General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Song covers that are better than the originals. [View all]DFW
(54,325 posts)My invitation to play there grew out of a misunderstanding. I was visiting my wife (then-girlfriend) in December of 1974 when she was still a student in Münster, and we were both 22 years old. She said there was some folk music in town with an American singer attending, and to bring my guitar along. So I did. Imagine my embarrassment when I found out it was a formal concert. Here we were standing in line to pay the entrance fee, and I had a big guitar case with me! I explained that I was sorry, I had misunderstood the nature of the event, and could I leave my guitar case somewhere.
The presenter of the concert was intrigued at ANOTHER American showing up with a guitar (and I even spoke German!), and asked if I wanted to play in the intermission. I said, sure, why not? So I did, and got such a huge response that the guy told me he put on a huge folk festival every March, and if I were going to be back in Germany in March, he would like to invite me to play. I had never done anything of the sort, and it sounded like great fun, so I said OK, and planned to return to Germany in March. When I got there, I saw that the theme of the festival was Scottish folk music, and I was anything BUT Scottish. This is where I first met Eric, along with some other Scottish legends of the day, such as Hamish Imlach, Iain MacKintosh, Mike Whelans, Cilla Fisher and a lot of etc. I figured that I could not be more out of place with my instrumental Leo Kottke style of 12 string guitar. Well, wonder of wonders, I had great response, and even got a glowing review in the newspapers covering the festival, resulting in a few solo tours (while setting up my day job at the same time!). The Scots all accepted me as an oddball Scot (I talked funny and didn't drink), and some of us even did a few improvised numbers on stage together.
I used to love those things. But we all grow up some time, don't we?