First, an announcement: There will be no Gig #7. Sunday afternoon, we were booked to perform at an interdenominational worship service at Billings Court Manor seniors residence. Well, this week, we got a call saying the whole building is locked down under quarantine! What an awful situation! But on our end, we've told the chaplain that we will gladly take a rain cheque and perform next time we're up this way.
Tonight was Gig #4 - Tin Pan North!
Earlier this spring, I wrote about Tin Pan South, the awesome songwriting festival that happens in Nashville every year. (That's where I heard the amazing Stephen Schwartz concert!) NSAI Toronto is the only chapter outside Nashville to try and replicate this festival. The northern version is slightly different in that it's smaller, and it also features NSAI members, and not just pro-writers.
Our round was at the NOW Lounge, which is a great venue for this kind of show. Cozy space, and great sound. Each round in this festival features a headliner, and our's was none other than Marc Alan Barnette from Nashville. (We stayed in his house when we first moved to town.) Laura Ranieri, NSAI Toronto co-coordinator was our fourth, and she brought a lead guitar player into the mix.
I was really excited to be on stage with all these great players. Gerald opened the round with "Hot Bath, Cold Beer, and You", and I followed with "Wedding at Cana". Laura and Marc kept the rounds going with party songs all night. Gerald did "Never Learn", his newly written "Never Wait Until Tomorrow", and "Barrel of a Gun", which was a total treat because he hasn't played that in ages!
I did "My Father's Arms", and "Sing Me a Song". On that one, Gerald did rhythm on the guitar (we accidentally left the drum at home), which was really interesting because the strings rang every time Gerald hit the body of the guitar, giving it a new age/Celtic/new music kind of sound. Laura sang harmony, and then the sound guy put an awesome echo on my voice, making the whole thing sound very atmospheric. Sooo cool!
We ended with a brand new song called "Praise". The full hook is "The point of the song is to praise", and it was inspired by people who had trouble understanding why I wanted to sing Gospel music. And I do mean brand new - I brought the lyric and most of the melody to Gerald a week ago, and we just finished it yesterday. But all things considered, I thought it went really well.
After the show, we got to chat with friends we've been away from for far too long. It was so great to reconnect with people! We got great feedback on our performances, and I had several people come up to tell me how much they loved hearing Gospel music. I was a little nervous singing my songs in that environment, so that confirmation meant a lot.
All in all, it was a great night of music and fun. Must rest - the big show is tomorrow!
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