30 A Songwriters' Festival

 From Teddy Thompson

to James McMurtry

to Richard Thompson (Teddy's dad)

and Loudon Wainwright III, the artists have been great and the weekend fun for all the old white upper-middle-class folks*, including us, in the audience:

Saturday was a cool, sunny day, perfect for the outdoor venue at Gulf Place, a quick walk across the street from the beach house.

And the night before, Friday, the first night of the festival, was fun, as we staked a claim at a table right behind the sound board (Yes, that decision did have its drawbacks, but overall it was a good one - the sound was perfect, we were close, we could order food and drink and have a place to set it, and we made friends [and shared wine] with the happy young sound guy from South Carolina.) and heard a range of singers.  Some snippets of their music:

Shannon Whitworth singing.  Onstage and taking turns performing with her were Grant-Lee Phillips and Dave Franklin (the scary-looking one on the right - he was very good.).

Aargh - my videos have stopped uploading.  I will try to come back to this later, to give you, my faithful readers, a sampling of the good music we heard.  In the meantime, I'll include some links to some of my favorites:

Richard Thompson:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5V0RkCIaXo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tx3Po07iPs

Teddy Thompson:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLGlJ4hd5-s

Curtis's knowledge of and interest in music, particularly of the singer-songwriter variety, is legendary, and the rest of us were happy to let him lead the way in choosing our musical options. He did well.

Sunday evening he and I heard Allison Moorer (wife, incidentally, of Steve Earle and sister of Shelby Lynne), again across the street (though this time in the small room of a restaurant), while Tom and Cheryl stayed back at the house watching the SF/Seattle playoff game; though I very much enjoyed hearing Moorer and the singer who shared the stage, Garrison Starr, I opted to come on home after their performance while Curtis continued on to the next venue, taking full advantage of the last night of the festival.

'Twas a great weekend.

*Tom had the darkest skin in the audience - very odd.  And it could have been a boomers' convention for all the young people who attended.  There are young people who play this kind of music, but there aren't many who listen**.  As for the whiteness, we have noted before how un-diverse is the Florida Panhandle.  How very different from the area where we've spent most of our adult lives, Southeast Texas, where ethnic diversity is the order of the day. 

**Had they been listening, though, to Garrison Starr, they may have delighted in her folkie rendition of Snoop Dog's "Gin and Juice." We did.

 http://www.americansongwriter.com/2013/11/garrison-starr-covers-snoop-doggs-gin-juice/