“I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to sit between these two fine performers, on this stage tonight.” I really seemed to nail it on this one during the second set tonight at Godfreys. Sometimes I can distill a moment for an audience and the performers. I was somewhat shocked by the brevity, the terseness of the statement. I felt I could add no more. The audience responded, as well.

It was a particularly good night with Sam and Dina and myself, in many, many ways. I introduced Dina and she did two strong songs. As I found out in the course of the set, she was battling some harsh physical issues with her fingering and guitar work, but I was taken by her transference to her vocals. They jumped. It was amazing, yet emotionally tough to watch. I knew what was happening.

Sam followed with two new songs that showed his willingness to take chances in a fairly demanding situation. I could see him working it out in the process, and he pulled it off.

I followed with Don’t Call Me Early, an obvious choice for NYE, and folks sang along. I brought out my GD Martin, told the Utah Phillips / Eleanor Roosevelt story and played Prodigal Son on it with power. Nice to have such fine tools. I did Rodeo Rider on my M38. , my old Steppin’ Out! ax. It’s harder to play but it makes me play it hard as well. It is a cannon. I finished off the first set with Santa Assassin, and the audience picked up on it right away and is was a good way to finish off the set. Sam’s long and wonderful songs, Dina’s strong voice. It was good entertainment.

After the break, we decided to do a round robin of one song each to speed up the process a little and make for a shorter last set. I got to do Lessons from Pete towards the end. Dina and Sam had worked up Ooh We Ride Me High, the Dylan song and Sam’s vocals really rang true. Sam played banjo, Dina twelve-string and I played mandolin and we got the audience to sing along as well. A good ending song.

We were called back for an encore so I brought out Here Comes the Sun, mentioning my chat with Pete Kennedy a couple of weeks ago about the Beatles being the ‘folk music’ for a lot of people our age. We all know the words, the harmonies and the spirit they were written in.

All in all, I came away energized by the show, the audience, our performances and the fact that it was truly a Homegrown Evening of Godfrey’s music.