Wow…they say that any press is good press…but Paige Richmond of the Seattle Weekly definitely “gets it” as far as what I think (and hope) I’m up to artistically…which is about as good as it gets for a songwriter/performer !!  Thanks, Paige & Seattle Weekly !!

Paige’s write-up about last Wednesday’s show at Conor Byrne Pub put me in mind about how Woody Guthrie has such strong ties to the only 2 states I’ve lived in so far ~ Oklahoma and Washington.  Both states like to claim Woody as a Native Son…Oklahoma because he started out from there like many of us Okies looking for a way to make a better living…Washington because he found work here just like I did when I struck out on my own in the mid-70’s.  Oklahoma has always been a Boom & Bust situation of good times and bad times…the Breadbasket of America gets blown away in freak high winds and becomes the Dust Bowl…the Oil Boom goes bad and huge banks fail from Penn Square Bank in Oklahoma City to Seafirst Bank in Seattle…crazy set of connections going on ;-)  I love both states…and everything in between.

Published on July 14, 2009 at 8:30pm

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-07-15/music/the-short-list-this-week-s-recommended-shows/

Any true Washingtonian knows that folksinger Woody Guthrie is an indelible part of state history. Nearly 70 years ago, Guthrie was recruited by the Department of the Interior to write songs about the Columbia River and promote the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, a massive Depression-era project in eastern Washington. The most lasting result was "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On," now the state's official folk song. Any Woody Guthrie tribute night in Seattle, then, has to include an official cover of this song, which proudly describes the scenic nature of eastern Washington and boasts of the progress the new dam will provide state residents. The most likely Seattle singer to take on that challenge is Nancy K. Dillon. She's a little more country and a little more rock-and-roll than Guthrie, but she sings about the same subjects. She tries to find a sense of place in her songs, as in "Crossing 66," which compares the expanse of a great highway to the rambling nature of a river. Dillon is connected to her subject matter, the same way Guthrie felt the waves of the Columbia with every note.  PAIGE RICHMOND

Conor Byrne, 5140 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-3640. 9 p.m.

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