Spring 2010

Well, what an interesting winter it was. As I write this (in a Starbucks somewhere in Virginia), spring has finally sprung, not a minute too soon, and I'm safely back on the road, where a Road Dog like me belongs. But it's been a bumpy ride over the last few months leading up to this point...

Christmas Tour 2009 was going along wonderfully and wending its way toward its usual triumphant conclusion when a record-breaking blizzard buried the entire east coast just in time for Helicon's 24th annual Winter Solstice Concert in Baltimore. Nothing daunted, we moved the show to a nearby Friends Meetinghouse (after Goucher College, home of Kraushaar Auditorium where the concert normally takes place, shut down completely) and played for an audience of brave souls who somehow got there during the worst part of the storm - by snowshoe, I guess. As soon as the show was over and while the snow was still pounding down, I defied all reason and good advice and drove 500 miles through the blizzard to Asheville, North Carolina, arriving the next day in time for two shows of the Swannanoa Solstice at the Diana Wortham Theatre. I did say Road Dog, and I wasn't kidding! People asked me how on earth I pulled off that drive and I made some glib remark about eight tiny reindeer, but the fact is, it's amazing what you can do with a bit of determination and a rented Chevy Impala. It'll take more than a little snow to keep me away from a Christmas concert - I've never missed one yet, and I don't intend to start now!

So that's my winter war story for this year. After that it was back to France for me, thereby missing the half-dozen blizzards that followed... The next thing on the schedule was Tom Paxton's annual U.K. tour in January and February, which had to be called off at the last minute due to a medical emergency in Tom's family. (The story ends happily: everybody's OK and the tour has been rescheduled for November.) Perhaps just as well, because while I was enjoying an unexpected couple of weeks at home, a mysterious swelling appeared on my right index finger, and one fine morning my beautiful wife Jodi came flying into the room and said "I've just been reading about finger infections on the internet and I think we need to go to the hospital NOW." So, long story short, I had surgery on my finger that same day, and it's thanks to Jodi and the hand specialists at the Centre Hospitalier Privé du Montgardé in Aubergenville that I get to continue being a ten-fingered musician. The finger's healed quite nicely (I'll never forget the way the doctor said "Ah, c'est bien!" the last time the bandages came off) and my hand was back to normal in time for my first spring gig, with Tom at the Barns of Wolf Trap in Virginia. But I'm here to tell you: after a scare like that, the gift of playing music is sweeter than ever.

This summer is shaping up to be its usual whirlwind, with two weeks at the always-magical Swannanoa Gathering (my FIFTEENTH straight year on the faculty there!) surrounded by various other concerts and workshops, winding up with my fifth visit to the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Along the way I'll be snatching the occasional day in the studio and starting work on the next album, which will be somewhat of a departure from what I've done before: this one will be devoted to the music of J.S. Bach. I've been a Bach devotee all my life, and it seems to me that what appeals to me about traditional Celtic and Appalachian music also speaks to me in Bach. For the last year or so I've been throwing in the occasional Bach piece in my solo concerts and the response has been overwhelmingly encouraging, so I'm very much looking forward to recording some of this amazing and transcendent music. (And to any RB trivia completists who are reading this, yes, there was a Bach chorale on Christmas Eve is Here, so I suppose this isn't coming completely out of nowhere.)

In the meantime, my furry little head is poking out here and there on a few new recordings by other folks... Tom's new live CD and DVD, Live at Huntingdon Hall, is now out in the U.K. and soon will be in America. It captures a vintage-2009 Paxton concert in its entirety - Tom's in great form throughout, the songs range from classic ("Ramblin' Boy," "The Last Thing on my Mind") to quite recent ("How Beautiful Upon the Mountain," "Central Square"), and the sold-out audience, of course, loved every minute. Tom's musical support crew for the occasion was myself and the great English bassist Danny Thompson, and it was an honor to be part of it. I'll also be making cameo appearances on the forthcoming albums by two of my Swannanoa compadres, Scottish fiddler Jamie Laval and Celtic guitarist (and duo partner when we can get it together) Steve Baughman. So the discography continues to grow while I'm working on Bach...

Finally, a number of folks have asked about the paintings on the front and back covers of Christmas Eve is Here, so let me give you a link: they're by my friend Jeff Erickson, an amazingly talented American artist who lives near me in France, and www.jefferickson.fr is a brand new website displaying his work. Enjoy - and buy, if you're so inclined! (Our house is full of his paintings and sculptures already, and I've got my eye on several of his current crop of paintings too...)

Cheers til next time, Robin

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