About thirty years ago, I received a wonderful book in the mail of Folk Songs Of Wisconsin. It's a large songbook, and a wonderful resource. It came completely out of the blue from a musician I'd met at a Folk Legacy Festival in Hartford, Connecticut. My first album had just come out, and this was my first folk festival as a performer, so it was a very heady time for me. I met a lot of musicians I'd heard of, and some who were still new to me. Not being particularly good with names, I had many Junior Moments and forgot names as fast as I heard them. And as often happens at a festival, most conversations were hit and run in a hallway on the way to the next workshop. The person who sent me the book said that he liked my first record and thought that I should have the book. He said that we met at the Folk Legacy Festival but in honesty, I was off in the ether with excitement, and didn't remember our conversation. It was probably one a them hallway ones. But, I was very moved that someone I knew so little would be so generous in sending me the book. So, I wrote a long letter of thanks to him. I don't do short. A couple of weeks later, I got a short letter back, saying that the man wasn't a letter writer and not to expect any more letters from him. Undaunted, I started pummeling him with long letters, and as our correspondence grew, his letters became more frequent, and as long as mine. Somewhere along the line we surely passed a thousand letters, as we often exchanged four or five a week for many, many years.. We saw each other through my divorce and many bleak days on both of our parts. By the time we first met, we were already old friends. In all these years, I've never failed to be moved by the warmth, love and generosity of the man and I love him as a brother. And it all started with a gift from someone I hardly knew.

My buddy, Art Thieme

Jerry