“Social” media in the real world?
After driving around for nearly an hour trying to find a decent burgers-and-beer bar/tavern in Stamford, CT, we finally settled on this place:
…timing is everything.
We were in Darien, Connecticut. After running an errand, we were looking for something to do… found a link to the historic Bates-Scofield House and museum and thought that might be an interesting way to while a way some time.
Until we got there and found this:
Something rather like this happened when we were in Scotland…
Ann and I will be spending the week of Feb 19-25 in the New York City area. We’re going up primarily for the wedding of my niece, my sister’s daughter Emily.
I’m not particularly keen on the idea of going anywhere north of the Mason Dixon line this time of year…
...for mirrorless cameras
We just boarded a small jet for the flight from BNA–>LAG with very limited overhead storage. This bag had my Olympus EM1 and 5 lenses. No way a full frame camera and bag goes into a space like this. It gets gate checked. Good luck w that…
…between a craftsman/artist and your friend with a cellphone:
Sisters Sara Jean and Justyna Kelley, harmonizing with their mother Irene.
Another “Only In Nashville” moment…
I’ve gotten to know Irene Kelley a little bit through my association with The 1861 Project. She has contributed several co-writes and vocals to Volumes 1 and 2 of that series, and will be appearing on Volume 3 when it is released this spring as well.
I don’t really know Irene’s whole career story. I gather that she had a major label deal for a while, but was perhaps one of those talents for whom being shoehorned into mainstream commercial country was not exactly an ideal fit. What I do know is that she remains a highly respected songwriter and is a delightful singer, gifted with one of those voices that is so clear and refreshing you could listen to it all day.
It has been over a decade since Irene has released an album of new recordings, but it’s been worth the wait. Last week she released Pennsylvania Coal (iTunes), a loving, bluegrass-flavored reminiscence of growing up in the coal mining country of her parents and grandparents.
The production on Pennsylvania Coal was guided by Mark Fain (another stalwart from The 1861 Project) who created just the right sound for Irene – to my ears a much more suitable sonic environment than what I’ve heard of her earlier country recordings.
I was hired to photograph Irene’s CD release party at the Station Inn last Friday night. In preparation for the event, I listened to a preview of the new CD, and one track that I was most looking forward to hearing was You Are Mine (iTunes), which features vocal harmonies by Irene singing with her two equally talented daughters, Sara Jean and Justyna.
As soon as I heard You Are Mine I gave myself a personal assignment – in addition to covering the entire show – of getting a definitive shot of the three Kelley women singing together.
I couldn’t get that shot during the show. When they sang “You Are Mine” together, each of the girls (yes, yes, I know… women…) had to take their own microphone, and so were spread out across the stage. The resulting photo is rather flat, with the usual microphone in front of their faces.
See what I mean?
After the show, I persuaded them to return to the stage and gather around a single microphone in order to recreate the moment for the sake of the photo at the top of this post.
However, rather than singing You Are Mine, these three angels started harmonizing on a rendition of Crosby Stills and Nash’s Helplessly Hoping. Hearing this his was an unexpected delight, the close three-part harmonies so brilliant that I could easily imagine, “this is how Irene raised these girls, riding around in the car, singing songs like this together… ”
All I could do was watch them through the viewfinder and fire away… it was not until I got home and looked at the files that I could exhale and think to myself, once again… “only in Nashville…”
I would dearly love to offer a player with some tracks from Irene’s new CD, but it is not available for streaming yet. The best I can do is offer a track from The 1861 Project. So please enjoy one of my favorite tracks from Volume 1, Horse Without A Rider:
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