Several years ago, Jane Grosby (now Jane Vidrine) gave me a list of what drinkables are good and bad for the throat. As my memory serves me (forgive me if I'm mis-remembering), all beverages with caffeine (coffee, Coke, regular tea) close the throat (bad); citrus beverages (lemonade, Lemon Zinger tea) open the throat (good). Don't know what happens from Mountain Dew (citrus vs. caffeine -- would they have a war?). Regular tea is doubly bad because of its tannins. Beer is neutral; Scotch closes the throat, bourbon opens it. White wine opens, red wine closes (tannins). I use Lemon Zinger tea myself, with lots of honey or sugar, and sing more quietly than I useta. I've also found that plain hot water is very soothing.

One other thing that makes a difference: remember all those pictures you saw of Pete Seeger with his head thrown back, singing his heart out? Very inspiring. Very bad. Sing a note softly and tilt your head back; feel the tightening in your vocal cords? You have to push a lot harder to get the sound through. I suspect this is one of the reasons Pete's voice is now almost gone. Sing with your head at a level. And don't let your voicebox get cold on the way to the gig -- wrap it in a scarf if the weather is even mildly chilly.

Peace. Paul