December is a funny month. I think most touring songwriters, because we sing secular songs, take most of the month off. We return to being civilians, and become one with the sea of humanity swimming through the holiday hubbub. Some songwriters create seasonal programs and become part of the festivities. I haven’t really found the holiday music that suits me best. Shape note singing stirs me, but I haven’t yet adopted it as part of my musical experience. I become quiet during the dark of the year.

To acknowledge the holidays, I bake. Similar to colored lights on trees, candles in windows, faux icicles on the eaves of homes, I light the oven. It connects me to a feeling of service that I knew when I worked in my bakery. The week before Christmas, I’d get up an hour earlier than my usual 4:30am, snowshoe to my car under crystal starry cold Vermont skies, drive a half hour to Newport, and get the bread working. These days I bake for Sather and Susan, a potluck, or neighbors and friends. I don’t get up that early either, but the motion of kneading the dough, chopping dried fruits, melting together butter and honey, and cutting apples for a pie is my own motion of ritual.

We require these rituals in order to mirror the great pivot of the season. We acknowledge the evergreen, the tangerine, and the lights. We participate in an excess of shopping, of traffic, of food and diversion. We travel to reunite with loved ones. We become reacquainted with acts charity, generosity, selflessness, and devotion. Some of us draw inward, and become alone and quiet. Then, as if to shake us to our senses, New Years Eve happens. We awake the first January morning dazed: left with ourselves again - the pivot is complete. Overnight, we notice the days growing longer, and we return to our routine with gratitude that we have a routine to return to.

As a footnote to this year, I wish to express thanks to all of you who have participated in supporting this livelihood of mine. The purchasing of CD’s, attending concerts, word of mouth, and reading these notes are what keeps me going. I have been blessed with safe passage through many miles on land and air. I’ve met many new people and have played music in some wonderful places. I have much to be grateful for.

The most fun I’ve had by far this year was playing and singing with Sue. This wonderful woman began playing the banjo in April, and by the end of August she stood up in front of 2000 people over the course of a two festival weekend in the UK and played her heart out! We will be recording an album of traditional songs and tunes in 2004. This is a project I’ve been imagining for years. I guess it’s finally time – it’s my re-soul-union, resolution, of sorts. 

What’s yours? May all your re-solutions come true!

Alright, y’all – That’s it for 2003! See you in 2004.

Lots of Love!

Dana