Tell us about your tour vehicle.
The only touring I ever really did was in Europe and I traveled by train or rented car. In France Jacques Vassal drove me to each gig in his car.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I was mostly invited to eat in the homes of people where I was playing. Always good and mostly healthy food offered.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
In over 40 years of performing I never broke a string on my guitar which was pretty amazing considering I used to change tunings up and down for every few songs. Just lucky I guess. I would usually put a new set of strings on after 3 or 4 gigs. Strings are still pretty reasonably priced.
Where do you rehearse?
I always liked to practice and rehearse in my little woodworking shop where I built a couple of nice guitars and a banjo. Good vibes and privacy there.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
The first song I ever wrote was in 1970. It was called “Call Me Your Brother” and I think the first line went something like….” You say you’re looking for my kind of man, to pick up your hat and tend to your land… ” Kind of silly I guess, but it seemed like serious business when I was 17 or 18 years old.
Describe your first gig.
My first gig was at my high school variety talent show when I was 17. I played a Leonard Cohen song and did a duet with another girl of Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”. My first so called “real” gig I guess was a few months later at a little folk club in Athens, Georgia called The Last Resort. The first night I made $18 with a pass the hat arrangement.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Now retired, but my last day job was driving a truck for a local newspaper to have the papers printed up. My favorite day job was repairing stereos and turntables when I was about 20 years old for a shop in Doraville, Ga. called Fidelicom.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
I never made much money at all with my music with gigs, records, or royalties and don’t expect that to change much, but I never started making music to make money in the first place. I just did it because it was what I loved to do.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I suppose I might have tried to make my voice sound less like a young Bob Dylan when I cut my first couple of records even though it was basically the way my voice really sounded. I got beat up pretty badly by some powerful critics of the time for that. On the other hand, had I sounded differently, would anyone have paid any attention at all? A question I have pondered for years, but either way I am most grateful to have had the opportunity to have my songs heard in any way and I feel lucky as heck to live in a time where the internet has connected anyone and everyone and has given my old songs and records a chance to be heard by people who in the past would never have heard them.