It was a perfect setting for hillbilly music. Seven musicians, one beard and thirty three strings plus another ninety on the dulcimer made for a sweet morning. Little girls knew what it was all about, and danced in the aisles. A father and his daughter spun around too, because they could.
The band performed Fox Went out on a Chilly Night, and I sang along. For the years when I was at odds with such predators the words rankled me. But our chicken keeping days are over, and I can chime in too.
The band's name is about sticking together. Which in the course of a hundred notes on the page they manage to do. This is the reward of watching closely, listening to one another, staying true to the score. It's is not about being loudest, or finishing first. Though they do take turns being featured.
One of the original songs had a chorus that caught my attention.
"Be who you am."
This was composed by a man with three graduate degrees and exhaustive knowledge of English grammar. It was an invitation to enjoy the moment, to smile at the person beside you, to dance if your legs still let you. I sat behind a couple with five grandchildren in their laps and embrace. The seven of them were being and am-ing as if joy comes in the morning.
Which today it did.
