People that know me, I suppose you’d call them friends and family, know that I play some music every now and then.
Some music today is what I’d like to share with you (and also I guess a short story about how a library brings community together).
It just so happens that I was asked to join a group of local players in town.
It All Started at the Library
Our librarian in town, Cheryl Blanchard is a fine banjo player and banjo teacher.
The Paine Memorial Library is as much a library as it is a social gathering space for the town.
It’s not a “shhhhh! Be quiet” library, but more of a “Hey, how are you today? What are you reading? What’s new?”
For me it was the starting point to making friends and learning all about events in Willsboro.
I had first met Cheryl one afternoon while getting some of the free wifi most libraries have in large quantities.
Once she found out I played a little guitar, I was instantly invited to the weekly Library Jam Band: another group of friendly people/pickers of all skill levels that gets together and jams on bluegrass and other genres.
I’m sure it must all seem obvious, right?
The library, the gateway to playing lots of bluegrass music.
Willsboro Coffeehouse
Long story short, we had our first concert at what is called the “Willsboro Coffeehouse” which is held at the UCC Congregational Church.
They do 3 coffeehouses every year in January, February and March.
Our show was in March, so when it came time to choose a band name, I thought of “Full Sap Moon” as that is the tribal name of that full moon for the month.
Plus with the maple sugaring season going on it seemed appropo.
We assembled a list of cover songs, mostly well-known ones with a few obscure tunes thrown in for good measure.
We practiced very hard starting in January and I think many people had a great time and said it was a great success.
Here are a few tunes to enjoy!
- Donna Sonnett – guitar, vocals
- Cheryl Blanchard – banjo, dobro, vocals
- Sam Blanchard – double bass
- Dan Rivera (me) – guitar, tenor banjo, vocals
Recorded March 25th, 2017 at the UCC Congregational Church
