North American Folk Alliance (FA) in Montreal was Feb 24-27 and I made the journey to Canada which was more than worth it. Last year I went to FA in San Diego, my first one, knowing only a handful of the hundreds of national singer-songwriters that go each year. I was short on cash last year also so I slept the first two nights in my car and the last night on some outdoor furniture, an old budget travel solution i've used before. The best part of FA 2004 (last year) was jammin from 2am to 6am with the blues wizard David Jacobs-Strain and a few other very talented and humble folkies. No audience, just some incredible players trading tunes and solos and gettting lost in the music...
Yeah so what was it like going to Montreal for FA 2005, you ask... the locals spoke perfect french AND ENGLISH ALSO and they were very friendly, unlike Paris in 1993. Well I have to say that this year it was really all about making some new friends and catching up with folks I have not seen for some time. There are like a thousand or more artists and music industry people all in the same hotel area if you can imagine. For me, it all started out thursday night at a nice showcase that CD Baby sponsored and invited me to perform at. They put me in the line up just after Zoe Lewis , who jump-jived the house, and just before piano singer diva Rachel Sage. Derek Sivers, Jamie & Kristi from CD Baby were there for my set giving some good audience vibe... and my friend from the Yukon, Susie Ross, walked in also for my set.
Sometime after my set I met a cool singer in the hall from Berkeley, Rachel Garlin, warming up for her set, and she even talked to me! The next day while walking from the convention center to the hotel in the underground tunnels, I stopped for some middle eastern grub and met singer-songwriter Tom Kimmel from Nashville. Tom then introduced me to a table full of other artists including Justin Roth from Minneapolis and Stephanie Corby from Boston. Later that day I caught up with singer Joe Jencks from Seattle who I met last year at FA and also Jake Armerding who is armed and dangerous with fiddle or guitar and was jamming a late night showcase on the 12th floor of the hotel.
Friday morning at the convention hall i met a rather nice and unassuming mixer/producer named Ben Wisch who has done some really great work including the song "Walking In Memphis" by Mark Cohn. Yes we traded CD's... And then stopped by to visit again with amazing guitarist Jack Williams who I met in Alaska last year. That evening I made a point of catching a set by the always ready-for-primetime guitarist Mark Erelli, and catching up since we had not talked since I first met him back in Anchorage last year. I also met a cool troubador dude who gave up acting for folk music, Brian Joseph from you guessed it, LA. He had some great backing from Tim Burlingame and Kathrin Shorr who also hail from city of angels, and they were equally cool to meet. The last showcase I stumbled into was one by Al Rose from Chicago who I met last year and he was in fine form.
Slept in late saturday morning after staying up till 3am taking in all the late night showcases. In the afternoon I met this talented singer-songwriter Jay Mankita from I don't know where now, and that night I was invited to perform at the Fox Run Showcase where I met Rachel Davis from Boston. And I peformed a song with Tim and Kathrin, Ben Wisch on keys, and a wonderful Amy Speace from NYC on backing vocals and this really famous bass player named Freebo to top off the line up. It was a very fun and very late night to say the least...
I feel very fortunate to have met all these good people who are out there touring and writing and performing across the USA, I wish you all peace, and hope that we cross paths again soon... now I will catch up on my sleep - andy
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