Trip to Jonesborough.

Early this week Trish and I had a brief trip to Jonesborough, Tennessee, the home of the National Storytelling Festival.  The purpose of the trip was to do some filming in preparation for the 48th National Festival which this year, due to COVID will be produced virtually.

On Tuesday morning Barbara McBride Smith hosted me for an interview studio in which we talked about the past year including the journey Trish and I have had with recovery from Hurricane flooding of our house and also multiple issues related to learning to live in a coronavirus world.

Barbara has great questions for the Studio interview session.

Afterward I made several video spots related to festival promotion and hosting.

The next day the Jonesborough Novelty Band (with which I am privileged to play each year for the Festival weekend) did some filming of music to be interspersed throughout the virtual festival.  Barbara joined with us for Kathryn Windham’s special and unique version of “Show Me The Way To Go Home.”

Playing with Terry Countermine while Barbara sings with the Novelty Band. 

That evening I had a small safely-spaced and fully masked audience of about thirty people while I told the stories I had planned for the Wednesday evening before the festival show this year. That filming will be used to kick off the upcoming Virtual National Festival.

Telling in an actual tent with a real (masked) audience!

Be sure to go to: storytellingcenter.net to get all the details and buy tickets for the Virtual National Storytelling Festival.  It will premier on October 1, 2, and 3 and will continue to run for the following week.  It will be a one-of- a-kind adventure!