Carolyn Cruso – November 7, 2010

     Yesterday’s House Concert was SO grand – the perfect mix of mellow music played by a musician we have known for years, a great audience, and fabulous food.  Carolyn Cruso, like many of our musician friends, plays several instruments.  She is accomplished on the hammered dulcimer, flute, guitar and recorder (and probably on others I don’t know about.)  She is a vocalist, as well, and almost all of what she sings and plays is original music inspired by a life rich in experience and variety.
     It was Carolyn who encouraged us to begin hosting House Concerts by lending us a book on the subject.  That was back in 2001 and since then we have sponsored seven or eight concerts a year and have become friends with a wonderful array of musicians and music-appreciators.  Our party line is that it’s our way of supporting the arts, but really and truly, we have found that it’s the most expedient-ever method of having continuing access to live music in the best of all settings and surrounded by people we love.
     Sponsoring House Concerts has also enabled us to get up close and personal with a number of instruments that we otherwise would have heard only from afar.  I doubt that I could name them all.  There have been many guitars, of course, and as many techniques and skills as guitarists.  (Steve Cheseborough’s bottle-neck slide comes to mind,)  We’ve had three kinds of harps – Celtic, concert, and Jew’s – violins, cellos, recorders, penny whistles, flutes,  mandolins, banjos and clarinets.  We’ve even had a didgeridoo from the aboriginal culture of Australia!
     All that wonderful music, live, in our very own living room!  It doesn’t get better than that.  Our cadre of musician friends seems to grow exponentially.  One performer tells another; the requests to do an ‘Oysterville House Concert’ increase.  We have been contacted by musicians from as far away as Canada and Florida who would like to include us on their ‘circuits.’  If we could guarantee audiences for them all, we could probably host a concert a week.  Whew!  What a glorious concept!