fall update!
We love fall. It’s our favorite season but still it’s is tough to say goodbye to summer after it’s golden curtain call. We enjoyed all those music festivals, jams with friends and 8 fabulous fiddle camps! The fresh garden veggies wind-up around the same time the camps end but we might get a few more leafy greens. Still the season was so sweet and we have a lot of great memories. Hope you do too!
A couple ribbons of note from this summer of fiddle conventions and good times. Carl won 2ndplace in banjo and Erynn got 5th in fiddle at the prestigious Clifftop Festival (WV), and our pick-up band Mountain Holler (Erynn & Eddie Bond on fiddles, Carl on mandolin, Eric Hill – banjo, Bonnie Bond – bass and Dennis Hall – guitar) won 1stplace Stringband at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA. What a blast!
Looking ahead this fall Carl and I are back to teaching lessons and workshops, playing the Virginia State Fair in Doswell, a wedding, a couple of shows with the Galax Bogtrotters Stringband which will be big fun) plus doing a month long tour of England in November!! Erynn is teaching two weekend of fiddle workshops for the FOAOTMAD organization in the UK (Friends of American Old-Time Music and Dance). Plus – a big shout out to Eddie Bond from the Galax Bogtrotters and New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters who won the NEA award this year. We’re so proud of him!
2019 Summer Music Camps & Festivals are already on our minds. Here’s some we’ve just been hired for: John C Campbell Winter Dance Week (North Carolina Dec 26-31), 8thof January OT Music Weekend (Tennessee Jan 10-12), John C Campbell Fiddle Class (North Carolina Feb 3-9), Bellingham Folk Festival (Washington Jan 25-27), Old Pal Festival (Texas: Mar 21-23), Mandolin Camp North (Carl: Massachusetts Apr 12-14), Kaufman Acoustic Kamp (Tennessee June 9-15), Swannanoa Old-Time Week (North Carolina July 21-27). We’re already looking forward to these and many are already letting folks sign-up!
Fall is time when we get to learn new music, compose songs or tunes, get back to our overdue book projects, and even start thinking about some recording again! We’re dreaming of digging around our storage and digitizing some field recordings we made many years ago. Summer is always too busy for these kind of projects but the fall is full of creative possibility.
Hope you all too find time to make music and be creative this fall! If you would like a lesson to help you get inspired and move forward in your music drop us a line at info@dittyville.com Fall schedules can be busy but be sure to make some time for enjoying this beautiful season. We know once storm Flo passes we’ll be doing the same!
Best Wishes, Erynn and Carl
September 16, 2018