Shasta County Tunes Head to Worldfest

We're packing up our gear and heading to Grass Valley to perform at California Worldfest.

From their website:

www.worldfest.net

                                                           A WORLD OF MUSIC

Under the cool, tall pines of the Sierra Foothills

Featuring 8 stages of music from around the world,
camping with family and friends, workshops, international food,
fine crafts, and the renowned children's program.

We call it "a tremendous opportunity." There's a stellar line-up of musicians and activities for the weekend and it looks like the temperatures at the fairgrounds in Grass Valley are a fair bit cooler than here in Shasta County.

We are thrilled to be taking the stage at 10 AM and noon on Friday, July 11th, along with the two other KZFR Songwriting finalists: Hannah Jane Kyle (winner!) and Dan Casamajor.  

We'll be sharing our love of our Shasta County home with the audience -- singing songs about Redding trains, Mount Shasta and our magnificent Sundial Bridge.  And chickens, of course.

Here's the finale from the KZFR Celebration of the Song Event held at the  Sierra Nevada Big Room last month -- Will the Circle Be Unbroken -- featuring the talents of Joe Craven, Dan Casamajor, Hannah Jane Kyle and a couple of grinning rubes from Cottonwood.

Celebrating 10 Years of Inspiration

The Sundial Bridge is one of those places that continues to inspire and delight me. My daughter was a volunteer with Turtle Bay in 2004 when the bridge opened and was one of the first to get to cross it. Since then,  I get out there every chance I get.

I've found a lot songs on that span and on the adjacent River Trail, including Under the Sundial Bridge and River Whispers.  So we were delighted to be asked to perform some of our tunes during the Sundial Music Festival,  part of the Celebrate 10 festivities.

The Riverfront Amphitheater is a cool, grassy slope above a stage that sits just off the river bank,  it's north of the Convention Center, between the Sundial Bridge and the Boat Ramp.   It's a perfect spot to share our locally-inspired tunes.

In addition to music, you'll also find a beer garden and food trucks with all sorts of goodies available.

photo by Cierra Goldstein

Sundial Music Festival runs from 6 -9 PM,  June 22 - June 25 and June 29 - July 2.  It features  different musical acts every night.

Still Married will perform on Tuesday, July 1st, at 7 PM at the
Riverfront Amphitheater.

More details are here: http://www.shastaartscouncil.org

This tune is on our playlist for the Sundial Music Festival - hope to see lots of friends there for  this is a momentous occasion. Ten years of beauty, grace and inspiration is well worth a grand celebration.

Art in the City: A Redding Tradition

Thursday, May 15th, the City of Redding presents a free concert and art show at Redding City Hall. The Summer Art Reception runs from 5-7 and features art from the Grand View Fine Arts Society, quilts created by the Quilter's Sew-Ciety of Redding and art by Patricia Cook. Click here for more information on the artists.

Several North State Songwriters will perform original music in the lobby. 

Still Married's  country folk tunes celebrate the landscape, the characters and the independent spirit of Far Northern California, with songs like "Under the Sundial Bridge" and "The Redding Song."  Singer- songwriter Will Miller will perform indie folk and country music. Duo Matthew Songmaker and Sam Jo bring a unique blend of bluegrass, Americana, and acoustic country. Justin Contreras will perform original acoustic rock tunes.

The public is invited to meet the artists whose work is on display and enjoy complimentary refreshments at Shasta County's largest art gallery.

Redding: We're #1 ....Sorta

Okay: We're number 187. Whatever.

I was a little irked at the report in USA Today and elsewhere on the Gallup-Healthways survey that ranked Redding 187th out of 189 U.S. cities with regard to "well being." We're one notch below Spartanburg, South Carolina, and just below us, at the bottom of the list, are a couple West Virginia communities. Sigh.

For me, the best antidote to irked-ness is songwriting. Turning lemons into lemonade with this new tune, wherein we answer the negative press with a laundry list of Redding's virtues.  

Scroll down to listen on Youtube.

We're Number 1 (87)

words and music by Erin Friedman

Numbers crunched and calculated

U.S. cities ranked and rated

Enumerated proof we can’t ignore

In Anchorage they exercise

In Lafayette they’re satisfied

In Redding we are mystified

By our abysmal score

We’re Number One-eighty-seven

We score no points for rivers, bridges and sunshine

We’re number one-eighty-seven

But watch out Spartanburg

Redding’s ready to climb

We cast flies on the Sacramento

Our theater’s restored art-deco

We love Shasta’s glow when the sun is setting

Provo’s tops in USA Today

But I can buy local Chardonnay

Even on the Sabbath Day

At Safeway in Redding

We’re Number One-eighty-seven

We score no points for rivers, bridges and sunshine

We’re number one-eighty-seven

But watch out Spartanburg

Redding’s ready to climb

Our Sundial Bridge is world-renowned

Hike the falls at Whiskeytown

Our 80 miles of trails are right for rambling

See salmon rise on 44

Smile, Redding, head outdoors

Our collective self-esteem will soar

Like an eagle on the wing

We’re Number One eighty-seven

We're looking down on almost heaven, West Virginia

We’re number one-eighty-seven

Redding will rise

And Gallup, we’ll forgive ya

River Whispers

The Sacramento River winds through much of Shasta County history, and while I enjoy my long walks on the River Trail, I like to listen and write.

In River Whispers, I considered the part the river played - and continues to play - in the making of this community. This song is first track on our CD: Sacramento River Whispers.

And I am fairly certain that the long-stemmed yellow rose I found on the riverside last autumn has a story that will, eventually, find its way into another song.

River Whispers
words and music © Erin Coombs Friedman


“Kneel before the queen and sift
The sparkling sands, the regal gifts”
Fools rush in, wise men resist
The River Whispers - to them all

The River Whispers -- The river sings
Races through ages, remembering
Love songs and lullabies
Fables and ancient rhymes
River Whispers drifitin’ by
River Whispers driftin’ by

“The wild west is yours to tame
Build a mountain – move the rain
Drench the thirsty waves of grain”
The River Whispers - then they came

The River Whispers -- The river sings
Races through ages, remembering
Love songs and lullabies
Fables and ancient rhymes
River Whispers drifitin’ by
River Whispers driftin’ by

Kestrel cries and voices reach
Thru tangled vines, miner’s debris
A yellow rose among fallen leaves
The River Whispers – to me

The River Whispers -- The river sings
Races through ages, remembering
Love songs and lullabies
Fables and ancient rhymes
River Whispers drifitin’ by
River Whispers driftin’ by

The Shadow of Shasta

When I travel home from trips down south, I always look forward to the moment Mount Shasta comes into view. It gives me something to focus on, and reminds me that I'm heading in the right direction.

I often write songs while driving -- and The Shadow of Shasta got started while I was cruising north on Highway 5, after some time away.

It's available as a free download this week on our Still Married website.

You can listen to it here:

The Shadow of Shasta
words and music by Erin Friedman

Highway 89
Left The Shadow of Shasta behind
Had a wild streak a mile wide
And the kind of pride
That goes before a fall
Playin’ fast and loose
Left me battered – left me bruised
Pourin’ whiskey on my wounds
When I hit the wall

I’m northward bound -- a hundred miles south of Shasta
Prayers on my mind - Hands on the wheel
If I kneel down In The Shadow of Shasta
Will I rise
Will I fall
Will I heal?

Rough road ahead
Round this mountain of regret
Climbed in from the window ledge
And yet
I’m hangin’ in mid-air
Fire burns below
Cathedral crowned in snow
Beacon to a long-lost soul
Who hopes for tender mercy there

I’m northward bound -- a hundred miles south of Shasta
Prayers on my mind - Hands on the wheel
If I kneel down In The Shadow of Shasta
Will I rise
Will I fall
Will I heal?


It’s a long road
From sorry to Mc Cloud
Where shadows are falling
On sacred stones - sacred ground

I’m northward bound -- a hundred miles south of Shasta
Prayers on my mind - Hands on the wheel
If I kneel down In The Shadow of Shasta
Will I rise
Will I fall
Will I heal?

© Erin Coombs Friedman

Still Married in Cottonwood

I tell my children -- "Because everybody else is doing it" is really not a good reason.

And here I am -- blogging because my regular website (http://www.stillmarried.net/) doesn't allow me to play with the rest of the blogging gang. No rss feed -- which is, apparently -- a deal breaker.

So I'll be posting here and on our band web site blog , mostly about our mid-life crisis band -- Still Married. And about this somewhat bizarre (just ask the neighbor kids) family life --- songwriting, homeschooling and making music.

More to come.