Family Time

Fest, 2019.

I’m lucky to come from a musical family - my father taught me to play guitar when I was just eight or nine years old. Some of my first live performances were accompanying my uncles Tommy and Billy Breslin at small bars in Southern Maryland.

In my twenties I stayed with my uncle Roger & aunt Anne Marie, who threw themselves into multiple instruments with aplomb - guitar, piano, accordion, mandolin. When Scott Crichton joined our family, he brought a deep well of western folk that opened my eyes to a haunting style of storytelling.

At family gatherings I’d always bring a guitar. If I was lucky, someone else would bring one, too. We wouldn’t always play music, but when we did it quickly became the reason to keep the party going.

We’re not gathering this year, but I’ll still be picking up my guitar to play some family favorites. They skew toward classic rock & folk - City of New Orleans, Amie, etc. And I’ll be thinking of times in my aunt Joanne’s yard riffing on blues licks, or at the Glasseys’ Fest celebration, playing in the basement. And I’ll be looking forward to next year, when we can do this again.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Keep whatever traditions you can, and stay safe!