Simple Music for Complicated Times via my 🎶 Musical Posse
Music pushes back the complexity monster 🎶 🪕🪗🎻
Originally posted January 2, 2024 but more relevant than ever…
There is a LOT of work to do to sustain democracy (2024 will see 40 consequential elections, not just in the USA) and build the kind of community connectivity that identifies and reduces hot spots of vulnerability and maximizes access to information and assets (like those offered under Inflation Reduction Act).
But this is a moment not just for reflection and resolutions. It’s also for celebration.
That’s why I convened some great longtime musical friends on New Year’s Day for a special Sustain What episode. Watch and please share the show on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and X/Twitter at @revkin ).
My past Hudson River Valley compadres - David Ross, David Bernz, Karen Brooks, Joe Kaminsky, Patrick Jones, Laurie Siegel, Donna and Rick Nestler and Reggie Harris - were joined by the talented young glaciologist Karen Alley of the University of Manitoba, who happens also to be a past national champion hammered dulcimer player.
A book of “Seegerisms”
David Bernz talked about Chopping Wood – Thoughts and Stories of a Legendary American Folksinger - the book he has built with dozens of Pete Seeger stories and “Seeger-isms” David recorded in many hours they shared at gigs, at Pete’s log cabin and in the recording studio. Here’s an excerpt:
These sessions are always inspiring and fun and surprising. You can explore dozens of earlier shows here. Here is one of my favorite moments, when Karen Alley, lamenting the lack of snow in Winnipeg, played her composition “Snow in the Mountains” (I follow here with Tow Rope Girls played on my Irish bouzouki, built in Belfast, Maine, by the wonderful luthier Nick Apollonio):
From previous shows, here’s the incredible luthier/sculptor and musician Fred Carlson playing one of his papier-mâché banjos!
Here’s a snippet from American Lullaby by my old musical friend Dean Friedman, in which he sings “We did real damaage to Earth’s thermostat; sorry about that.”
And just in case you missed it a few days ago, here’s my post of my tune “A Prayer and a Toast” - a life strategy for complicated times:
