Howdy, dear humans!
Greetings from the tail end of 2020 here in East Nashville. It’s dark and rainy today, and it feels like the last day of the year snuck up on me just like most days have been sneaking up on me lately. (Time has become so very elastic…)
I won’t bore you with a full recap of My Year in The Weirdness. But I find myself taking stock and realizing that for all my dogged work at staying in the moment and keeping my focus on gratitude and goodness, it has been a very rough ride. Just want to acknowledge that.
But, hey: I’m here to write this and you’re here to read this, so we’ve got a lot to celebrate!
In this moment of reflecting on the year-that-wasn’t, I’m extra grateful that Joachim Cooder’s album managed to find its way out into the world and is being so warmly received. That project was created with a lot of love and joy, and it’s a balm for my heart to know it’s out there oozing good vibes into people’s ears and lives.
And I’m also thankful for the many little gifts of being “locked down” — cooking, digging into yard work and other nesting activities, and finding outsized delight in small victories and brief moments of connection. Speaking of: home-bound-ness also inspired a hunt for nourishing ways to interact with the untamable beast we call “the internet”. A few examples:
Teaching online fiddle workshops (the next one will be Sunday, January 24)
Posting lots of tiny little fiddle videos on Instagram
Interviewing my dad via Zoom and sharing tidbits on Instagram and YouTube
Spontaneously sharing a tune inspired by that surreal Warnock/Loeffler debate
There’s no way of knowing what’s up ahead in the coming year. Kieran Kane & I are hoping to find our way back toward writing and recording after a fallow season. Real-life performance is still a far-off notion, but of course our duo is keeping fingers crossed on that front, and I know Joachim is also hatching plans. You can trust I’ll be shouting from the rooftops when in-person shows are on the calendar again! In the meantime, there’s always the chance of online wackiness…
You may be wondering about the new name of my newsletter…
We were recently gifted a copy of Kevin Donleavy’s amazing book, “Strings of Life”, and I’ve been getting absurd amounts of enjoyment from it. It’s basically a whole pile of oral history from old-time musicians in NC and VA. The language is glorious! So: A Squealemite is a person from the community of Squealem, a name derived from the locals’ reputation as informants. Now you know. (Go get the book.)
A few last items:
This is a new newsletter platform for me, so please let me know if it’s working okay on your end!
Here’s an idea for a belated holiday gift for your fiddlegeek loved one
Interested in private fiddle lessons? Check out my FAQ here.
Thanks again for reading!
Sending you all warm wishes for a safe & peaceful New Year —
xo rayna
Just found your music - nice gift for the new year - Thanks! Hope it will be a great one for you!!
Thanks for all your newsletter, and music ( on video...not seen you live) ....hope you could make it to the UK sometime if sone normality ever returns. Could just see you playing down amongst the trees at Cherry Hinton hall during the Cambridge Folk Festival, where many have played.