On of my most memorable dates was when, as a 19 year old, I was tethered from a rope, taken air borne – swung round and round – and had to land on the back of a galloping, white pony. I was an “audience volunteer” at a traveling circus tent show.  The exhilaration from performing with City Farm Band comes very close to this experience!

Performing and Music – singing, especially – have always been the most thrilling part of my life.  My musical background consists of my older sister, Gail, demonstrating how to sing in harmony when I was 4.  From there my singing “career” sizzled.  I entered and won various 4-H and elementary school talent shows.  The only thing I liked about my five year sentence at an all-girls Catholic high school was singing 3-part harmony in the choir.  To make up for the stayed environment of those years, weekends were spent running wild at blue grass festivals in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties.

The past two decades I’ve indulged in my passion for acting as the Leading Lady in various community and professional theater productions.  I am not sure if it was my costume or my rendition of “Always True to You in My Fashion” that brought down the house when I played  “Lois Lane” in Kiss Me Kate wearing fishnets and a skimpy bustier with garters.

I continued to sing professionally at The Ritz Carlton, area malls, and private parties with a Dickinson-esque roaming singing ensemble.  We performed from Thanksgiving up through Christmas Eve.  My holiday social calendar was shot but the money was great!  Although I like many genres of music, bluegrass has been a common thread in my life since I was 15; a prerequisite for who I dated was that they had to play the guitar.  It followed that my college flame loved and played the best of it.  I was happy as a lark when our dates consisted in staying at home with him playing and me singing my heart out.  To further my performing jollies prior to City Farm’s formation, I was part of a bluegrass band that played the Moose Lodge and American Legion circuits: Cedar Run.

Current Favorites:

Songwriters: Tim O’Brien and John Prine;

Female Vocalists: Sarah McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, Allison Krauss and Barbara Streisand

 Bluegrass Bands: Blue Highway, Union Station, and Front Range

Instrumental Bluegrass Song: “We Hide & Seek;” from Jerry Douglas’ CD Slide Rule

Causes: The Wildlife Rescue League of Northern Virginia