Spring & Festivals Return to St. Paul

After many ridiculously late snow and ice storms that I find it painful to talk about, spring seems to have returned to Minnesota, at least for a little while. Right now I'm writing from the J & S Bean Factory on Hamline Avenue in St. Paul, where my banjo playing alter ego just played a set for a nice crowd of folks from the Midway neighborhood and beyond. And now I'm listening to the fabulous Eliza Blue play as part of the Hamline Avenue Folk Festival. Just back from a crazy cross-country tour with local Twin Citizens Loudray and "Sneaky" Pete Bauer, Eliza has a strong voice and some killer instrumental skills as a guitarist, fiddler and yes, banjo player. As I'm writing this, she is singing one of my new favorite songs "Sword and Shield." Earlier this afternoon I hosted a songwriting forum as part of this festival, and I talked with Eliza about this tune, and she said she wrote it as an anthem to herself--a sort of self-help therapy. I'll tell you that this song is therapy for all of us--an amazingly soulful song with serious clawhammer banjo drive. Check out her CD Screen Doors and Back Doors, and you'll be treated to a nice rootsy collection of tunes. See her live, though, and you'll fall in love.

Behind the shop where I'm writing, there is another stage of great locals, hootin' and hollerin' and eating pulled pork sandwiches. The sun is out, making us believe that spring might actually be here to stay. We're all crossing our fingers...