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It was a thrill to be in a packed house at The Guild a couple weekends ago, for a screening of You’ve Got Gold. I thought it was fantastic. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings were a favorite. I also liked Jason Isbell. (I must admit that I’ve never sug into his catalog.)
The film is on a pretty big tour. You can find out more about that, and watch the trailer here. https://www.yougotgoldmovie.com/
It was the summer of 2015 and there was an excited buzz in the air as the audience was finding their seats for the Young Stracke All-Stars album release show. It had become known that Ella Jenkins had made it to the show, and everyone knew they were in the presence of someone very special. Ella and I had met several times and had even played some gigs together, but we didn’t know each other so well yet. I was quite honored that she had accepted our invitation, and that we could share our music with her.
By the fall of 2015 I had heard that Ella had moved into an assisted care facility not far from the Old Town School of Folk Music, where I was teaching, and the neighborhood where I lived. Eventually, something inside me clicked and I thought, “Oh. The kids don’t have school next Monday because of the holiday. We should go visit Ella!”
https://www.knowingtrees.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Charlie-IMG_7889.mov
⬆️ 🎶 Turn on the sound! 🎶 ⬆️
For the rest of my time in Chicago, we had a regular meetup with Ella when school was not in session. I’d stop at the store to pick up some snacks for the kids, a bouquet of flowers, and peppermint ice cream, which was Ella’s favorite.
We’d all gather in a communal room at the facility. This room had a piano and lots of space for us to spread out our instrument case, winter coats and snacks and little siblings would have room to roam freely. The facility staff was always very kind and graciously put up with us moving the furniture around.
Sometimes we’d have lots of families, other times it was just a few. No matter what we’d always have quite a time singing The Cuckoo, This Train, This Little Light of Mine and lots of other favorites! Often, a small crowd of other residents and their caregivers would gather to sing and clap along with us.
I’m not sure how affected the kids were by being in the presence of someone famous, which Ella was. But Ella’s aura was never about fame. The intense, potent energy that one felt in Ella’s presence came from her love of music and community.
When I think back on my time leading the Young Stracke All-Stars, and teaching in Chicago, these are some of my strongest memories. Not memories like stories, but memories of a feeling that, through our visits, we were all able to gather our lessons in music and community and take them out of the classroom and bring them to life in the larger world. In many ways, that world had, at least some way, been opened to us by Ella Jenkins and her music.
It was in afternoons like these, and other days when it was just Ella in me, that she became a very dear friend of mine. I’m not sure she could always remember my name, but I know that she knew who I was and she was always glad to have me visit. We had an understanding that we traveled together in the spirit of music.
I was lucky that she and I had some quiet, peaceful time together on her 100th birthday, last August. Ella was very tired, but the sound of my uke perked her up and soon she was all smiles and lifted up by the music and singing along and playing imaginary drums. As you might imagine, we sang through some favorites; the Cuckoo, This Little Light of Mine and one of her favorites, The Glory of Love as performed by her friend Big Bill Broonzy.
Ella’s spirit traveled on, on November 9, 2024.
It make me sad that I won’t be able to sing with her in person anymore. Thankfully, at least one of her songs comes to my lips every day.
I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to learn so much from her and to have spent so much heart-felt time together.
Putting on a show for all the other residence to celebrate Ella’s birthday.
Click on a photo to see a bigger image.
Jess Baldissero is not only a good friend, she is one of my favorite songwriters. I was honored that she sat with me earlier in the week to discuss the discoveries and accidents of the creative process. We shared some laughs, talked about good times and hard times and we each played a few songs.
Getting to Know Trees knowingtrees.com · Songwriters' Exchange with Jason McInnes and Jess Baldissero
Three tracks from The Hermit, my debut solo album are streaming during the pre-order period. The full album will be released June 28, 2024 on Bandcamp.
http://joybird.bandcamp.comPick up Jess’s music, featuring her band Joybird, at Bandcamp also.
It was standing room only at Books on the Bosque yesterday for the launch of Bosque Press‘ ABQ inPrint #7.
Grace was one of about 15 writers who read part or all of their piece which is published in this years’ edition.
She wrote about meeting famed Chicago muralist Hector Duerte. The piece which she speaks about, Corazón Remendado (Stitched Heart), can be seen here.
Thank you to everyone at Bosque Press and Books on the Bosque for creating such a welcoming, inspiring event.
I think probably everybody has some sort of healing dream. And so as you journey through the different songs, maybe little, little parts of the dream are falling into place or coming true.
Tisa Batchelder
I’m honored to share this audio essay by my good friend, and one of my very favorite musical artists, Tisa Batchelder.
In this essay Tisa talks about her album, Dream Girl, which you can find on Bandcamp.com.
Tisa Batchelder
Album Release Celebration
Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023
a Martyrs’ in Chicago
One of my most cherished musical memories is of the four of us standing backstage and hearing the sold-out crowd stomping and chanting,
I loved this band so much and this album represents some of my favorite music that I ever made.
It was such a thrill to work with people that had so many good ideas!
As Miki would say, “The classic lineup of piano, banjo and two oboes.”
Our first show was October of 2008 at the Tonic Room.
Our album release show was in February 2012 and our last show was sometime that spring.
And, then . . . I don’t think a decision was made to retire the band. I remember it just kind of happening.
We had taken a long time to make the record. By the time the album came out all four of us were sending our creative energy towards other projects and family life.
It’s a Girl was much more like being in a theater production than any other band I was part of before, or since. Theatrical shows close and so did this band, I suppose.
You can listen to the album for free at bandcamp.
Welles Park, 2022, Ballpoint Pen and Ink, 24″x18″
This is the piece which I alluded to in previous blog post about practicing my greyscale skills.
It is now available for purchase in the gallery.
I worked, on and off, for a year to bring this piece to completion. The slideshow to the left shows a bit of that process.
