The past 10 months have been quite a whirlwind. I lost my hair, lost a lot of time, and had a number of setbacks. I’m trying hard to catch up, but I don’t think that’s actually possible. So, I guess it’s best to forge ahead.

I’ve added a number of cover songs to my repertoire, and getting ever so closer to writing new songs. I’ve also had the extreme pleasure of backing some of my friends, on vocals, harmonica, and percussion, or as Dave Fry calls it, “atmosphere”. I really do love being in that supporting role. I suppose it’s a lot like being the sous chef.

One of the most exciting things that has happened recently is that I’ve received an endorsement from Alvarez Guitars. This is a couple of years in the making, and I’m proud to say that I’ve been named an Alvarez Guitars Breakthrough Artist, on their website. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and there I am. Photo credit goes to my friend, Brian McCloskey, who captured one of my more passionate moments. I appreciate the support, and all I can say is, perseverance pays off.

And speaking of perseverance, I finally memorized all of the words to After the Gold Rush. But I haven’t memorized all of the words to Gentle on My Mind. The problem is I’ve always learned song lyrics while driving in the car. I’m that person you see in your rear-view mirror, singing out loud, and tapping the rhythm on the steering wheel. These days, I rarely drive more than 15 minutes at a time. Except for last Monday, when I took a gorgeous road trip to Sergeantsville, NJ.

That’s right, Beth Sherby and I were guests of Gordon Thomas Ward, on These Days on WDVR-FM. We had such a great time. It was a two-hour program, and we filled it with conversation, and live performance. If you’d like to listen to the program, you can find it on my SoundCloud channel. I think you’ll be amused and entertained.

What’s next?

Four years ago, I had the opportunity to open for Amelia White at Godfrey Daniels. We’ve kept in touch, and as luck would have it, I have the opportunity to play an opening set for her, this Friday night at Godfrey’s. Amelia is a Nashville songwriter extraordinaire. No Depression mag says this of her latest record: Home Sweet Hotel is a “Superb Set of Lonely Country Love Songs.” If you dig the raw, gritty, stripped-down song, direct from the songwriter, then this is just for you. Click here to reserve seats.

And of course, I must tell you about an upcoming show that is very important to me, and to our community. It’s a Concert to Benefit the Bethlehem Homeless Shelter, featuring Karen and Amy Jones, Billy Bauer duo, and Dina Hall Band. All profits go to the Shelter. I’m inviting each and every one of you to this concert. This will sell out, so c’mon, get your tickets tonight, while you’re warm and cozy.

“We hoped for snow on Christmas, but all we got was rain.” – from Michael, music & lyrics by Dina Hall

It’s taken me a couple of days to reflect on the New Year’s Eve gig and the entire holiday season as well.

First, I have to acknowledge how wonderful it was to share the Godfrey Daniels stage, in-the-round with Dave Fry and Sam Steffen, for the second year in a row. Watching Sam evolve as a human being and as an artist over the last few years has been a real treat. He continues to grow like a tall tree with long, strong branches.

And I’ve been fortunate to learn from Dave in the most vulnerable situations you can imagine. You stand on that stage, with the audience close enough for you to touch them, and they can see every muscle twitch, every bead of sweat on your face. They can hear every breath you take. Heck, they can probably hear your heart beat and see it pounding in your chest when you realize you don’t remember the words to that song that you’ve sung at least a hundred times before. And that’s exactly what happened.

photo by Brian McCloskey

Ever since I started radiation therapy, I’ve had spasms, and tingling and numbness in the fingers on my left hand. It gets particularly intense when I play guitar, and I’m doing my best to overcome the discomfort. On top of that, the anti-estrogen drug has caused my hot flashes to increase in frequency and intensity.

At some point during the show, I realized that I was not in control of my body. I had to surrender to whatever was going to happen. I knew I would need the audience to understand what was happening, otherwise, I would simply fumble my way through the songs and that would be embarrassing. So, on my next turn, I prepared to play Michael, a song written in the first-person voice of a homeless man. I took a long, deep breath, and acknowledged my discomfort aloud, all the while trying to remember how to start the song. I stopped and started the rhythm twice until I settled into a groove, and the words came to me, from somewhere deep inside my brain. I focused on my voice, and I trusted in that audience that was close enough to touch. I knew that if I faltered, THEY would hold me up. And with that one song – in those four and a half minutes – somehow I was able to regain control of my body.

That’s our folk community. Thank you all, even if you aren’t reading this.

Lastly, I’m pleased to say that Gail and I enjoyed a very sweet Christmas with our children. The highlight of it all was having my baby granddaughter fall asleep in my arms at the end of a wonderful day.

Here’s to 2016, everyone. Cheers!

Did you know that on a rainy day it can take an hour and a half to drive from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Emmaus, Pa to my home in Bethlehem, Pa? Ordinarily that trip takes only 25 minutes. I’m just glad I had a driver today.

This is the follow-up to my recent post about chemotherapy. Today, I endured my last treatment. Endured is the word, because it generally takes the nurses three tries to get the IV into a vein. Some have a gift for this, others don’t, I guess. At some point we had a small chorus of women singing Karen Carpenter songs, in an effort to help me relax. That was a hoot.

Anyway, on the ride home, I just kept thinking about the folks there at the hospital who still have a long road ahead of them. Mine was pretty short, and I’m grateful for that. Gail and I also send our gratitude to Judy and Nina, for driving me, and sitting with me through the treatments.

Here’s a link to a little clip of the traditional ringing of the bells at the end of the last treatment.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152943044371595

I’m home now, ready to rest and prepare for whatever the next few weeks will bring. Radiation will commence in a little over a month, so I’m taking some time off. And no singing until October. Hopefully, I’ll be back, stronger than ever.

I want to thank everyone who sent messages and cards, and gave smiles and words of support, and offered hugs. It has been so difficult for me to reject hugs and other close physical contact during this time, but my immune system is down, and I can’t risk illness or infection. I will hug you all very soon!

– Dina

Hair. It keeps our head warm in winter and prevents sunburn in summer. Some of us have hair and some of us don’t. I started out with very short hair. My mom used to cut it, over the sink. She would cut and cut until she got the bangs straight – or so she thought. I didn’t care, I was a tomboy. In fact, I will never forget the owner of the Chinese restaurant who looked at me in my plaid shorts and Eisenhower Elementary School t-shirt, and asked, “You boy or girl?”

In the 90s, I became a mom, and I had really long, curly hair. That only lasted a few years, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. It literally gave me a headache. So I got it cut, back to a pixie. It was so liberating. Since 1999, I’ve gotten a haircut every three weeks. Every time I sat in the chair, my stylist (and friend) Diane asked, “Same as usual?” And I just nodded. She would change it a little bit every once in a while, and it evolved with time.

Today, I sat in that same chair, and when Diane asked, “What are we doing today?” I said, “Shave it all off.”

You see, most of my hair fell out over the last few weeks, as a result of chemotherapy treatments. I’m undergoing chemotherapy treatments because I have breast cancer. I guess you’re supposed to say that in the present tense, but it really feels like it’s in the past. My surgery was completed in June, and the prognosis is very good. I won’t go into details about the cancer because that’s not what I’m writing about.

I’m writing about chemotherapy. This weirdly barbaric, kill-all-that-bad-shit-and-maybe-some-good-stuff, you’ll-get-through-it, my wife’s sister’s husband’s cousin’s aunt’s father’s daughter went through that last year, make sure you flush the toilet twice because that stuff is poison, so-called treatment. It ain’t an easy ride. It’s sickening, but it’s different for everyone. I’m doing my very best to deal with it.

Some of you have seen me in the last week or so, and you know that I’m wearing the bandanas regularly. Of course that was easy for me, but I’ll tell you what, it gets tiring. Remember what I said about my long hair literally giving me a headache? The bandana can give me a headache too, after a long work day.

I’ve been working shorter shifts at my day job, and sleeping a whole lot. My gig schedule is very light for now. Once chemotherapy is complete, I’ll start to beef things up again. But, here it is, August, and I expect to see many of you at Musikfest at least once during the 10 days. I have three shows scheduled, and I promise to give you my very best at each one of those.

So, I pondered this for days. Why should I write this? Is it really necessary? Gail and I came to this conclusion. In her words, “People care about you. You can tell them. Also, if they know ahead of time, they will be able to just enjoy the show and not wonder what’s wrong with you.” I agree with her. Please know that I appreciate every one of you, and I know that you wish the best for us. I also need to say that I don’t want to talk about the cancer. I’m focusing on a healthy outcome and that is all.

I want to publicly thank my very dear friends and family for helping Gail and me during the past few months. Regina, and Beth, for stepping in when I really needed to lean on someone. They took the pressure off me and took the show into their own hands. Andy, for doing the heavy lifting when I was weak. Nick, for wrangling the cowpokes for rehearsal. Nina, for dropping everything to take care of me, when I needed it most. Kiera, for so many little things, and reminding me that I am amazing. Donna, for babysitting me and almost giving me a bath. Ramona, for holding the net while I rested. My sister Judy, there is no bond that is greater. And Gail, my Wonder Woman, she is holding up the universe right now.

Peace and love to you all. I’ll see you very soon!
Dina

There are two times of the day that I have my own undivided attention, with nobody else around, and I actually make my best decisions. Let’s call one of those times “indisposed” and the other “bathing”. Both take place in the same room of my house.

Last week, as I was washing my hair in the shower, I realized that I have only written two songs since releasing Logic and the Heart in October 2011. This was a very discouraging revelation which led me to think about why I haven’t written more.

Life got in the way. So many things have happened in the past three years and I simply had no time to sit and create new songs. I found just enough energy to work on songs written by other people, which I already knew, and worked them into my repertoire. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it’s not what I had expected, or planned.

Now, here it is the beginning of 2015 and I’m starting to write again. I have a few kernels of songs ready to pop. I’m working with my best pal, Beth Sherby, on a song that she started and asked me to co-write. We got together last night to work on that tune and also to warm up our for our gig next Friday night. I’ll say this, Beth grounds me as a musician. She runs circles around my guitar-playing, but our voices blend magically. Here’s a little taste of what happened when we played a cover of Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. The camera angle isn’t great and neither is the vocal balance, but those are the perils of using the iphone. Click to watch the video. It’s worth it.

Now it’s Sunday night, and I’ve just come home from Open Mike at Godfrey Daniels. There were only eight of us and it was snowing pretty hard, so we modified the format to be an acoustic song swap circle. Two times around and that would be it. On the second round, Mike Duck, a.k.a. Not For Coltrane, started a song “written by a friend” and I recognized it instantly. It was Logic and the Heart, and he was playing a wonderfully upbeat rendition of it. This simple act revealed something for me: it’s very exciting hear a song you’ve written and recorded when it’s playing on the radio, but it’s a whole other feeling when you hear someone else perform it. Yes, it’s flattering, but more than that, it’s validating. (and yes, I played along because I was the only other person in the room who knew the chords.)

Cheers to my friends, and thank you for sharing your craft.

This is also posted on the Godfrey Daniels blog.

I had the great privilege of spending yesterday with my good friend Dave Fry, at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. It was my first time at the fest (I know, What?!) and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to make that memory. As we toured the grounds, Dave introduced me to some of the Philly Folk Fest ‘royalty’, gave me a sneak peek into the backstage operations, and shared his memories of his early days as a performer and emcee at the festival.

I also reconnected with some friends that I haven’t seen in quite some time. Dave and I talked about the local music community, and the greater folk community and how good artists cross that bridge and how they do it well. At the end of the day, we snacked on peach pie, and enjoyed a couple of the main stage acts. Our favorite act of the day was 10 Strings and a Goatskin, from the North Shore of Prince Edward Island. (side note: Steep Canyon Rangers blew my mind!)

If I can make a simple point here it is this: It is only when I’m in these situations that I remember what an honor it is to be at the helm of Godfrey Daniels. Godfrey’s is part of the history of folk music in the northeast United States. It is respected and revered by internationally touring artists, and national and regional ones as well. We have a treasure here on the southside of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and we must do our best to preserve that.

Thank you to Dave, for sharing all of this with me. And thank you to all of the Members, Volunteers and Artists who keep the music alive! We are a strong community, and a happy one at that.

If you’ve never been to Godfrey Daniels, here’s a link to the website. (http://www.godfreydaniels.org) I hope you can visit soon.

– Dina

Way back in the 1990s, I was rummaging through a used record bin, and came across a compilation called, Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf. I bought it – probably because it included performances by Kathy Mattea, Nanci Griffith, and Emmylou Harris. It also featured some real folk artists – Utah Phillips, Rosalie Sorrells, Tret Fure, Cris Williamson, and John Gorka – but at the time, I had no idea who they were. If I came across this same record today, I’d buy it especially for those folks.

A couple of weeks ago, Dave Fry gave me a live recording of Mollie O’Brien and Nina Gerber to preview for our weekly radio show. As I listened to the recording, I heard Mollie refer to this very same album. I thought, “How cool is it that I have this in my collection?!”

Today, I read a tweet from the Indigo Girls, (who, by the way, I had not heard of in the early 1990s) showing a photo of their performance in the Kate Wolf Music Festival 2014. I went to the festival website and there was a very large, beautiful photo of Joan Baez, whose music I’m starting to learn by heart. The website music started to auto-play and I nearly jumped out of my seat. And I realized that I have come full circle.

Tonight on Live From Godfrey Daniels on WDIY 88.1 Lehigh Valley Community Public Radio, I’ll spin Mollie O’Brien and Nina Gerber’s show as well as cuts from Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf. Tune in or stream it live, 7-9 p.m. www.wdiy.org

Music. It can make us think. It can make us feel sad, or anxious, or even angry. But most often, it makes us happy. And when we play music with others, especially when we sing, endorphins are released in our brains, and that feels better than almost anything else I can think of. I’m sure this is why I’m drawn to songs with harmony, and it’s also why I invite others to play and sing with me whenever possible.

Last month I offered to lend a set of music for an event to benefit Melon’s Gift. Some good friends were performing and they were gracious enough to bring me on for a few songs. I showed up early, ready to jump in whenever I was called on. When the time came, I asked all of the musicians to join in if they felt comfortable. Within minutes, we launched into a 20-minute jam that included Ring of Fire, Love at the Five and Dime, and Angel Montgomery. Of course it wasn’t polished, but I prefer things to be a bit tarnished. I like it that way. It’s organic. Homegrown. Just like fresh vegetables.

Most importantly, this is what happened. We smiled. Everyone smiled. The audience smiled. And the musicians passed happiness back and forth among each other. I cannot put into words how it feels to be in that moment. But I have found that photographers can capture it perfectly. Like this.

These are good old friends. left to right: Regina Sayles, Matt Abell, CJ McKenna, Skip Dietrich, me, Kate Jordan. The photo was taken by Rose Meola.

Me and Dave Fry. photo by Gail Lehman

Beth Sherby and me. photo by Gail Lehman

This spring and summer, I plan to do more of this. Watch for these things to happen spontaneously, and enjoy the moment, because you will be a part of something very cool. Cool because you will be a Part of it, and you will know the feeling when it happens.

Today was one of those awesome Sundays that you can’t plan or predict. At the suggestion of a neighbor, Gail and I took a ride over to Flint Hill Farm, to check out all that they do there. We really didn’t know what to expect, and when we arrived we were pleased to see some friends.

Gail loves to grow vegetables, so we toured the gardens with our friends Dave Reber and Mike Holliday, who were also there to play music in the big barn.

A little while later Dave Fry invited me to play some songs with him. I didn’t have my guitar so I played Dave’s while he played mandolin. In these instances Dave plays music for the families – the kids and the adults that accompany them. It’s not what I do, but I sure do appreciate what it takes to do it well. The kids are fabulous, especially when they really get into it.

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

We traded some grownup folk songs too, with Mike Holliday sitting in too. Somewhere during the seventh verse of a Dylan tune, I looked over to see Gail standing nearby, holding a leash, with goat on the other end. That’s what happens when you visit a farm.