On to the main event…. Dina Hall, Sam Steffen and I gathered on stage for a round robin of songs in front of a full house. Dina started off with two songs, followed by two humorous tunes from Sam. I did a song and passed it along. It was a good set and we adjourned at 9 pm so some folks could catch some fire works somewhere. That filtered out most of the families so we got down to business with the more serious repertoires. Dina and Sam did some fine songs that made me comment that they were bringing me down. Early on, one gent asked Dina to ask me ‘what is folk music?’ I responded with a community-based definition, and then decided to do Lessons from Pete, which really was the best thing I could provide at the time.
Over the round robin session, I came up with Pay Bo Diddley, Don’t Call Me Early, Voodoo Chile on mandolin, Hey Now. As we headed for home I thought to wrap it up with John Gorka’s Legends are Made that I did well. It got extended applause to my surprise. We finished up with Here Comes the Sun, and it was the appropriate ending to the evening.
Dina, Sam and I all agreed that it was quite a good show, a great audience and fine diversity of styles, performances, all in the inimitable Godfrey’s form. As we broke down the sound and equipment, we exchanged our thoughts and satisfaction with the whole evening. The mutual respect and, yes, love was quite palpable.
It was a great way to finish out the year for all of us. It was a great audience and the response was wonderful. Celebrating good friends in a unique folk club.