I play my voice as well. It's a light, lovely thing, given to me by my mother. It's amazing to me how many musicians don't consider the voice an instrument. I competed last month in the High Plains Old-Time Country Music Show in Douglas, Wyoming, and I made the radical move of standing onstage singing a capella ("Fly Away, Little Pretty Bird" and "Bright Morning Stars are Rising"). One of the judges wrote on his/her remarks "You are so brave!"

If a guitarist had stood out there playing alone, would s/he have been considered brave?

(I won second place, by the way. Thirty bucks and a trophy that almost looks like it were made out of metal -- but not quite. It is one of my treasures now -- but not nearly so much as the "Miss Congeniality" trophy I won when I was 17....)

KC