The Song Circle Turns 6 on February 10! Join the celebration at Dublin Roasters 1-3 PM

Led by Tomy Wright, here’s his description of our last gathering:

Although we only had 18 attendees this month, five of whom were new, our January 13th Tradition Folk Song Circle (TFSC) at Dublin Roasters was a hoot! We sang thirty songs from fifteen categories of the thirty-five from the Sing Out! Publication, Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Song-book (RUS). And I’d say, we met the spirit of intent when we started six years ago by creating an all-inclusive, family-friendly fun activity for sharing memories of group sing-alongs and of course, meeting F.A.M.E.’s goals, specifically community outreach. The By-name documentation effort was initiated several months after February 2012 by former Board member Karen Fetters and continues on by Board member Dori Bailin, Song Recorder and attendance tracker of some 312 participants as of last month.

Seven previously unsung songs of the 1,200 songs from RUS, puts us at 662. As anyone knows, who comes to the Song Circle, it’s like Forrest Gump’s mother’s famous quote about life, Song Circle “is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” You would have thought it was February already as the Love theme emerged with eight songs in that category, three were actually wedding songs for Ernie Heller, Ed Haser and Rick Hill. Our three Groomsmen led them respectively: Wedding Song, I Know Where I am Going, and Be Thou My Vision.

Turning to our “Death and Dying” citations, this month, it is only after the referee’s review of the Songs Sung Instant Replay Dori Bailin, added two songs of nuanced degree: Annie Laurie with the prospect of dying on the part of the narrator, “And for bonnie Annie Laurie I’d lay me [down] an d[ie].” (Subtle, eh?) And the controversial Lord of the Dance, where death was the intent, but Resurrection was the result.

Speaking of song statistics, here’s Dori’s latest endeavor: F.A.M.E. Traditional Folk Song Circle Top Ten Requested Songs Since 2012:

#1 Country Roads (x27),

#2 Ripple (x21),

#3 (Three way tie x19): Dock of the Bay , If I Had a Hammer, Teach Your Children,

#6 Blowin’ in the Wind (x18),

#7 (Two-way tie x17), Five Hundred Miles and Goodnight Irene,

#9 (Two-way tie x15) Edelweiss & Four Strong Winds.

(You Are My Sunshine (x58) even though it has been requested prior to becoming our official opening song, we don’t count it in the rankings. Goodnight Irene was our official closing song, but not sung since 2016).