It's a strange and miraculous thing to me that a week ago today I drove from Nashville, Tennessee up to Decatur, Illinois where I saw a movie then slept in the parking lot of a Comfort Inn. The week before that I was in Omaha, Nebraska sitting with Tom May taping his nationally syndicated show River City Folk (which, b.t.w. will be broadcast the week of July 21-28 on NPR stations all over the country). The week before that my tour began with a drive from my home in Ashfield, MA to some truck stop just north of Harrisburg, PA. But at this moment I'm showered and fed, well slept, and at my own desk.

I've got a week to recover before taking two and a half day to drive to Texas for the Kerrville Folk Festival. I'm all psyched too because UPS came to visit me today with 21 boxes of CD's! Yes, "The Trade" is here!!

The concept for The Trade came from listening to Utah Phillips speak at the North East Regional Folk Alliance conference in November 1997 in Lake Harmony, PA. Utah spoke of what we as performing songwriters do as our trade. It's no different than the work of a doctor, a plumber, or a computer scientist. The performing songwriter travels from town to town, contracting their craft for a night of music, aspiring to make a decent living. Utah spoke eloquently and forcefully, and I could tell many were profoundly moved by what he said and how he said it. Thereafter, I began to think in those terms. I realized that more, in fact, is traded than a night of song for the price of admission (or the price of a CD) It's the community we create. It's our education, and oral tradition we maintain; so important now in this burgeoning digital age. The heartfelt exchange between artist and audience is what I like to call The Trade.

Some snapshots of the recent tour:

Thursday, April 27 took a detour off I-81 to find the Rockville Bridge in Marysville, PA on the Susquehanna River. The Rockville Bridge is the longest stone masonry bridge in the world. Long and low, it's 48 graceful stone arches rise out the water, such a pleasure to look at....

Saturday April 29 spent the day with my son, Sather, in Chapel Hill, NC after having not seen him for six weeks. We went to get his haircut, took a trip to the hardware store (to buy a length of rope to tie my spare tire to the roof of the van), and went miniature golfing and food shopping....

Monday, May 1st drove 900 miles through six states (TN,KY,IL,MO,IA,NE) during which I got my first listen to a song from Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer's new CD while driving through Nashville, listened to a crazy radio preacher in Illinois, made it alive through St. Louis construction traffic and most memorable was the sunset in northwest Missouri that evening that must have lasted an entire hour.....

May 6-8, after a gig in Carbondale, IL I hightailed it overnight to Nashville to sing at a Unitarian Church service the next morning at 9am. Did a house concert that night at Steve Key's house and a tour of Nashville bars for songwriter rounds the following evening. Yes, that's right, church on Sunday and the dive bars on Monday.

May 10-13 a scoot up to Chicago and Wisconsin. Played the lovely Cedarburg Cultural Center on Saturday night opening up for James Lee Stanley. That was good fun. A place I'd certainly like to return to.

That'll do it for now. Go ahead and click on over to the recordings page to find out more about the new CD. It's very easy to mail order. Soon you'll also be able to order through songs.com, cdfreedom.com, amazon.com as well as robinsongs.com. Take your pick! Please click onto the guestbook page and drop me a line. Feel free to just say hello.

See you soon in your own town,
Dana