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1966 |
 |
My first
professional folksinging gig was at Hal's Steak House in
Portales, NM, my hometown. The partner was John Coinman,
a fellow student at Eastern New Mexico University. Those
trademark shiners were done with artist's charcoal -
cool, huh?
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| |
 |
That was also the
year of my impetuous first marriage. The bridegroom was
Dick Albin, grad student from Fayetteville, AR. That's
my dad in the Buddy Holly specs; the rest of the wedding
party, L to R, were Don Harper, Marlene Foster, George
Spach and the late Jack Wayne. The minister (whose name
escapes me) didn't want to be the shortest person in the
picture.
|
1969
|
 |
Dick
and I had migrated to Louisville, KY, when we kicked
free of college life and hit the road with a folksong
and storytelling act. We worked the U.S. campus
concert/coffeehouse scene, playing for peanuts,
traveling any distance
and we had a lotta fun.
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|
1971 |
We got into
folk festivals and mountain dulcimers. Dick made the
first dulcimers we used onstage.
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|
1973 |
|
We cut our
first album,
Mahatma
Gandhi Spat Here,
at Fultz Recording Studio in Fairdale, KY. The title
came from a line in our most-requested song of the day,
"Uncle
Watt's Original Fatascinatin' Roadside Stand."
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|
1975 |
|
A musical
we wrote went on the boards. Anne and Dick Albin's
Old
Testament Revue, based on "stories in the scriptures you
won't see in pictures and you won't learn in Sunday
school," premiered at Southwest Missouri State
University, and a second production was mounted at
Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Dick is
seen here as "Solomon the King." I'm the harem babe in
green.
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| |
|
In the
summer we began a long association with the Kentucky
State Parks, presenting concerts and special events.
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|
1976 |
 |
The first
of these, MOUNTAIN MEMORIES WEEKEND, began at Carter
Caves State Park in Olive Hill. This now-discontinued
mountain music festival brought a lot of old friends
together every March for almost 30 years. Here, Becky
Allender, Cari Norris, Sue Massek and I, costumed as the
original Coon Creek Girls, were performing a set of
their barn dance favorites.
|
| |
 |
Pine
Mountain State Park's
GREAT
AMERICAN DULCIMER CONVENTION
was one of the country's first dulcimer festivals. I continue to host the Convention the last week of
September.
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|
1978 |
|
Dick and I
did the "back to the earth" thing, homesteading in
Powell County, KY. Woodstove heat, kerosene lamps, no
electric power or running water made for a lifestyle
that was grueling! It took us 30 months to build a
house, simultaneously keeping up a performance schedule.
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| |
|
|
|
1980 |
 |
Then came
the FIRST INTERNATIONAL STRANGE MUSIC WEEKEND, also at
Carter Caves. Over the years our Strange Ensemble
developed into the group pictured here: Park Naturalist
John Tierney with snoot floot and commodobro; Nancy
Johnson with the jawbone of an ass; Blake Barker;
Anne MacFie with rakalimba; Dick Albin; Steve Lyon
with rubber chicken. The unequaled event ocurred off and
on until we'd done every strange thing we could come up
with and retired the show in 2000.
|
1983
1985 |
 |
Our first
overseas travel as Dept. of Defense entertainers. To
beef up our sound and spread the grunt work thinner we
formed a temporary trio, the Trans-Mason-Dixon
Interplanetary Pickers. Jay Round was in the version
shown here. Our unit toured military bases in northern
Europe and the Mediterranean.
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|
1988 |
|
Dick and
Anne Albin became
Dick
"Richard" Albin
and Anne MacFie, each of us launching solo careers. I
kicked mine off with a tour of England and Wales and
brought
Gentle
Annie,
my first solo album. (The Gentle Annie costume and
character originated in the Strange Music show.)
|
|
1989
1992 |
 |
Over these
years I did three more tours to the British Isles,
performed in Ireland and Denmark and made another album,
Spandex
Folkie.
Here I am in a Surrey pub, absorbing the rich traditions
of England with a couple of charming locals.
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|
1994 |
|
Then came
England to me. Dang if one of those lads didn't follow
me home and marry me! Here's a honeymoon picture of
Young Paul Elsey and me in the Midi-Pyranees, France.
|
|
1996 |
|
Guess the
next time I did anything other than drive, sing and
write songs was to put out a UFO newsletter, The
Bluegrass Bulletin, with a Louisville guy, Jerry
Washington. (Certainly, I believe in UFOs anyone
who doesn't hasn't been paying attention for the last
sixty years!) We got burnt-out on that after three
years, but until Jerry's untimely death in 2005, we
wrote screenplays together.
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|
2001 |
|
A long-time
pal from my one season as a summer stock actress, Janis
Duley, phoned up with the novel idea that she and I
should form a part-time duo. So we became the Twa
Sisters and made our debut at the GADC.
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|
2002 |
|
In the
spring, we recorded our first album, Twain, at the
Dancing Thumb Studio in Springfield, MO.
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2003 |
|
And then we
took the South of England, if not by storm, by a mighty
stiff breeze. That's us in action at Weymouth Folk
Festival.
|
|
2004 |
 |
About a
year after this photo was snapped of Young Paul and me
at home, pickin' on the porch, that precious spirit lost
his life to cancer. I miss his banjo ringing and I miss
him.
A Glass to
Young Paul
commemorates our fourteen years together.
|
|
2007 |
|
I softened the shock of
turning 60 by giving a concert in Louisville for the
Kentucky Homefront radio program. In the audience
were so many friends from all down through the
years, and more joined me onstage - John Gage, Col.
Bob Thompson, Dick "Richard" Albin, Janis Duley, Neville
Pohl and John McCormick. It was the best birthday
of my life!
|
|
2008 |
|
That's my
life so far comedy and tragedy in the service of the
Muse of Song. I'm still writing songs and filmscripts,
still performing, still driving a mile for every buck I
earn folksinging and eating that "cold pizza for
breakfast in a motel room."
I still
love the life. |
