Hudson Valley Folk Guild Presenting....Caroline Paton and Friends in Concert 4-14-17

(Pardon all CAps, but Big News here from the Concert Circuit News RElease!

PLus I don't know how to turn it off, so let's just keep the Party going..

.and Kudos Caroline, Family, friends and Folk-Legacy!

PS Free Music from their site of a 100 plus Folk Musicians via Youtube,

great to have songs  you and your kids can sing along with folks of all ages)

FOLK GUILD TO PRESENT CAROLINE PATON AND FRIENDS  Friday, APRIL 14TH, 2017 IN HYDE PARK, New York at 8pm

The Hudson Valley Folk Guild's Friends of Fiddler's Green Chapter will be presenting Caroline Paton and Friends in concert, on Friday evening, April 14th, 8pm. The concert will be held at the 
Hyde Park United Methodist Church, Rt. 9 and Church Street in Hyde Park, NY 12538

Admission is $12; seniors $10; HVFG members $8.... For information call 845-758-2681 or visit www.hudsonvalleyfolkguild.org/ffg.

Caroline Paton has travelled throughout the United States, Canada and the British Isles in search of folk songs and old ballads.

Her vast repertoire derives from the traditional ballad and song lore of the entire English-speaking world. Behind almost every song is a fascinating story relating how, from whom, and where that song was discovered. Caroline accompanies herself on mountain dulcimer and auto harp and will share the stage with some of her finest musician friends from over the years.

In 1961, Caroline with her husband Sandy and Lee B. Haggerty, founded Folk-Legacy Records, a record label devoted to making traditional music, and the contemporary music that reflects its values, available to the general public

In recognition of their work as singers, folk song collectors and folklorists, the Patons were selected by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts to be Connecticut's Official State Troubadours in 1993 (All from the Online Info from the Hudson Valley Folk Guild)

Notes and a Writing Prompt Experience from Livfully: I got the Caps off and don't know how, so I will add a few liner notes here. Sandy (Charles Alexander) Paton and Caroline Paton along with Lee Haggerty as a business partner have put Sharon CT on the map as hub for music to be made on the mountain (Sharon Mountain at their Folk-Legacy lovely barn-turned homestead many years back after if served as a farm and had a few caretaker houses up and down the road from it.)

There is some online footage of Caroline and Sandy Paton driving about in their camper and walking on the grounds of their quiet country abode back in the 1970s. Another fellow shows the covers of all the record albums which is lots of fun to see. But always good to give a listen and as a warning, like potato chips, one good folk song can lead to another. Also the habit can take root and stick with you for years, result in lots of singing along with the chorus if not verses and inspire one to write one's own songs, poems, stories and do some story-telling along the way.

 Should one Go to a Concert or Festival the results could include singing with lots of folks, making friends and music and even contra dancing (and eating good food and losing sleep if not weight.)  Now back to Insprational Folk-Legacyville which recently celebrated its 55th Anniversary in West Hartford with... a Concert (also online I believe as was the 50th which occurred during a big snowstorm but went on even with a power outage.)

Worth some thought for preservationists also is how to secure a legacy for future generations possibly (a dream of mine and many) of the former violin school and lovely Folk-Legacy Records location up on Sharon Mountain, where the diligent trio worked for decades filling order of music, much of it recorded right thar in the Big Room (the converted Barn.)

We could have our own type of Trapp Family Lodge right here in CT rather than hike up to VT which Sandy and Caroline did to perform and getting to know Maria herself. I loved learning of That Connection and had read the Trapp family story which painted a great telling of their adventures driving around the country in a bus and sending donations back to Europe along the way (What One More Thing to concerted group of folks?

) Likely we could have many more folk concert fundraisers to help meet needs of non-profits such as The Patons have done over the years, including one for Hope for Haiti that I got to dance at with friends at the Sharon Congregational Church back in the 1990s.

I also danced at a full Christmas Eve service to the song "Mary Did You Know" which was a foreshadowing for harder times I would face with many unexpected changes. The therapeutic value of the arts, whether in making music, writing or singing songs, expressing feelings in the arts or creating works of art in other ways all weave into the fabric of "The Tree of Life". Getting grounded, staying connected and envisioning a brighter future is a greater kind of river of love that the arts can nurture and help people stay strong even in difficult times.

The art of communication, conflict resolution and making meaningful policies and laws grow out of such care as well, so most in the folk world, including The Paton Family and friends are no strangers to advocacy and politics whether during the 1960s or through the decades since.

Most states allow for mediation and negotiation now as do more national and international concerns, yet that is not a given and is 'an art and one based on a willingness of the heart' as well, so more songs and programs could speak to the public and leaders of such efforts.

So back  on Sharon Mountain in the northwest hills of CT, musicians such as Gordon Bok, Ed Trickett and Anne Mayo Muir, Dave Para and Cathy Barton and Many Others, would stay right there at the converted barn homestead. They would be recording and making music into the wee hours just for fun after having meals mainly prepared by Caroline, a hostess who likes to make sure people are comfortable and properly cared for, even for a week or more!

For a couple of years, that even meant letting Dave and me live there until our first child, Linnea, was two and ready to run the studio when no one was looking. Thankfully we only had to move a mile away to another ranch home they owned and where our son Kaelan was born.

Then we moved a mile in the other direction and lived at a nature center where Shannon and Juliana joined the family circle, completing the children's 'quartet' of dynamic fun, folk festivals, home schooling in early years (about 5-7 years each then entering school around age 7 full-time).Yes, it was Awesome to live At a Nature Center and take advantage of the grounds, programs, nice people, festivals and events small and grand, camps and more.

I tried to be an advocate for all things along those lines and the enthusiasm to see the whole tri-corner area from Millerton NY mountaintops where I got to be friends with Karen Kisslinger and her family to Great Barrington MA where my midwives let me stay with them after my kids were old enough to let me train as a nurses aide for a couple of weeks really made me feel my home area extended far and wide and was lovely like one big nature center or garden, with the HoUSAtonic River running through it. "The people make the place, and the place makes the people" is a thought that came to me over the years and for two were inextricably linked, and one where our family life stories are still playing out, mostly in positive ways, thank God.

Since David boated on that extensively and even pursued Olympic dreams along with Jamie McEwan  who did place twice in the whitewater events, and many others who grew our boating network to DC and New Hampshire and off to Minnesota (and Europe for Dave), the dreams, skies and rivers seemed to have no limits.

We learned at times that actually there were some challenges too hard to survive mortally but with time, grace and faith, even the 'worst of turns' would somehow become part of the fabric of our community-based life. Sometimes many would have to 'let some things go' or give it time...lots of time...but healing and friendships could mostly keep afloat and desires to live with greater understanding and respect for the human condition and ever-changing world could grow anew.

Now back to the Patons and Folk-Legacy, a house with a lot of personality and even about five weddings over the years, including our reception which ran about 200 people in a heavy snowstorm with everyone being a good sport and bringing delectable potluck contributions.

Linnea and her spouse Guillaume Marceau kept that tradition going with their DIY (Do-It-Yourself and with lots of help from a strong Dad and friends putting up a big tent, and yes everyone bringing great potluck) to their autumnal wedding held at Music Mountain in Falls Village CT. Along with many friends they helped the Occupy Movement keep going for many seasons and highlighted the many reasons we need to wean ourselves from oil and even nuclear energy.

(Reminds me of the No Nukes For Me song by Lorre Wyatt that I danced to at my Kellogg School alma mater with friends Colin Day (now in the heavens), Lorellen Green and Susie Epstein to the students delight since I let them join us afterward for some group dancing in the gym. I would also dance to "I've Got Piece Like a River", doing modern dance and taking inspiration from the words of the song.)

As part of the walk-through tour of Folk-Legacy to complete that picture, there are a few rooms used as a dining area, a recording studio and an office on the first floor and one handy-dandy bathroom with a playful embroidered placque reading "Paton Place" above the throne. But on with the tour of the maze-like home lined not only with wood paneling but a few archives of folk music notes.

In addition to 8 small square bedrooms on the second floor, most with bathrooms (not all working at this time) which are on both sides of the house and have two separate staircases, downstairs there are back-to-back kitchens, a small entryroom and foyer and a nice size living room that served as place sing and celebrate holidays with the families of their two sons, David and Robin.

That pair of brothers may be among the folks in the concert on Friday, April 14th. Dave plays the English concertina and the hammered dulcimer. In addition, Dave's former wife and mother of his children, Catherine Palmer Paton (that'd be me, yes one and the same) may be there along with our daughters Linnea, Shannon and Juliana who are doing well in their own right. Linnea and her husband Guillaume are the happy parents of Adaline.

My parents, Dale Palmer Sr and Mary Palmer Sr., now both on the Other Great Shore for a decade, had many children and dozens of grandchildren, so that's a big extended circle of support for all of us and many have enjoyed the ties to Folk-Legacy music whether hearing Sandy and Caroline sing May the Roads Rise with you at our wedding almost 30 years ago. They may have gotten music as gifts or ordered some for friends before it was all free online.

What seemed like an impossible dream to share the music widely has happened with the help and vision of many and for that we are all very grateful. The Smithsonian Institute has expressed interest in having the collection in the future, so clearly the historic and cultural contributions are being recognized and that's a win-win for us and future generations. Still unless people are tuned into the resources they are likely to miss out altogether on hearing what Folk-Legcay is all about!

Over a few decades, David Alexander Paton has played at many folk festivals and contra dances, Irish music gatherings, weddings, funerals and lots in-between. had a half dozen bands and made a couple of CDs (some longer in the making than others), Rob Paton is a talented singer and song writer, and mainly plays the mandolin. He and his wife Marian have two grown children as well, Eric and Hannah. Sandy Paton, who lived a full eighty years, passed away in July of 2009, after Dave and Catherine Palmer Paton's son Kaelan faces 'the hardest choice of his life' and made a valiant effort to save a friends from a fiierce river in CT. Kaelan's efforts helped his friend get rescued moments later, but claimed Kaelan's life at age 16.

"Remembering Kaelan Alexander Palmer Paton" is about my experience as mother of four having to bid our son a sudden farewell in the midst of other life challenges. Sometimes 'when it rains, its a deluge...' Kaelan's memorial service is on youtube in short segments and was held about a month after, with Sandy Paton attending (tearfully at times, God Bless him.  Just about everyone who knew Kaelan and many who didn't were very moved by Kaelan's seemingly untimely passing. As family (and many close friends) we each went through tougher times than we expected we'd be facing as easy-does-it even if politically concerned Americans and country folk.

We can still find ourselves hurting  whether missing Kaelans' smiling face and good cheer or realizing what he's mssing fron our perspective,even almost 8 years later, and that is Okay. Mostly, time and postive views and friendships is healing and learning about feeling, finding comfort in having a greater understanding of how life unfolds even 'predictably in sometimes very unpredictable ways' and with friends one didn't even know could be part of one's life, songs and stories that come to one to help process the experience, face new challenges and being more at peace with the human condition .

While political and health challenges can crowd out a sense of optimism if one is facing something serious or worried about what's to come, taking time to appreciate the many hundreds of people who have lit the way with steadfast efforts, community networks and inspirational works of song, music, art, storytelling, and even acting and more can remind us to ''Come back Home' to the 'seat of the soul' where there is inner peace, a multitude of friends and a chorus of loving souls on both sides of the veil encouraging us to take out next steps in harmony with one another and greater realms of existence. We can do this, one person, one family, one child, one life at a time especially when we join together and allow the music and grace to carry us away.