Craft: Exploring Creativity

If, like me, you’ve listened to Prairie Home Companion for years, you know the Hopeful Gospel Quartet. Half of the Quartet is Robin and Linda Williams, a folk duo with 40 years of performing in their past. Their latest album is Back 40, an interesting retrospective of their career in which they re-recorded various songs that had for various reasons not been as successful or as well-known as they’d liked them to be.

They wrote or co-wrote 11 of the 14 songs on the album with the rest by luminaries like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Hank Williams. Tune in to find out the background to some of the songs and which one of their albums I just couldn’t get to work for me, not matter how many times I listened.

They will be performing at the Midland Theater on November 21 at 7:30. Be there!

The Craft of Robin & Linda William

Doug Dangler

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Dar Williams has been singing, playing, and writing great music for a while, but Columbus has a special place in her heart since it’s where, in 1994, she opened for another well-known singer at Six String Concerts and gained a duet partner for her cover of a great Pink Floyd song. First person to ID the song or the partner gets a free book (pick up at WCBE 90.5FM in Columbus, Ohio). Catch her in Columbus with Six String Concerts on November 9th.

Craft interview with Dar Williams

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Barbara Allen and Bill Sabo from Columbus Unscripted tell me about how they got infected with the improv bug and why just the mention of a city, a color of paint, and a fruit can set them off into improv-ing. Be careful, listeners, the improv bug is spreading in Columbus, especially at the Second Annual Columbus Unscripted Improv Festival on October 24-27.

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Looking for something to do in Columbus on October 18? Check out Six String Concerts performer Nels Andrews. During our interview, he opens up about his writing style, which involves his chauffeuring job with “The Countess of Glamor” and the “deep emotional pining” necessary to write his songs.

Nels Andrews interview

I’ll be covering the Ohio Comic Con this year. See you there!

Ohio Comic Con ǁ Columbus ǁ Greater Columbus Convention Center ǁ Wizard World Ohio.