Springtime! It's here!

Dear Friends,
We've had a week of rain and things are green and lush and the grass is growing like it's on steroids. The forsythia bushes were brilliant and waiting for the real radiance of the redbud when two nights of heavy frost hit and nipped back everything. Yep, springtime in the Valley of Virginia! But the jonquils came in soon afterwards, the iris are taking off now and the nice thing is we've been here to enjoy it all.

There have been a lot of doings around the place. Last week we removed a couple of black walnut trees you've heard us complain about over the years. Walnut wood is some of the prettiest wood there is and we all love the fruit but the trees are incredibly messy and, after almost 40 years of having them drop on our heads (they hurt, by the way) and having to clean up the yard and deck almost daily in the fall, we made a decision: they had to go. We had a team of chain saw professionals come by and couldn't believe the job got done in one day. And now we have a lot of firewood as well as a great view on a hillside of currently blooming dogwood.

Also we've been moving our office out of a house in Staunton, VA. We've been in that place for fourteen years and have taken to using it as a storage facility as well as an office. What we didn't want to deal with in Middlebrook we took it to the office. Well, the chickens really came home to roost when we got into the project. So we have been making four or five trips each week to either the Salvation Army or to the landfill and becoming fast friends with Craigslist selling furniture, sound gear and a few instruments. It's been quite and endeavor, one that we're glad is coming to an end.

It was a sad day last month when we found out Merle Haggard died. Robin remembers when he won a "record player" for his dorm room in a poker game his senior year of college (a typical preacher's kid) and the first record he bought was Merle's "Same Train, Different Time." We have listened to that CD and a great Merle CD box set nonstop for the last couple of weeks. He was an amazing singer, songwriter and musician, his life story was almost unbelievable and we've learned a lot about our craft by listening to him. We miss him and are glad we have a Merle song in our recorded catalogue. We have time to brush up on "Mama's Hungry Eyes" before our next gig.

Bumper Sticker Of The Month: Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

We're pleased to see that "Hamilton" is a big hit on Broadway. After having helped develop a historically based musical, "Stonewall Country," it's good to see another one being so well received. What Broadway needs now is a hit about a Civil War general!

Hope this finds your well and busy and we look forward to seeing you at one of the stops along the way.

Your pals,
Robin and Linda

BOOKINGS: Trish Galfano, Myriad Artists,
trish@myriadartists.com, 919.967.8655