Robin and Linda Williams: John and Jesse
Like most of you, hopefully, and thanks to this pandemic, we are in our fourth week of seclusion. Social distancing has been easier on Linda than it has been on Robin, but he has been a solid citizen and only ventures out when armed with latex gloves, a bandana and since we have no disinfectant wipes, a sandwich bag carrying a sponge that has been drenched in a Clorox/water solution. Until yesterday we were in fairly good spirits. But the news of John Prine's death from COVID-19 has put us in a funk we're finding hard to shake. We never met Mr. Prine, but his passing has hit us hard as if he was a close friend. In 1971, before we teamed up to become Robin and Linda Williams, at the beginning stage of, what shall we call it, our courtship?, we were together in Lafayette, IN where Robin was playing a college coffeehouse. One afternoon we ventured into a record store (does anyone remember them?) and came out of it with not only John Prine's first record but also Jesse Winchester's. We struck pay dirt. We left Lafayette for Benton Harbor, MI where Linda was teaching school and spent every free moment listening to those records. Those two records have provided countless songwriting lessons for us. We were extremely sad when Jesse Winchester died almost six years ago to this day. And now John Prine has joined him. There are two great songwriting spirits out there somewhere. Nothing left for us to do but to keep listening to them and singing their songs. As with every performer we know, we lost all our spring concerts to the pandemic but were 'hopeful that all the personal sacrifices that are being made will lead to a swift return to a healthy future. In the meantime, we're enjoying sharpening up our singing and playing and working on new and fun things. As soon as it's safe we're planning on getting together with Kevin McNoldy and finishing up a new CD that's been on hold for a while now. We'll keep you posted on that. Bumper Sticker Of The Month: Homeschooling is going well. Two students suspended for fighting and one teacher fired for drinking on the job. Let's all look forward to the day when we can go out and see some live music.
Your pals,
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