Liza Constable

A week ago we were furiously packing everything for the 550 mile drive to the Springforth Ball, in Richmond VA. Not only our stuff, all the music gear, clothes, but also the kids clothes, toys for the drive, books, food, and on top of that - our taxes weren’t in the mail yet, so we brought that stuff too. Got a cartop carrier.

Two guitars, Nat’s fiddle, 2 instrument stands, our electronics bags, a box of CDs to sell, my foot board, 4 duffles, many books, 2 sleeping bags, stuffed toys, bag of knitting, two large backpacks with our laptops and tune lists, tune books, ipod…(and a partridge in a pear tree)

In our January tour we were in Richmond with Glen, Finn and the daughters, and had a sweet spell of warm weather. That surprising trip to the park with bears for Glen’s birthday. That awesome Vietnamese restaurant. Tiny sips of Herschel’s ancient bourbon after the gig.

Anyway, one hell of a long drive. I suppose we could have flown, but, now that we have a hybrid car, and are trying to be responsible for our contribution of carbon into the earth’s atmosphere…flying is one of the worst offenders.

After 8 hours, when Zoe was going crazy, we veered off Interstate 95 near the town of Havre de Grace. That’s on the Susquehanna River. We ran around in the Susquehanna River Park, exploring the brook, the hollow trees, the bits of spring green that aren’t in New Hampshire yet.

The Springforth Ball is in one of my favorite buildings, a former school house built in 1914. The dance hall is upstairs, with a fine wood floor, and classic, wide split staircases.

We had a great time. This time Rumblestrip was with Sam instead of Glen, and we had Marco Brehm on standup bass. A great driving sound, as usual. The soundman Jim worked hard to fufill our needs. The dancers worked hard to fufill theirs. Lots of smiles, sweat, twirling dresses, happy people. I don’t think I realized what a good match we were for them until I saw blues dancing on the workshop schedule. Unfortunately it was at the same time as our afternoon contra. But I did get to sing the announcement for the workshop. I think perhaps that was my highlight of the weekend.

We did a lot of couple dances, always two waltzes at the break (thanks to Gaye Fifer), and a bunch of swing tunes - just impromptu. We also had a lot of fun putting together a set for the concert on Sunday, beginning with selections from our cowboy repertoire. From Sam we heard “Blood on the Saddle”, from Nat a poem titled, “Reincarnation”, and from me the Gene Autry classic, “Back in the Saddle Again”. There were a few more serious selections, but not many. Sam and I did a vocal/jaw harp duet that pleased me. Our girls sat on the edge of the stage and sang along with everything they knew. Man, am I thankful that they love music as we do. How could we do it otherwise?

Thanks to all the folks for coming and dancing, we couldn’t do it without you. And never forget those tireless organizers and committee members. Thanks to Linda and Herschel for housing the band and being so very kind, generous and also good to our kids. Sorry we went crazy and trashed the joint.