Sandy and Caroline Paton are at the top of my list. It was their obvious love of the music, willingness to talk about it with complete strangers and, of course, fine singing and playing that got me hooked on this music at the ripe young age of 16. Interestingly, a 14-year-old fellow Paton fan recently expressed just about the same sentiments -- Sandy and Caroline just don't stop keeping the flame alive. They introduced me (not at the same time) to folks like Jerry Rasmussen and Rick Fielding, two of the very best songwriters I've ever heard, and to characters like Art Thieme, who just may be my favorite folksinger ever, and Kendall, whose combinaton of music and stories have warmed my heart for the last 27 years or so. All of the aforementioned have recorded for that great labor of love called Folk-Legacy, which has provided me with about one-third of the songs I perform myself.

Newer musical treats from Mudcat-member performers have come from Dan & Bonnie Milner (who also have recorded for Folk-Legacy), friend-of-my-heart and swell singer-of-Irish-songs Big Mick, and Jeri, whose singing is powerful and emotional and just gets better and better every time I hear her. She's giving Jerry R. and Rick F. a run for their money in the songwriting category too. Her songs and tunes (the ones I've heard) are all winners.

I'm lucky to live in the Washington, DC, area, hotbed of both a thriving local folk scene and of large hunks of Mudcat-dom, and have heard all the Mudcatter "locals" perform at one time or another. I'll refrain from detailed reviews here, since they all know how to find me (*BG*), but will just say that my musical world has been much-enriched by having folks like Mary LaMarca (a fine singer with husband George Stephens of Australian songs, English and Scottish occupational songs, traditional ballads, and musical settings of Rudyard Kipling's poems), SongsterBob (fine banjo player, prolific songwriter), Chance Shiver (Fortunato -- everything from the Carter Family to rockabilly), Bill D., Ferrara, Judy Cook, and many others living and singing so close by. If you want to hear them, see the related thread about the FSGW Getaway, and come join us in October! More and more Mudcatters are coming every year, and I've been lucky enough to meet and hear lots of them. Jed Marum, also a wonderful songwriter, came last year for the first time, a real treat to hear. Lots of others, too. --Kathy