Pennsylvania Six-Two Thousand

My first gig was a breakfast for the Mifflinburg Masons and their wives. Yes, wives too. The Masons in this part of Pennsylvania have a different attitude to life, and the breakfast was held in a local hotel. The men seemed to be mostly Korean War Veterans and I was a bit worried about how they would react to an alleged folk singer, with all its anti-establishment connotations. But as soon as it was announced that my father had been a Mason and had survived landing on Juno Beach on D-Day, I could do no wrong.

Audience of Veterans

Next up was a trip with KJ to the Danville Child Development Centre, where my trepidation in facing Korean War Veterans was replaced by a greater fear of about thirty 3- and 4-year olds. A couple of Scots songs in my strange accent led to my rendition of a song hazily remembered from the singing of Burl Ives: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. My pronunciation was corrected by one lively little boy who told me that “dog” was actually sounded as “dawg”. I had to change the ending, however, because it would have been too traumatic for their tender susceptibilities if the old lady - on swallowing a horse - was dead, of course. She made a remarkable recovery and happiness was uncontrolled!

I played next with a Western Swing Band called The MidLife Cowboys. Playing a borrowed, brand new, state-of-the-art Martin guitar, I delved deep into my Scottish/American repertoire for gems by Hank McWilliams, Patsy Quine and Bob Wills and the Tegarmuchd Ploughboys. I was offered a position with the band but had to refuse as the commuting would have been too much. But I was tempted!

Festival

My last gig was at a Farm Park Museum Festival in the north of Pennsylvania, where the combination of quiet, narrow roads, sparkling rivers, and forests up to and over the horizon could have been Perthshire on a sunny day.

It was an open air event in a temperature of 86 degrees. I told the audience (pictured above) that 86 degrees was pretty much par for Scotland in summer - total, not average - and I think they believed me.

KJ did the first hour (right) and I did the second. She has matured into a consummate performer, at home with any type of audience, and her attitude is inspiring.

My penultimate morning was spent in a recording studio owned by musician Kimbo Reichley, where we recorded one of my new songs. Kimbo is an excellent guitarist and his accompaniment really lifted the track.

These were just some of the happy moments on what was chiefly a fact-finding mission as well as a working holiday, and I hope to renew acquaintances in the Spring.

In the meantime I’m looking at old movies with a transatlantic link, such as High Troon, Gunfight at Culbokie Corral, Och Aye and the Last of the McMeekins, and, of course, the theme tune to the TV series set on the Island of Arran: bum biddy, bum biddy, bum biddy bum Lochranza!