(Here is one from the photo archives!)
Back in March of 2017, Lynn Westerhout hosted a house concert and a day of workshops at BEDLAM (her home in NW Toronto.)
This was our first time to meet in person but what fun connection we had.
 |
| Tam Kearney Dulcimer that was loaned to me. |
 |
| With host, Lynn Westerhout |
Her partner, now deceased, was Tam Kearney, maker of mountain dulcimers, and I was able to play two of them in the concert! Tam was also co-founder of Toronto’s Fiddler’s Green (folk music group that was inspirational for the local folk scene in the 1970s and 1980s.
I also borrowed Kathy Reid Naiman‘s hammered dulcimer and my son, Zach’s, guitar.
 |
| House Concert Set up |
Kathy and I have connected through the Children’s Music Network(CMN) and she had attended one of my Music Together Classes after we both participated in the annual CMN gathering in Los Gatos, CA in October of 2016.
Lynn and I connected through our mutual friend, Ken Whiteley, who produced my a piece of it all recording in 2007 and with whom I did a studio concert at his Roxton Road Studio on this tour.
 |
| Happy Crowd! |
The crowd came from Toronto, from Guelph and other parts of Ontario. I love the personal interactions that result in such close-up-and-personal settings.
I also love how these kinds of musical sharings expose young people to different genres and historical eras of folk music and inspire them to play what and how they play.
(My conversation with the youth in the audience on this school night revealed this result again.)
And, of course, the fellowship of this one-time gathering of this community is cemented by food! Tasty, healthy warming the heart, body and soul!
 |
| The other benefit: Great eats and drinks to facilitate community! |
In Ken’s rear studio on Sunday afternoon, we had a standing room only crowd and Ken and I traded songs back and forth, and we played on each other’s tunes, including a rocking piano and Hammond B4 duet with the audience singing in full-throated harmony!
The roof may not have lifted but the spirits of all in attendance were soaring!
 |
| Ken Whiteley |