A Round of Pizza

Tonight marked a milestone for us - Gerald and I performed our first round together!

I think I've explained this before, but a "round" is a performance style unique to Nashville. You get 3-4 songwriters on stage at a time, sitting in a row, each with their own stool and mic. The first sings one song, the second sings one song, and so on down the row. At the end of the row, you go back to the first songwriter and go "round" again. You go round and round til everyone has done 3-4 songs. The number of songs generally equals the number of performers, but not always.

Last night's show was at Pizzereal. Yes, we performed in a pizzeria, and yes, we were actually paid in pizza. (Welcome to Nashville!) It's actually a gorgeous little place, built on the first floor of an old house in East Nashville. This was a monthly songwriter night organized by songwriter, Donna Long, who we met at Doak's party. (Who haven't we met at Doak's?)

Gerald did some of my favourites: "I'm a Real Big Fan" and "Never Learn", and we finished together with "All Her Flowers". I did "The Wedding at Cana" and Gerald accompanied me on "My Father's Arms". I also debuted a new song, "Sing Me a Song, Sing Me a Lullaby". I sang it acapella, but I think it might be nice with a light djembe under it. I was completely nervous to do something new. Unfortunately, the audience was loud when I started it, but by the end, I had their complete attention. Gerald had never heard it before, and it got good reviews from him, so that's always very satisfying.

One of the great things about rounds is that people tend to jump in and add to each other's songs with vocal harmonies or guitar leads. Obviously, I'm not going to add guitar to any one's song, but my ability to improvise harmonies is getting better by the day. In our round, we were joined by Diana Gibson-Kelly, and I felt myself humming along on her songs (beautiful melodies!), but I wasn't sure if I should sing it into the mic. I think I'm still getting used to the etiquette. She told me after that she could hear me and loved what I was doing, and that she wished I'd done it into the mic. Next time...

For now, I'm happy with another performance done, and my first round with my hubby!