Hello friends -
Last time I wrote I was trying to convince myself that it was still summer. But with last week's snow and the frosty mornings lately, I'm coming round to believing it's winter. Well, technically still autumn. But it's pretty cold and dark out there, so I'm calling it winter!
I find that playing music, listening to music, gathering around a shared love of music - all these things help me through, especially during these dark times (I mean that beyond just winter!). Lucky for me, I've been keeping very busy that way since September. Lots of teaching, traveling near and far to perform with Drank The Gold, and planning and preparing for future music.
Coming up next week, my newest project, The Millstone Rounders, are playing a concert at Caffe Lena on Friday, November 28th.
The Millstone Rounders sing and play a unique blend of Americana, incorporating country, gospel, blues, trans-Atlantic fiddle breakdowns, and proto rock & roll; creating a sound that is both timelessly classic and thoroughly contemporary. They perform on acoustic instruments around a single microphone, capturing a natural sound that is both sonically compelling and visually interesting. [read more]
If you're in the Saratoga Springs area, we hope you can join us in person. There's also a high quality livestream if you want to tune in from afar.
Between rehearsing and preparing for the Rounders' show, I've been keeping busy with my private lessons studio [a really nice batch of kids - we meet weekly for lessons, plus quarterly for small group master classes and other performances] and co-teaching three Youth Folk Ensemble classes at Caffe Lena [it's not too late to join the winter term] and putting together our weekly show for preschoolers at Caffe Lena called Folk Club Kids.
Folk Club Kids is free to attend, and also gets livestreamed to Caffe Lena's Facebook and YouTube channel. Last week we had our friend Benny Bleu stop by to share a new song of his - making it an especially fun show!
And besides all the Rounders' work plus education projects - Drank The Gold are working hard too! We had a fun, enlightening, productive, and exhausting time at the North East Regional Folk Alliance conference earlier this month. Meeting fellow musicians and industry folks, attending panels and peer groups, speaking on a panel, and jamming by day; and hosting one late night program of showcases that Thursday and performing and listening to others late night Friday and Saturday. Nourished by gathering with so many friends doing great work, and inspired to pick up on so many threads and project seeds now that we are back home (maybe after one more nap!). I'll include the cards that we passed out at the end of this message even though it's old news - because I think they came out looking pretty snazzy, if I say so myself!
We have a couple shows on deck for December, including our Holiday Spectacular with Chris Carey & Tim Wechgelaer at The Cock ‘n Bull on Sunday, December 14th. Don’t sleep on reserving your spot: 518-882-6962. All of my performances are listed at oonagrady.com if you want to mark up your calendar :-)
Thanks for reading!
xo Oona
Drank The Gold's NERFA cards:
Welcome, list members new and old! I hope you enjoy my occasional messages about my musical pursuits and more... but if your inbox is bogged down, I won't be hurt if you unsubscribe: