Hi, Kat: I'll tell my remembrance of how Art and I got to know each other. One day, out of the clear blue, a Folksongs of Wisconsin songbook arrived at my doorstep. From Art. Now, Art says that we were at the same Folk Legacy Festival once, and I don't doubt him, but I don't think that we exchanged more than a passing Hello. There was a short note, maybe three sentences long,tucked into the book from Art saying that he liked my music, and thought that I'd enjoy the book. I wrote back my typical wet, friendly English Sheep Dog letter, and a few weeks later, I got another note from Art, maybe four sentences long, telling me not to expect him to answer my letters, because he wasn't a letter writer. I pummeled him with several more long letters, and each response came a little quicker, and the letters gradually grew to a full page, and then two pages. Somewhere along the line, I booked Art for a concert as part of a series I ran at the Stamford Museum, and we got to know each other, eye to eye. As the friendship grew, we started splitting an evening at the Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin every time that I went out to visit my family. The letters, tapes, videos (we both have a great love of jazz and old movies) flowed steadily for many years... during hard times, four or five letters a week. Art didn't seem to mind associating with a danged singer/songwriter because we can swap traditional songs until all hours of the morning. That's what we did one night at HogEye music in Chicago. Sat next to each other and sang whatever came to mind... sang from 8 o'clock almost until midnight before the people who run the place realized how late it was. We try to get together when we can, when I'm out in the Midwest, and even though the letters aren't flowing like they used to (blame computers) we're still walking down the road next to each other.

Handful of Songs? I'm probably like a lot of Mudcatters.. I seem to collect stuff.. most of it not worth a whole lot. Songs, books, records, old toys, whatever tickles me. I was thinking one day of what people hold on to, to remember loved ones who've died. I have my Grandfather's hammer, and his old railroad watch(which doesn't run any more, but is right on time twice a day.) When the rest of the family was fighting over the marble-topped dresser and the other "valuable" antiques when my Grandfather died, I took his hammer and his watch. The years of wear on them told me how much they meant to him, so they meant more to me than the more "valuable" antiques. My Mother's Mother died on the operating table a few days before Christmas, when my Mother was about 11... one of eight kids. My Grandmother bought all the kids bibles before she went in for surgery, and never lived to share that Christmas with them. That bible is falling apart, but it meant everything to my Mother, and she knew that I would treasure it. So, the song started to come together.. as a singer, I knew that part of what I (and all the rest of us) would leave behind would be a handful of songs. And that's how the chorus evolved.

One of the lines, by the way, was about Art..

"Some may leave stories well-tuned in the telling
Some may leave jokes that can still make you laugh.

That's Art... a good, well-loved man and a dear friend.

One of the great pleasure of singing that song was that people always come up to me afterward to tell me what they've save that belonged to their parents. Amazing stories. Probably a great thread there, but as Art has pointed out, there aren't enough music threads. This is your thread, Art, Buddy... You asked..

Jerry