Greetings, folk fans and festival goers!!

Coyote Grace just got back from the muddy land of tents and tarps, bare feet and BO all across the looong state of New York. We being on a red-eye from San Fran with Ing's 11 year old niece, a night on a big plane, the morning on a tiny propeller plane, plopped down in Erie PA, and the mayhem begins...

Another rad year at Brushwood, a beautiful piece of land right over the western border of New York. Highlights include many a midnight ring around the big fire, a fair amount of rain and soggy tents (shoes are useless by this point), lots of flowing pants, crazy hair, and sleep deprived sun burnt happy people all reveling in their yearly unconventional church service. Lots of friends and family, time for reconnection and introspection, and time to let loose and party! We had a rockin time.

Mid-week 2, we go back to the tiny Erie airport and rent an equally tiny car and begin our journey across the state, all the way over to the Albany area. A lovely 7 hour drive. I always picture scenes from my west coast elementary school history text books - little men with pointy hats, indians and turkeys and pumpkins, "whigs and tories" darting around in the trees with muskets and little grey suits, people writing on scrolls with big feathers... Public school taught me good. We stay in a hotel Mid-York, where we were profled in the most hilarious way - The timid woman behind the counter seems like she is having a hard time giving us a non-smoking room, like she doesnt believe us... she asks me a few times if i am "sure" we want a non-smoking room (i am the man, after all). We reassure her that a non-smoking room is just fine, only to be put in a smoking room... Wanna smoke a fatty with us?! As we're loading in instruments and colorful clothing, she asks "do you have a dog?" No, we dont have a dog. I love throwing off people's stereotypes!

We get all the way to Catham, a tiny town south of Albany, and pull into the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival where we will play in the Emerging Artist Showcase. They picked 25 out of 500, not bad! This was another festival where the people have made it theirs, their once a year let loose, get dirty and stay up late surrounded by great music. We met and reconnected with many comtemporaries, namely Raina Rose, John Elliott, Driftwood Fire, Pesky J Nixon, Aiden James, Amy Speace, Trina Hamlin and many more. We were also trapped backstage for a few hours durring a deluge that took over the camp like the nothing, and we hung with Ellis Paul, Dan Navarro, Janice Ian, and other random folkstars. :) Then over to another rainy tent for an out-of-this-world performance by the kickass fiddler Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul - rocked our wet hippie hearts. Picture Ing and I dancing in the mud along with other poncho wearing music lovers. We also had backstage passes, so we were able to see the most amazing shows - Karen Savoca, Susan Werner, Pamela Means, and the amazing Girlyman! We had great chats with them, nice to meet up with fellow gender warriors. There were many midnight song circles that Ing and I trudged up in the mud for, great to share and hear songs with real song nerds (it's nice to not be the only ones!) So we had a seriously amazing time, we thought of all the little roads that have brought us to this point, and all the folks who continued and continue to come to Coyote Grace shows, even when we arent spectacular - the love and the path have been amazing. It was a moment to smile on the past and breathe in the present, future be dammed. We made it this far and we're still having fun. It's all we could ask. Thank you all for getting us here:)

We have a short week off, then we are off to Colorado to the Rocky Mountain Song School and Folks Fest, the famous place where Joe met and wooed Mellissa Ferrick. Ing will be with this time, so we'll see what we stirr up this year. Looking forward to more song swaps and beautiful camping (in the car this time. i'm not a princess, i just like living in my van. so there) and a great lineup of inspiring artists that remind me of what I do it all for. You need that sometimes. After that we are scheduled for a big ass loop of the US, starting northward towards Seattle. Keep yer eyes open, we will be coming to ya, wherever you are!

Hope all is well and the summer is filling everyone with more and more reasons to be alive.

xo,
j&i