Violet and the Newsroom

Clay here! Not feeling super wordy at the moment, but I’ve got enough photos that they can do the talking for me. The weekend before last was maybe the busiest we’ve had in a while – and it came together better than we could’ve imagined!

It started with the wedding! Several months ago, we were asked to provide the music for a ceremony down at Pine Mountain Settlement School. We were thrilled, of course, said yes immediately. Then, we set out to see what else we could swing while we were in the area.

As sheer luck would have it, when we played at Old Time Influence Fest, our friend Heather (w/ The Anxious Hippy) tapped us on the shoulder after our set and asked if she could add us to the line-up at the Appa-Latch-Un Hippy Festival in Pineville… which would take place the very same Saturday, just on the other side of Harlan, under an hour’s drive away. Yes, please!

Then, to top it off, we planned our first… Well, I don’t know exactly how to explain why it felt so significant, beecause we’ve been fortunate to play many shows, and we’ve been guests at festivals, and each opportunity has been a dream, but this one felt exceptionally special because it was our… first show at a venue with a cover? That we had planned? It was cool! Anyway, this was a Friday night concert at Rebel Rebel in Berea with Lucy Becker.

The weekend started with that concert! I thought of it a bit like a hometown show for my dulcimer – a Warren May cherry hourdrop that my grandparents got for me over a decade ago. I picked it out after playing several, and Mr. May kindly replaced the tension pegs with geared tuners. He still makes dulcimers, but no longer at the shop just off of Berea College’s campus. Still, I stopped by while there was still daylight to see how much of it I could remember, and check out what was there now.

The show was great! Lucy played the first set, acccompanying herself with a solo guitar for some songs and playing the honky tonk piano for others. Lucy is such a special person – she, like us, was a student at Morehead State University’s Kentucky Center for Traditional Music. She’s an incredible fiddler, a magical vocalist, and an all-’round good friend. She’s one of those people with a magnetic presence – when you’re chatting with her, it’s like you’re the only two people in the world.

Here’s her with her band Lucy and the Love Letters.

They’ve got a single out – give it a listen!

We had fun! Lucy brought Anabel onstage for a couple songs, including Almost Feels Like Home. We brought Lucy on at the tail end of our set for a fiddle duet before closing with all four of us singing Gentle On My Mind, a song my Poppie has been asking us to do for months! (We’ll maybe even get the lyrics right next time!)

Once the show was over, we were fortunate to be welcomed to Kristal and Bertie’s house to stay the night (and not have to double back to Lexington/Frankfort). Thank you for the delicious breakfast and for letting us practice in the morning. We hope we didn’t disturb the chickens too badly!

Onward! We, somehow, managed to fit three adult human beings, one upright bass, a fiddle, a mountain dulcimer, a mandolin, and our own sound (microphones, cords, board, speakers) into my Toyota Corolla Cross.

The wedding was gorgeous and the people were lovely. Thank you to Corri and Jonathan for trusting us with your special day! It was our honor.

And (just today, as I’m writing this!) Corri sent us these lovely pictures her photographer, Meg Angel, snapped:

After that, we braved Pine Mountain and shot on down to Pineville.

We got to the Appa-Latch-Un Hippy Festival in time to catch the act before ours, which stunned us all speechless. You guys heard of Dalton Dailey? He’s a fourteen-year-old musician with the stage presence of someone who’s been at it for decades. He’s got a soulful, almost bluesy voice that fit just right with the country-rock he was serving. We were almost nervous to go on after him!

But we shouldn’t have been. The crowd was great. Heather was there, of course, and we were so happy to see her, but she wasn’t the only familiar face – we also saw Dia and Joshua, folks we had met just the previous night at Rebel Rebel. They said they’d followed us here!

We got through our set and as we announced the last song – Rock Salt and Nails – Dalton’s face lit up and he cheered… So we invited him to hop onstage with us! He killed it, and his manager got a video on Facebook. He’s got pipes!!! We 100% want to sing with him again (and we will, as we’re both in the line-up for Tunes for Toys at The Burl).

Man, that was a packed weekend! I managed to get a week of rest, but Violet and Anabel kept going – they performed w/ Champs of the Sun at West Sixth Farm. That’s basically my backyard, so I kicked back with an apple cider to watch. It was a good way to end October – and we got (perhaps?) a sneak peek of what’s to come… meteorologically

This just in from our weather desk: Fella’s almost all light brown, with just a slight ring of darker coloring near the front. Our prediction? Mild winter, with a few weeks of chill concentrated early in the season.

The venue’s great. The menu’s great. The sound’s great. A portrait of Bernie Sanders will peer at you from above the drink fridge. Also, the concert’s free! Come see us!

(And, if you’re of the churchgoing type, we’ll be playing the service music that morning at First Presbyterian Church just a few blocks away! Come on over, I’m sure my mom will let you sit in her pew, lol.)

Morehead friends – we’ll be back to see you very soon! We’re doing a show at The Hound Lounge at Roll Over with our friend Peyton Byrns on Thursday the 20th. We’d love to see you there!

OH!!! And we finally have two things people have been asking us about forever – A Facebook page and business cards! Let’s get it!

Love, Clay.