A Christmas Greeting

One of the little joys of Christmas is that the holiday has its own music. Sure, at Thanksgiving we can sing We Gather Together or Come, Ye Thankful People, Come, but seriously, when was the last time you saw an artist promoting their latest collection of Thanksgiving classics?

This Christmas, a few songs have settled into a groove. I'll Be Home for Christmas is one. Doug's remarkable performance of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus with Three Preachers and a Drummer provided new appreciation for that tune. The song that has settled for me this year, though, is John Jacob Niles' I Wonder As I Wander.

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor, orn'ry people, like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

Niles wrote this Christmas song from a fragment of a melody he heard in an Appalachian church in 1933. The song tickles my memory, as music as the power to do.

Hoping that it will bless your Christmas as well, I made a recording of I Wonder As I Wander in my home studio and uploaded it to ReverbNation. Use this link to listen. If you would like, you can also download the MP3 file from my ReverbNation page. Look for the little down arrow symbol to the right of the song title.

I hope this Christmas fills you with wonder and that the celebration lights up your day.

Merry Christmas!
Dean

Heading on Toward Christmas, Two Benefit Performances

All the inside decorating is done at our house.  The tree is up.  The nativity set is out, along with assorted candles, pillows, towels, and our nativity scene snow globe that plays Silent Night.  We've had it for most of our married life, and it became part of our tradition a long time ago.  The only decorating that's left to do is outside.

Musically, this weekend holds the last performances of the year for me, and in the spirit of the season, they're both benefits.

This Thursday through Sunday, Beasley's Orchard in Danville, Ind., will have Christmas at the Orchard. Visit their web site to get all the details on the events in both the Old Barn Market and the Warm Tent of Wonderland. They have a whole weekend of music planned, and it will be my pleasure to provide music on Friday afternoon from 3:00 until 6:00. Proceeds from the festival benefit Project A.N.G.E.L.

Then on Saturday, my friends Holly Smith and Rick Garrett, a.k.a. Patchwork, have organized a benefit for PourHouse at Strange Brew in Greenwood. It will be twelve full hours of music and fun starting at 8:00 Saturday morning and featuring the delicious food and wonderful coffees and teas at Strange Brew.

I'm thrilled to be playing a one-hour set starting at 12:30, and I plan to stick around for the acoustic jam that starts at 2:00.  They have received several nice donations, and the raffle drawing for those items will be at 7:00.

Finally, a word from our sponsor. The holidays typically stand as a reminder of the tendency to over-indulge. We can go overboard on a lot of things, especially our desire to spend and consume. That said, however, the holidays also provide an opportunity to remember those dear to us. Music can be a nice way to let people know you thought of them.

Imagine how much fun it would be to delight your friends and family by putting My Dog Jesus in their Christmas stocking. I'm serious; I ain't misbehavin'. You can make some precious memories, and they'll all be feelin' groovy. It really is a simple gift, so please drop by the web site or CD Baby to share a little Dean for the holidays.

Ready or not, here comes Christmas. May its many blessings find their way to your heart and home.

Blessings,
Dean

Old Friends, New Venue

Friday night will find me sharing the stage with Patchwork once again. Rick, Holly and I always enjoy playing together. We have fun, and that usually translates into everybody having a good time.

We'll be playing on the north side of Indianapolis, at a new venue for us. Bar Louie is located in Carmel at 14299 Clay Terrace Blvd. It's an over-21 venue, but it's also smoke-free. This will be our first time there, and we hope not the last.

You may notice that after December, there's not a lot on the calendar. That's intentional. After a pretty intense performance schedule this year, I want to lay back for a couple of months. During January and February, I'll be building the calendar for 2010. I'll also polish up some new tunes and get ready for a year of fun at festivals and farmers' markets, coffee shops and churches.

As the year winds down and Christmas approaches, the pace seems to pick up. So much needs to be done, but don't forget to pause every now and then and take a breath. Enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the season so that when Christmas arrives, you'll have joy enough to share.

Advent blessings,
Dean

A Time for Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving morning in the Phelps household. We'll be celebrating away from home later in the day, which presented the opportunity to sleep in, an opportunity for which I'm extremely thankful! And as the year winds down into the holidays, Thanksgiving presents an opportunity to reflect on the many blessings this year has brought.

Because of online social networks, I've been able to reconnect with friends and former classmates, the kind of folks I would sometimes wonder about, "Whatever happened to..." In days gone by, I would have continued to wonder. We are blessed to live in an amazing time.

One of those reconnections was a woman I often sang with back in Lexington. Jennifer Yount Baker and I sang together in various groups and always for fun. She made the trip to Danville and Lexington last weekend, giving us the chance to harmonize again.

Since moving to Indianapolis, it's been a blessing to make so many friends that I've been able to play music with and who have encouraged me to keep working, to record, to develop the thumbstyle guitar, and to start writing lyrics.

The high point of the year, musically speaking, has been sharing in Richard Propes' 20th Anniversary Tenderness Tour and having If You Come Up Empty included on the compilation CD, Give a Girl a Chance. Looking at the list of artists included on that album is humbling to say the least. I often joke that it's the only time my name can be used in the same sentence with Carrie Newcomer.

However, folks like you are the blessing I least want to overlook, folks who read these posts, come out to shows, buy CDs, share my music with your friends and offer your support and encouragement. You bless me more than you could know. Thank you for being friends and fans.

My prayer is that this Thanksgiving finds you grateful. Whether you are celebrating with a large group of family and friends, gathered in a more intimate group, or just going about the normal business of your life, may this holiday and this season be a time of grateful reflection for you as well.

Blessings,
Dean

Back to the Bluegrass This Weekend

You can take the boy out of Kentucky, but sooner or later he'll go back.

This weekend holds the opportunity to return home and play in two wonderful coffee shops located in the heart of the Bluegrass. On Friday night, I go to Danville, Ky. for a two-hour set at The Hub Coffee House and Cafe. The Hub is a delightful cafe in downtown Danville, just a few blocks away from the campus of Centre College.

Then on Saturday, I will play the 9:00 set at Common Grounds Coffee House in Lexington. Common Grounds is in my old stomping grounds near the University of Kentucky campus. It will truly be a return home for me to be back on High Street.

As if that's not enough, the following weekend--after Thanksgiving--I get to go back home again to play a two-hour set at Main and Maple, a coffee shop in old town Nicholasville, Ky. on Saturday evening.

I'm expecting a lot of old friends and a few family members for these shows. If you can't be there, or even if you can, could you help spread the word? I've set up a page on my web site where you can download flyers for each of these shows. You can print them, save them, post them, send them to friends. Anything that helps get the word out will be appreciated.

Having these trips back home will make Thanksgiving extra special for me this year. Wherever you are, I hope that you enjoy a blessed time of gratitude for this holiday.

Frosty Mornings and a Swing Through Kentucky

The past couple of mornings have greeted us with frost on the grass. We're getting the flower beds and our little garden plot settled in to receive the winter snow. Soon the holidays will be here, and I'll be taking a little rest from the year's vigorous performance schedule.

However, a few more gigs have me pumped up for finishing out the year, including more gigs with Patchwork at Strange Brew and at a new venue for me, Bar Louie in Carmel, Ind.

Before and after Thanksgiving, I get to make a swing through central Kentucky and play at some of the finer coffee houses in the Bluegrass. The Hub is located in downtown Danville, just a few blocks from the campus of Centre College. I had a great time playing there earlier this year and look forward to being back on Friday, November 20.

Then on Saturday the 21st, I head to Lexington to play a one-hour set at Common Grounds, located in the Chevy Chase part of Lexington, my old stomping grounds near the University of Kentucky campus. Several friends and family are planning to come out for this one, so it's shaping up to be an outstanding good time.

After Thanksgiving, on Saturday, November 28, I get to make a return trip to Main and Maple in downtown Nicholasville, Ky. You can take the boy out of the Bluegrass, but you can't take the Bluegrass out of the boy. It will be good to visit back home.

I hope this finds you doing well. If you can, come on out for a little fun and acoustic folk before settling in for that long winter's nap.

Happy Birthday, Eddie

When I moved to Indiana in 2005, one of the first people I met was the pastor of Sixth Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Middletown, Ind. We met at a men's retreat where he was leading music, and he told me about the jam session he hosted in the basement of the church on Sunday nights, Sixth Street Sunday Night.

I couldn't resist, so first chance I got, I headed east from Anderson over to Middletown. There I discovered that you could put a couple of accordion players in a room with several guitars, a dobro, two mandolins, a banjo and a penny whistle and create one whale of a good evening of music.

But I left out the harmonica. I met Eddie Russell at Sixth Street, where he is a member. Eddie plays harmonica, and has been playing a lot longer than I've been alive. It's guaranteed that some time during the evening, he's going to break into "San Antonio Rose."

Tonight we celebrated Eddie's 91st birthday at Sixth Street. We had cake and ice cream, pretzels and chips, but mainly we had music. We got out the guitars, tin whistles and accordions and gave Eddie a fitting tribute. And, yes, we played "San Antonio Rose."

Happy birthday, Eddie. You're a great example of continuing to live as long as the good Lord gives you breath.