nic jones, cathal mcconnell, karen matheson, dick gaughan, maddy prior, linda ronstadt, john denver (now, now . . . he sang, under pressure, in a forthright way, with beautiful control, expression and pitch), christie o'leary, tom waits, dwight yoakam, jacqui mcshee, frank harte, sean keane, delores keane, the eagles, the benedictine sisters of Clyde, Missouri, skip gorman, sean garvey, jordi savall, chipper thompson and mason brown.
The song and interview is from the "What's in a Song" music series, a co-production of the Western Folklife Center (Elko, Nevada), broadcast on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, March 22, 2009.
It was an absolute delight to co-host a fundraiser for Kansas City's community radio station, KKFI 90.1 FM, with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman. KKFI supporters gathered at the IBEM Local No. 124 on April 5 for a brunch, live music and an an electrifying speech from Amy. My concert and Amy's talk will soon be available on CD from KKFI. Amy very kindly gave us a nice mention on the April 6, 2009 broadcast of Democracy Now!.org, http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2009/4/6 . 35 minutes
An early highlight of 2009 was the 25th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, where I sang with my friend, Skip Gorman, and read a few poems. If you want to immerse yourself in beautiful and authentic western American music, poetry and art, make plans to go to Elko in 2010. It's in the heart of Nevada's Ruby Mountains, and is an intensely scenic four-hour drive from Salt Lake City, Utah. Check out the cowboy poetry gathering website, and order a live sing-along CD we recorded at the Gathering on January 29, 2009, featuring Glenn Ohrlin, the Gillette Brothers, Michael Martin Murphey, Skip Gorman and yours truly. We just sat in a big room and sang with the audience - the CD is literally hot off the press, and all proceeds benefit the Western Folklife Center in Elko.
To view concert video of the 2009 Gathering, go to youtube or visit http://cybercast.westernfolklife.org/2009/. I'd better stop before I start sounding like a travel infommercial.
Amazing Grace is part of a 2-song digital-only release now available through cdbaby.com/conniedover. Gehrig Fry took the accompanying photo of me in White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. It looks like snow, but it's sand . . . The breadth and vision of Gehrig's photographic work are indescribable - he has done three of my CD covers, photographing them in black and white film, and then hand-coloring the images with homemade dyes and cue-tips. One of his current projects is creating 3-D images, taken on the ground and from a prop-plane, of U.S. national parks and monuments.
The striking old-time portrait posted with the song "Brother Green" was made by Robert Szabo, a 21st Century photographer who knows how to capture the 19th Century Old Soul that lurks within us all. Robert's stark and gritty photos are featured in the PBS documentary, "Bad Blood - The Border War that Triggered the Civil War", and were an inspiration for the music I contributed to the Bad Blood soundtrack. Gehrig and Robert are extraordinary artists - go visit their work on line!
Propaganda to follow:
Connie finds her inspiration in the landscapes, history and culture of the American West. When she is not performing, she works as a ranch cook in the beautiful country between Wyoming's Wind River and Absaroka Mountains. She received the Grand Prize in the Western Folklife Center’s 2007 Yellowstone-Teton Song Contest and a 2007 Emmy Award for her soundtrack production of the PBS documentary "Bad Blood - The Border War that Triggered the Civil War".
Her CDs (three were recorded in Scotland) show the close ties between the American folk and cowboy songs she sings around Wyoming campfires and their Celtic ancestors, and she has twice been a finalist for a Native American Music Award.
Listening to readings from the "Pit Poets" at Prospero's Bookstore in Kansas City lit Connie's literary fire, and her first book of poetry, Winter Count, was published in 2007. She is a recipient of the Speakeasy Prize in Poetry. Look for samples of her writing on her myspace blog.
Born in Arkansas and raised in Missouri, Connie is of English, Cherokee, Mexican and Scots/Irish descent. Her studies at Oxford University further enriched her unique perspective of the context of traditional songs. She has been a guest on NPR's Weekend Edition, A Prairie Home Companion, and Thistle and Shamrock. Acclaimed by the Boston Globe as "the finest folk ballad singer America has produced since Joan Baez", Connie offers listeners a musical experience that transcends cultural boundaries and affirms our connection with the past.
Connie's newest CD, The Holly and the Ivy (traditional Christmas songs and carols recorded with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra,) was released December 10, 2008. Her new digital-only release of "Amazing Grace" and "The Language of Flowers" is now available through CD Baby.com and other music download sites.
Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother, "The best way to know life is to love many things."
Hey I heard your interview on NPR. They do such a good job with pieces like this - and I love the song! Here's the link to it at NPR's website:Connie Dover interview on NPR
