May Greetings Everyone!
Spring—I want it to last on and on! But maybe what's fleeting is all the more sweet. And speaking of sweet, I've been traveling—shows with old friend Michael Lille in Asheville and Nashville last week—and I loved moving in and out of spring as I wound my way up and down those rolling hills.
Wherever you all are, I pray you're enjoying this season of change.
Now the news-in-brief...
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CONTENTS of This Newsletter
1. Just booked! I’ll be performing and teaching at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas beginning NEXT WEEKEND.
2. Ke Francis' handmade book of prints (based on a song of mine) now on display at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
3. Crete retreat reluctantly postposed.
4. Ireland tours full steam ahead: 2022 tour sold out & 2023 taking shape.
5. TK Poem of the Month: First Light
6. Wisdom for our time from Barbara Tuchman.
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1. Off to Kerrville Folk Festival and Song School
Next week I'll be off to Kerrville, Texas, to perform and teach at the annual KFF Song School.
I'm a late addition to the concerts line-up and song school faculty, and I couldn’t be happier about going. It’s one of my favorite places in the WORLD.
My performance:
Sunday, May 29, 2022 7:30pm (CDT)
Kerrville Folk Festival (TK solo set)
Quiet Valley Ranch
3876 Medina Hwy.
Kerrville, TX 78028
—for tickets & info: click HERE
Song School:
Monday through Thursday May 29th - June 2nd
Song School
Kerrville Folk Festival (Instructor at Song School)
Quiet Valley Ranch
3876 Medina Hwy.
Kerrville, TX 78028
—for topics I’ll be presenting and much more, click HERE
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2. For the first time… my work in a museum!
Ke Francis is an extraordinary artist. He's a printmaker, painter, storyteller, teacher, bookmaker and more… and I’m in awe of his talent and artistic production.
The galley proof of a handmade book Ke’s created based on my song “The Last Time I Saw Cain” is on display from now until July 3 at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art—part an exhibit of Ke’s exquisite series of limited edition handmade books.
I wrote “The Last Time I Saw Cain” with Michael Lille a few years back, and this book with Ke is my first collaboration of this kind. (I’ll soon be making available a handful of these collector’s editions.)
More more on the exhibit, click HERE.
For more on Ke Francis, click HERE.
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3. Crete songwriting retreat postponed
It was with great regret that I've postponed my participation in a songwriting retreat with Swedish artist Eva Hillered at her beautiful Lendas East Hill retreat center on Crete. (It had been scheduled for this coming July.)
I pray that next year this crazy world will settle itself down and I’ll again be able to teach and write alongside Eva in Lendas.
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4. Ireland ’22 and ’23
I’m excited to be hosting another family-friends-and-fans tour in Ireland in late July for Inishfree Tours. This 2022 tour is now sold out, but my 2023 tour to Counties Dublin, Waterford and Clare is booking now.
For more info at my website, click HERE.
To learn more about Inishfree Tours and all the artists who host them, click HERE.
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5. Poem of the Month
First Light
Light filtered through the blinds
is my alarm clock these days
—no more night owl living for me.
A circle has closed and I’m up
before dawn as I was long ago
when chickens rousted me
from a sleeping mat
on the floor of a porch
on a ruined farm
that would soon give way
to subdivisions and commuter lanes.
Now I rise to the softest city light
and savor the stillness
of a century old apartment
—and birdsong in the cool air
from a rickety deck
before the day takes shape
and the purr of Poplar Avenue
becomes a roar.
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6. Wisdom for our time
"War is the unfolding of miscalculations."
—Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989), author, historian
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Till next time, Maximum Peace, Love and Understanding,
TK