The Sweet Chariot Festival has been going on for some 20 odd years, and I could see many people have made longtime friends here. The community and sheer joy of sharing music  reminded me of how I grew up with the Jones School of Folk Music and the Old Town School of Folk Music. Say, if you are within striking distance of the OTS in Chicago I will be returning to play there on Saturday Sep 25th, and then the DuPage County Fairgrounds on Sep 26th. (Info is on murielanderson.com/tour)

We had reconnected after 21 years with former guitar workshop organizer Michael Erkkinen, who happened to be anchoring in a nearby cove during my Monday Live. We sailed over to the other side of the harbor where he had dropped anchor. I donned my pirates cap and we rowed out to his schooner, insisting we were taking over the boat. The guys shared plastic cups of rum and I played some tunes on my McPherson carbon fiber guitar. We watched from there as the festival schooner filled with singers came by and sang shanties to us. There is a short clip you can see on my Youtube channel. I even accompanied them on the Sloop John B. Real stuff of memories. I didn’t imbibe in much rum, as I had a set to play in the concert that evening. Annagret, a German lady who played African drum joined me on A Baker’s Dozen and the French tune.
After the concert we got a ride to Mike Williams’s house where the famous after-party was held. There was great music there as well, and we stayed until late into the night.