Monday, February 26, 2007

Folk Alliance Conference

We just got home from 5 days in Memphis, TN at the North American Folk Alliance Conference. If you're not familiar with Folk Alliance, it is basically a mad house of about 2000 people, most of whom are performing singer/songwriters, competing for the attention of folk music presenters, DJ's, etc. Lara came with me, acting as my manager, she was in charge of running the booth in the exhibit hall, where she handed out CD's to prospective concert promoters, and got them to come see me showcase. I played in 8 showcases over the weekend, including 2 "Official" showcases, sponsored by Folk Alliance.
We made a lot of good contacts which should in time turn into concerts. We met people from all over the country, and quite a few in Canada as well.

In addition to the business of meeting presenters, Folk Alliance is also fun becuase I get to see a lot of my favorite musicians, and catch up with old friends. Some of the acts I got to see included Zane Williams, Jud Caswell, Johnsmith, Storyhill, Amy Speace, Charlotte Kendrick and Joe Jencks.
One of the big thrills of the trip was meeting Christine Lavin, who is one of the legends of the contemporary folk scene. She was so friendly and spent lots of time talking to Lara and I. She's going to play some tracks from $12.99 on her XM Radio show.

Also, it should be noted that the food in Memphis was fantastic. The first afternoon, we found a local legend called Rendezvous BBQ. It was tucked away in an alley in downtown Memphis. When we walked in, they said, "we're not really open right now, but we do have ribs, beans and coleslaw." I'm still not sure what they mean that they weren't open, because they certainly were serving some great ribs!
The rest of the weekend, we ate every meal at a local restaurant called Westy's. It was pretty unbelievable. I'm sure there will be some sort of spot on the DP Best of 2007 Awards for Westy's.

March is going to be a pretty busy touring month, beginning with RadioLive in Pensacola on Thursday night. Later in the month, I'll be in Atlanta, Michigan, Illinios and Wisconsin.
I hope to see y'all soon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Are you the David Potts that attended Spring Arbor College in Michigan in 1959-61. I am Shirley Moss and visiting in the area. Just curious how things are going for you. My cell phone is #903-293-9353.