SOUNDS OF THE MOUNTAINS

Camp Bethel is beautiful and I’m looking forward to spending next weekend in the meadows and hills of Virginia. And, I might add, after the coldest spring in New England that I can recall, in the warmth of the South. I’ve performed at SOUNDS OF THE MOUNTAINS before, but flew in with a single 12-string guitar. This time, though, I’m driving down with two guitars and my Celtic harp, what you might call the full kit of instruments I need in order to widen my choice of tales to offer. Just this morning I’ve been listing which ones the audience might most enjoy. The Elf of Springtime. The Boys and the Frogs. Finn MacCool and the Big Man. Maybe The Storm Breeder, if a scary story works. Although I love playing scores on the 12-strings, the harp really is a kind of musical starship, one that helps me deliver a story to a place no other instrument I know of can. It will be fun to have it with me.

There will be lots of schoolchildren in the audience, and adults, who know well the tradition of storytelling, and I’ll be sharing the stage with Sheila Arnold Jones, Jim May, and Kevin Kling.

So if you know anyone who’d like to hear four storytellers at the top of their games, pass on the word.