Robin and Linda Williams: Singing With Garrison

As we write this we are furiously working toward being on the road with Garrison Keilior for a week. We did a couple of shows with him last spring and they were fun, so now there are more on our calendar. Here we are again, three old friends getting together and celebrating 40 or so years of working together. And it all started on Garrison's radio show. We'll take a train to New York City on Monday, where we'll be at the City Winery on Oct 4th and then head up to New Hampshire and Connecticut for three more shows (see our tour calendar.)

We spent most of September at home and filled our days with work around the place, good music and good books, songwriting, friends and gatherings of one sort or another. The garden is still is doing it's duty and our labors have been repaid. We had some successes, the tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, winter squash, and okra, and some not-so-goods, the beans and peas. Our tomatoes took their time this year, but they are coming in now in spades and we're swamped with one of the best crops we've had in years. The freezer, root cellar and pantry are loaded.

We've been doing some songwriting and so, for inspiration, we've been listening to some CDs by good songwriters, Steve Earle's "So You Wanna Be An Outlaw," Randy Newman's "Dark Matter," Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams' latest self titled CD, John Lilly's "State Songs" and Scott Miller's newest, "Ladies Auxiliary." All these artists make songwriting seem so easy and we are glad they are around doing what they do.

We've both been carving out a little time each day to sit with a book in our hands. Robin just finished S.C. Gwynne's "Perfect Pass," a fascinating book on football and the development of the passing game in high school, college and the pros. We've been laying off football the last few years but this book has rekindled an interest. On Linda's recommendation, Edward Abbey's "The Monkey Wrench Gang" is next in line. Linda just returned to the library Tom Friedman's book "Thank You For Being Late" which she loved. Now she's reading a book by Johnny Cash, "Forever Words," which is a collection of his poems that his son, John Carter Cash, just released. What a powerful artistic force Johnny Cash was!

Robin spent a day in Harrisonburg, VA with 80-100 local folks letting the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality know what a bad idea the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is. We've been working against this monstrosity for several years and it was good to see the energy and dedication of these folks, many of whom are having their property taken away from them by Dominion Power through the use of Eminent Domain, and others who, because of their concerns about Climate Change, are committing their time, money and passion toward renewable energy sources. It was exhilarating to hear all the folks singing along on our song "We Don't Want Your Pipeline."

Last Saturday afternoon we sang for a special celebration at a small Presbyterian Church, Pines Chapel, in Greenville, VA. The reason for the occasion was the return of a quilt made by the Women's Sewing Circle in 1951 to raise money for the church's building fund that Robin's dad, a Presbyterian minister, spearheaded. For fifty cents people in the congregation and the community could sign a quilt square and the signatures were then embroidered. Finally all the quilt squares were put together. The quilt left the church as a gift to the next minister and was recently found in North Carolina and returned. Most of the people who attended the event were descendants of those who signed and made the quilt or, hands on, built the church. Some attendees, including Robin, had their names on the quilt. We were so pleased to be involved and everyone spontaneously joined in with us on the chorus of "Precious Memories:

Precious Memories, how they linger/How they ever flood my soul/In the stillness of the midnight/ Precious sacred scenes unfold.

Bumper Sticker Of The Month: Driver Singing: Use Caution  (thanks Mike Reeves)

Thanks to those of you who reply to our email. It's always good to hear from you. We hope we see you at one of the stops along the way. Spread the word.

Your pals, Robin and Linda

FOR BOOKINGS: Trish Galfano, trish@myriadartists.com, 919.967.8655 ROBIN AND LINDA'S WEBSITE: www.robinandlinda.com  FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/robinandlindawilliams TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Aredoubleyew_____