Linda McRae: BLOG

Well here I am again, bloggin' away, it's all new to me!

Do you know where 50% of our energy comes from? I for one didn't realize that 50% of that energy still comes from COAL!!

Last night my husband James and I went to local club The Basement to see a film called "Mountain Top Removal" that was being presented by Kathy Mattea and the film's director Michael O'Connell. For the past few years Kathy has been speaking out about global warming and the goings on in her West Virginia home. James and I drove through that part of the world on our last tour and it is breathtakingly beautiful. There's nothing like it in Canada where I come from and I wonder if this is going on there too.

Here's an excerpt describing the film...
Across Southern Appalachia mountaintop removal coal mining is leveling forests destroying communities and threatening water supplies so that all of us can enjoy cheap electricity. The film features interviews with coal industry officials, citizen conservation groups, scientists, physicians and coal field activists. Music from Sarah Hawker, Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Tara Nevins, Donna the Buffalo and John Specker is featured in the film. Visit www.hawriverfilms.com
Kathy has recently released a new CD entitled COAL and it is stunningly beautiful. She performs songs by Hazel Dickens, Jean Ritchie, Merle Travis and others on this great CD.

Check out this NPR interview with Kathy at her website at http://www.mattea.com/KathyMatteaCoal.html During this interview she performs Lawrence Jones by Si Kahn. (From Wikpedia). In the summer of 1973, workers at the Duke Power-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, Kentucky voted to join the union. Eastover management refused to sign the contract and the union went on strike. Duke Power brought in replacement non-union workers, who were attacked. Hogg, the local judge was a coal operator himself and consistently ruled for Eastover. He was accused of being paid off by the company.During much of the strike the mine workers' wives and children joined the picket lines. Many were arrested, some hit by baseball bats, shot at, and struck by cars. One striking miner, Lawrence Jones, was shot and killed by a replacement worker, Bill Bruner. Bruner served no time for the murder.

As Kathy mentioned, this is a very complex issue. There are many people who earn their living working in these mines. It reminds me of the logging issues in BC where I grew up. Friends of my parents had been loggers all their lives and any mention of conservation or alternatives to clear-cutting definitely raised people's temperatures.

There is also a book that she mentioned which deals with non-violent solutions as a way of life. It's called Non-Violent Communication - A Language of Compassion by Martial Rosenberg. http://www.cnvc.org/node/393 .

Thank you Kathy for helping to open my eyes to these issues and for all the work you are doing.

Well hello again. I'm sitting at my desk in our house just outside of Nashville and it's a hot and humid 90 degrees, awful hot for this Canadian country girl, but it's still great.

We're getting ready for our next tour and hope to see you out west in July and August.

We had so much fun on our last trip and met a lot of terrific folks. Our first stop was in Bloomington, Indiana and we had a great night there. The staff are amazing! Thanks so much to Greg, Marcia, Adam, Nicky, Ron on sound and Sharon and Steve and the rest of you who came to the show and helped make us feel so welcome.
See ya'll again soon! Thanks also to Linda Higgenbottom and Brad Leftwich for being such great hosts and to Brad for being such a wonderful teacher.

Next stop was The Hub in Danville, really nice coffee house but not much of a listening room. Thanks so much to Melissa, Kasey and Aaron for listening and being so gracious!
See you again and hope you're having fun in Romania!.

We made it to Lexington the next day in time to stop at Stella's for lunch and it was terrific! Les Miller and his wife Ahmayne have a wonderful place there in a gorgeous old house, great food too!
We played that evening at a place called Al's Bar and were greeted by Josh and Rayna, most excellent bar staff. We got there really early and had to wait around to play for quite some time. I was a little afraid that folks might not be into my solo show as it was quite a rowdy place in the late afternoon. There was also a woman named Jody (sp?) who was celebrating her birthday and they were all having a great old time. I thought, "yikes, I'm in for a night of it".

The club's mics had gone missing which is a downer for them (hope you found them!) but turned out to our advantage. I got up and did my first couple of songs on guitar and when I switched to the banjo I mentioned that I didn't have a mic for it and that I would have to play with just the one mic and that it would be quieter than usual. Much to my amazement everyone in the room brought their chairs up on the dance floor and sat right in front of me! I was floored! Thanks so much to all the patrons at Al's Bar in Lexington for a great night.
Let's do it again soon!

We had the next night off and stayed in a campground just north of Lexington by the river, great spot.

Monday 16th we headed for Thomas, WV to the Purple Fiddle. What a fabulous place that is. Great room, weird night though. If you want to know more ask.

Cleveland was our next stop and we had a great time. Thanks to Teri Jacobs my old friend from my Spirit of the West days for showing up and bringing your friends. It was wonderful to see you. The staff at Wilberts are awesome. Thanks to Mike, Marty, Joe, Mike, Julie, Jeanie, Ray and Rockin' sound guy Jim!

We spent a couple of days in Buffalo with my old pals Jim and Lynn Whitford. Jim has played in a number of great bands including The Pine Dogs and I sang on his solo CD which was produced by Gurf Morlix. He also played on my Cryin' Out loud CD also produced by Gurf Morlix. Jim and I suffered the "infamous border story" a few years back. I wrote a song about it and we performed it at the concert we did at Marty and Susan's place. Wow, what a fun night that was. Marty is a gourmet cook and plays host to many bands coming through Buffalo. He and Susan graciously hosted a concert for us there and it was the best gig of the whole tour! Thanks to Val and Kevin from Buffalo Roots for the extra coverage. We also would like to thank everyone who came out including a visit from Gurf Morlix and Brende Fuller who drove 12 hours from Nashville. It was a heapa fun! There will be a review up shortly at www.buffaloroots.com and also some video footage on youtube as well.

Toronto's show was fun and we'd like to thank everyone at The Dakota Tavern, Darrin, Jenn, Jill, Sean and Maggie and John Borra on sound...John is a great artist as well. Check him out at www.johnborra.com. We had a few old friends show up, next time we want to see a whole lot more!

Picton, ON is a gorgeous little lakeside town, very picturesque and historic. We had a lovely time there. Thanks so much to Al and Richard for making us feel so welcome and to Washboard Hank for the referral.

Montreal, what can I say, is one of the greatest cities in the world. We had a great time there and may just have a live recording from the brilliant sound engineer/recorder Steve Goldstein! Thank you so much to Holly, Jessica who read some incredible poems, to Moe and Claire who put us up and fed us and to Mr. Muttley and also to the fellow who played long-neck banjo after our show...sorry I've forgotten your name...you were fantastic. Can you please get in touch at 42@lindamcrae.com! Thanks.

Boston turned out to be a bit of a bust. The booker forgot we were on the bill but offered us a chance to play anyway. I didn't want to bump all the other bands back so we told him we'd take a rain-check. We want to thank the staff there so much being so kind and for feeding us, etc. Thanks also to Heloisa (wife of Mike Castanella guitar and steel with Sara Borges & the Broken Singles) for coming down and keeping us company! It was great to meet you. Can't wait to spend time with you and Mike and congrats on the baby!

Thanks so much to my hubby/manager James Whitmire for helping make my dreams come true! I've always wanted to be with someone who would come with me on the road and he and Elphie (our Brittany) were perfect touring partners! Love ya!

See you soon folks. I'll be updating this website more often. I'll try and give you play by play details from our upcoming shows.

There are some new dates up on the tour page as well.

Bye for now Linda

Hey folks, we had a fantastic time and are back home now. We're busy working on the next tour and will heading out west on July 17th for shows in BC and the Pacific Northwest. I'll be back shortly with updates on how the tour went.

Thanks! See you Soon
Linda

Hello Folks: We're in Toronto at the moment at my friend Paul March's place. We've had an incredible time and great shows and have met so many fantastic new friends.

I'm playing the Dakota tonight and it's James' birthday. Hope to see lots of old friends. Ran into Michael Wycraft who was holding court at a local Starbucks. If you haven't had a chance to check out his CD and posters deisigns you should. I'll be putting up links to his and more sites shortly.

I'll update this in the coming days so please stay tuned, I have so much tell you!

Cheers and thanks for reading/listening!

Linda

Hi folks! Hope you're all having a great spring. I've just set up a new website that I'll be able to update more often now. A big heart-felt thanks goes out to my friend Lynn who designed my original site and has been updating it for me for quite a few years now. She'll have more time for her own work now and I'll be able to keep you up to speed with all the goings-on in my musical journey.

Please stay tuned as I figure all this stuff out! Whew, back soon!!!

By the way, the folks here at Hostbaby are great! If you need a site, check them out, they are so accessible it's crazy....not like a lot of other sites or answering services where you can't reach a human being.