I was particularly proud to have my friend Anne Hills do a Dave’s Night Out with me. She is a nationally touring folk artist, recording artist with a great history of playing with Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson, Michael Smith and her trio Voices of Winter with Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman. Her voice is pure and she has a great smile. And she lives here in Bethlehem, too.
She’s working on Michael Smith project, one of the master songwriters in the last forty years (The Dutchman, Spoon River, Dead Egyptian Blues and others covered by many touring pros. She’s been using some interesting open tunings due to some issues with her left hand, and so her songs have a certain sound that only comes from these tunings (ala Joni Mitchell). We swapped songs, having never shared the stage before, I got the feeling that she realized that I’m fairly professional myself. She backed me up with vocals on Roseville Fair and July and that was classy.
The stories flowed and the audience loved it. Many folks are big fans of Anne, and they really liked the opportunity to see her in such an informal and intimate setting. Perhaps I surprised them, too. Giants and How Legends Are Made came across nicely and my Martin was in fine form. I love this instrument!
The reflection session towards the end was nice, with many commenting on her voice. I got a nice phone call from Anne this morning, thanking me for the evening and tipping her hat on my song choices. That was cool, coming from her.
Last DNO of this season and we’ll start a new one in September.