On The Road Again

Well, almost on the road again. :-) We'll be toodling up into the wilderness once a week this summer to entertain at a guest camp with a view of the Tetons. I'll be posting dates as we draw closer.

Coming up in April is our Spring Fair for Sublette County. We're playing the same venue as Copper Mountain Band. It'll be great to hear them as well.

Utah Association of Fairs

While we may have felt we had gone where no man has gone before, we just took a jaunt over the hill to Salt Lake City and the Utah Association of Fairs Convention. It was our first time to the convention and our first trade show type convention. We had a great time. It's always fun to see other performers and check out what is available for the fairs. This bird along with it's feathered and scaly friends were just a few of the offerings.

We had a crazy day checking out guitar shops and trying out some awesome guitars. We got a few shots inside Intermountain Guitar and Banjo shop which we weren't sure WE would even SEE the inside of. This is a serious vintage guitar shop and because we were invited back we WILL make a repeat trip, hopefully with a load of cash to spend :-)

My favorite thing in the shop had to be the wolf hound. He was the sweetest fifteen year old wolf hound German Shepard cross. I won him over, and him me, and the rest is history :-)

I love the people and animals we meet along the way. I really think I could write a book about the people we meet in other places who know someone from Star Valley. It's amazing to me. Hopefully our travels will be taking us to Utah for some shows this summer. We're looking forward to it, and I know for a fact there will be more than one or two people who know someone from our hometown.

Feast your eyes on the wolf hound, and check back soon to see Cal's latest addition. He took a little trip to Montana and came back with something for his sister to covet.

Good To Be Home

I took this picture rolling into Star Valley around Palisades on my way home from Sun Valley. Gorgeous little place isn't it? As much as I love to travel and sing, I think I love coming home at least as much. We celebrated New Years exchanging family gifts (a belated Christmas celebration) and I'm sporting my headband my niece made me with paper and duct tape. We are nothing if not inventive in our family. She is quite the little artist.

I gave Cal some killer ginger brew. Cal loves a hot ginger bath in the dead of winter.
As promised, I posted some videos from the Holidays and since we spend them apart, The Linfords have no videos of us actually singing together. I'm planning to remedy that in the near future, but until then, enjoy the slim pickin's offered :-)

Carol of the Bells

Little Toy Trains

Merry Christmas

It's been a long lovely Holiday for the Linfords. Cal had some time to sing and play at home in Star Valley and I was Christmas Caroling in Sun Valley Idaho. (I'm the redhead in the pic) :-) We are excited for upcoming shows and musical endeavors. We will be announcing a new guitar soon (hopefully two). I sold my guitar before Christmas thinking I'd save all the money and put it toward a new one, but things happen, as they often do and my guitar paid for Christmas this year. :-) For now I'm playing my Mom's vintage Yamaha. It sounds pretty good with its age and low action. It's a big bodied old thing and I'm grateful to have it. I'll work on putting together some more posts. I've been neglecting the cyber world . . . . .

The Westerner Article

The Linfords were recently discovered by Sacha Jacqueroud editor of the Westerner Journal in Switzerland. Here is the article Sacha wrote about Cal and Teddy:

Sanfte Cowboy-Klänge für Pferdefreunde
Cal und Teddy Linford wissen von was sie singen. Aber darüber hinaus sind die beiden Geschwister als Duo auch überaus begabt, schreiben ihre Musik selber und beehren mit dieser Kombination die Themen der Western-Lebensweise. Wenn The Linfords auftreten, ist es mucksmäuschen still in den Rängen. Die Geschichte in jedem Song berührt. Und das gilt für all diejenigen, die draussen in der Natur arbeiten oder für einige ehrliche Werte einstehen. nsbesondere die Cowboys oder Pferdefreunde. Etwa mit dem Song "Quarter Horse." Dieses Stück erzählt die Geschichte eines kleinen Jungen, der will, dass sein Vater ihm beim Reiten zusieht. Der Song handelt von den Gefühlen, die ein Pferd wie das besungene buckskin-farbene hervorrufen kann.Die CD der Geschwister Linford heisst "We Could Ride" (wir konnten noch reiten). Eine Botschaft im Sinne einer Kritik an die heute oft fehlende Zeit für das Wesentliche, aber auch ein Songtitel der CD. Das Stück "We Could Ride" handelt von den eigenen Kindheitserinnerungen an die von Stiefeln überlagerte Küchentür und die Rodeo-Geschichten vergangener Tage. Um solche und weitere Geschichten auf dieser CD zu erzählen, soll die Musik dezent sein, die Worte untermahlen und die nicht wie heute oft üblich die kargen Sätze ins endlose ausschmücken. Deshalb decken sich The Linfords mit Dave Stamey; es sind ehrliche Geschichten mit einer sanften Melodie. Die Gitarre unterstützt die Stimmen. Mehr entnehmen Sie dem WESTERNER-Journal des Monats Dezember 2011.Hier können Sie die CD in unserem Shop bestellen Hier können Sie ein Abonnement bestellen

Proof of RMAF ~ Billings

We had a glorious time at RMAF, and aside from booking jobs, we go there to share music with some seriously incredible musicians. John Dunnigan being one of them. I seriously tear up at the thoughts of leaving without getting a sufficient dose of Dunnigan :-) We have so many great friends and my favorite thing is getting to see them all again. Amanda and I went vintage clothes shopping at the BEST little shop in Billings and ran into RMAF's Patsy Cline and Trick Roper. (we all share great taste in clothes and music) We played and sang with some amazing people and watched some great showcases. It was hard to leave in the end. The travels to and from are always an adventure. I always get some pics of the road and Cal and I actually travel well together. I know, who would have thunk it. We came up on this van and I said, "Cal, that looks like a dead animal strapped to the top of the mini-van." Cal thought, no, just a piece of furniture, but alas when we drew close, we saw it was indeed someones fall kill. Ironic for the butcher and jerky girl to encounter this on our way to sing. We did NOT offer to process it for them.

Our Great Uncle Avard Linford on my fathers side designed and built a bridge somewhere in the Big Sky area of Montana and after checking out every bridge from here to there, we came upon the most likely one and took a picture. I need to do some digging around in the family history and see if this really is "his" bridge.

From Idaho to Montana, the landscape gets more rugged and the rocks and boulders litter the landscape. I love the feel of Montana, just as I do Idaho and Wyoming.

The area of Idaho we drove through was windswept and full of blue skys on the way there, and dirt blown brownouts on the way back.

RMAF 2011

RMAF 2011

Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs

Billings was fantastic this year. We spent a lot of time playing, singing, talking, listening and almost no time at all eating or sleeping. It was awesome. Some of the highlights were jam sessions with fantastic artists, chatting with Nashville songwriters and bands I listened to growing up. To know these guys on a personal level is one of the many reasons I have chosen music as my career.

We have some exciting things in the works, a few contracts for summer work and some new friends and great video footage.