Bonnets, banjos and berries

We finished out our Carolina tour with fabulous dances in Asheville at the Grey Eagle and Winston-Salem.

Sideways lines at the Grey Eagle!

With our caller Rodney Sutton

 Our pal Ivar Schloz was an amazing host. He fed and watered us, gave up his beds for the better part of a week, recorded us and let us play his instruments. We have been officially spoiled rotten!

Banjos!

Alan models Ivar's Scottish bonnet

After our recording session

Good times!

Our last night we stayed with Greensboro dancer Rod Edens.

You know you're at a friendly house when you are greeted by a "Welcome Dancer" handtowel!

Rod made us and AMAZING breakfast!

Can you spot Bill?

Cats, sweaters, more mountains & rockin the house!

Well the day started off a glorious 65˚ and got better from there.

 Cat statues in Asheville!

 

Window shopping on our way to breakfast we spotted this sweater in a Scotland store. The golf course is distinctly guitar shaped.

Why? Bill. Because we love him!

Mountains through the smokestacks

 

Mountains through the trees

 

We had a rockin' house concert/contra/party at Stephen Stiebels House in Mebane. Eileen Thorsos called and we were joined by friends Bruce and Cary. It was a great day!

Hell Hot and Heaven Sweet

Today was much more relaxed. Being able to stay in one place three nights in a row is a real treat!

We spent some time in the morning tweaking tunesets on our friend Ivar's sunny back deck while he was out playing Frisbee Golf. We soaked up up the spring sun, drank Ivar's coffee, wrote a tune we called "Pon Hoss Rag" and wondered how on earth "Frisbee Golf" is played.

Then we went for breakfast at The Local Joint in Fairview. Everything was soooo goood, but the best were the blue cheese potato chips. Yum!

We played with jelly beans

Fiddler Fingers and Jelly Beans

This is not a cat

On the way to the gig we saw:

Preaching Hell Hot and Heaven Sweet

Cycle-Antiques-Ice Cream

Another night at the delightfully funky River Falls Lodge! We had a blast with caller Beth Molaro!

Musician's Eye View of the hall. (Note fake rat center stage. This what we looked at while we played.)

A nice chill-out before bed!

Headless Mural, Radio Times, River Falls Funky Fun

Cora-cleen

We desperately need a car wash.

We started our day with a visit to Larry Brown's shop in Weaverville NC. Larry is a luthier who makes gorgeous fiddles and guitars.

Then we headed over to visit Wayne Erbsen at WCQS to record a segment for his radio program Country Roots which will air Sunday March 10 from 7-9pm. (Live streaming here )

We were intriqued by the mural across the street from the radio station.

Did the head used to be on the building? Was this poor planning and they just ran out of room? Maybe the artist wasn't so good with faces? .......
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Then onto the hall at River Falls which is one of the funkiest community halls we've ever seen. It's full of very wonder kitchy stuff and has a SWEET dance floor!

 

Corachree with Caller Dean Snipes

Dancing at River Falls

Thursday: Pon Hoss, Left Aid, Foamhenge and Old Farmer's Ball

We left Bridgewater VA after a yummy breakfast at a funky diner with our friend and host Sandy Parks. Sandy and Jane made a fetching picture while horsing around with the flower arrangement and daring each other to order "pon hoss" (which turns out to be a kind of scrapple with fewer questionable ingredients.)

 The diner had a couple quirky features that begged documentation:

An inexplicable baggie full of water
hanging from the entrance awning

A basket of free cassette tapes

 A quick stop at the local Rite Aid in Harrisonburg provided an opportunity to meet the neighbors with a sense of humor

We stopped at Mark Cline's fantastic Foamhenge, a full-scale replica of Stonehenge constructed from styrofoam.

We didn't climb the hill because the snow and mud were scary slippery.

Arriving at Warren Wilson College for our first dance of the tour - MOUNTAINS!

Dancers at the Old Farmers Ball

After the dance with the team for the night! Corachree with callers Tom Calwell and Myra Hirschberg and our amazing sound crew Weogo and Mike. And Jane with Holly, who invited us to come play. It was a very fun  dance!