An Evening of Music

Last night, Sheila and I went to hear one of my favorite folk singers - Bill Staines. Bill has been traveling the United States for many years and has logged (according to him) several million miles while traveling the states. In fact he has two albums named after that pursuit "The First Million Miles" and "The Second Million Miles" which are both excellent albums.

Last night Bill sang many of my favorites and Sheila's too. It was a very small and intimate venue at the Lake Street Church up in Evanston and so it was a very nice evening. They even provided treats during intermission (including carrot cake and coffee or tea plus some cookies.

I purchased a CD of course plus a music book with probably the majority of his songs in it.
It will be fun to learn to play many of his songs on the guitar. Sheila purchased one of his books too but I'm not sure if it's a surprise gift for someone so I can't tell you too much about it right now. Later on I will say more about it.

All in all it was a really nice evening and we got his autograph on everything we purchased.
Bill as a singer has been said to remind people of a cross between Burl Ives and Kenny Rogers. As a guitarist he is somewhat unusual in that he plays the guitar left-handed and with the guitar upside down (string #6 on the bottom - not top). That means his fingering of the guitar chords is very unique. There have been other famous guitar players that adopted this style of playing (such as Jimi Hendrix) but Bill does so with "finger-style" picking which makes it very interesting. He is quite an accomplished guitarist and his songs all tell stories. He has experienced a lot of life along the road and has many stories to share from his travels, some of which are quite funny!

All-in-all (despite the very cold temperatures and icy wind blowing), it was a very nice evening out.

If you would like to check out Bill's music, you can find him on iTunes or visit his own web site.


Jerry