D-Squared

The Glendale Folk and Heritage Festival kicks off Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22, 10 AM-5 PM, at the Sahuaro Ranch Park, 9802 North 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.

Sahuaro Ranch Park Historic Area is an old Valley fruit ranch and vegetable farm featuring 13 original buildings, a rose garden, barnyard and historic orchards adorning the 17 acre park. This weekend it will play host to over 150 folk musicians performing, jamming, and conducting workshops at 9 different venues on the site, including D-Squared playing at 10:30 AM on Sunday in the Fruit Packing Shed.

In addition to performances of everything from folk to bluegrass, gospel to contemporary singer/songwriter, from celtic and blues to cowboy poetry and storytelling – there are workshops on ukulele, banjo, musical saw, spoons, concertina, dulcimer, guitar, songwriting, harmony singing, percussion, childrens’ music, Woody Guthrie, Stephen Foster, and American belly dancing. Ample opportunities exist for unscheduled performers to play at open sessions as well as jam and network with other players, so bring your instruments.

The Phoenix Folk Festival was held for many years at Encanto Park and organized by our friend Lon Austin. Phoenix lost interest when Lon retired from Parks & Recreation, so he has moved the festival to The Sahuaro Ranch Park which looks like an even better venue. This unique festival also includes family entertainment, historic site tours, blacksmith demonstrations, a children’s stage and activity area and much more. Food and snacks will be available for purchase. Admission is FREE!

So we invite you to join us for one of the best weekends to be outdoors in the Valley. I can smell the orange blossoms. Chuck Pyle, Sue Harris, Phil Shanks, Bill Burke, Fred Coon, Joe Bethancourt, Annie Moscow and many other old and new folk friends will be there too.

You can look this event up at GlendaleAZ.com (click on “Parks & Recreation” in QuickLinks, then “Glendale Folk & Heritage Festival”) for more details, including performance and workshop schedules (although you won’t find us on the schedule, we were last minute additions). You can also call 632.930.4200.

A pagan spiritual born on the Great Plains.

You are lost on your way unto glory
Shorn like a lamb in the cold
Where no angels dare trumpet their story
For the depth of the night is untold

Oh the path lies in beauty before us
Feathered wings whisper softly in flight
We are guiding your way through the forest
We’re the shadow that cries to the night
Who, who, who, who, who
Who, who, who, who, who

Do not question the fate that has brought you
In this darkness there’s nowhere to hide
We are sent by the ones who hath wrought you
Entrusted with your final ride

Oh the path lies in beauty before us
Feathered wings whisper softly in flight
We are guiding your way through the forest
We’re the shadow that cries to the night
Who, who, who, who, who
Who, who, who, who, who

With talons of steel we will hold you
You’ve no need to fear the fall
Let the breadth of the nightwinds enfold you
It’s just your turn to answer the call

Oh the path lies in beauty before us
Feathered wings whisper softly in flight
We are guiding your way through the forest
We’re the shadow that cries to the night
Who, who, who, who, who
Who, who, who, who, who

You can play a sample of  El Dia de los Muertos/Owlsong:
[audio:eldiadelosmuertos_owlsong.mp3]

 

 Owlsong [3:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (400)

This song was the result of spending 3 months touring the Great Northern Plains in the dead of winter where we saw lots of white and many birds of prey sitting on fence posts. Even owls. Being from southern climes, we were sure we were going to die at any minute. The performance was captured at Greg West’s studio by our webms., Cheryl Colan, whose website is well worth checking out for sheer quirkiness. She’s a hoot.

I wrote this after a trip down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon with some very dear friends. Ostensibly it is about the river but, of course, it’s really about the Big Trip that we’re all on. This is our most requested song, appears on two of our CDs, and has been included on several compilations, most notably the Smithsonian Folkways release, “Songs and Stories of Grand Canyon”.

There’s no stronger wind a-blowing than the one that blows tonight
Up the canyon from the desert hey it don’t know wrong from right
It don’t give a damn about your convictions or what deity you endorse
If you run up your abstractions it’ll blow you plumb off course
You better row

From the snowmelt in the Rockies, from the San Juan and the Green
The Colorado herds her children like souls into the stream
You can take the wild ride if you choose flushed like so much sand
But keep your eyes peeled downstream this ain’t Disneyland
You better row
You better row

Now the river rocks and rumbles as it rolls down through the ages
And shatters any sense of scale when it turns back the pages
And the ruins of your history, civilizations in their prime
Are swept into an eddy, they were just a wink in time
You better row

So if time is what you’re after, if that’s what you think you lack
Take all the time you want here you might not be coming back
You can lift your eyes in wonder as you drift from shore to shore
But when the river snakes it’s savage tongue, you better grab an oar
You better row
You better row

Did you think that you could come here and fail to be impressed
With the terrifying beauty of the earth when she’s undressed
Did her passion leave you breathless, did you find the truth you seek
And when you hit the hole at Lava Falls was it difficult to speak
You better row

It’s an adolescent fantasy and we really ought to lose it
‘Cause acting like we’re in control we’re destined to abuse it
But the lyric that the rocks will echo long into the night
Is you may dare to dam the river but you cannot stem the tide
You better row
You better row

Now I know you know the parable of the sailors out at sea
There were four men in the gunnels, there was room for only three
And if my friend you don’t believe we’re all in the same boat
How long can you tread water, how long you gonna stay afloat
You better row
You better row
You better row
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
Life is but a dream
Life is but a dream
Life is but a dream

You can play a sample of this tune:
[audio:row.mp3]