Rustic Roots, and their symbiotic companions

Rustic Roots Camp

I decided to visit the East Coast during my weeks between Lark Camp and Ireland, so I reached out to people I've met from the area. Andy Reiner messaged me back with information about a music camp he was directing during my first five days on the East Coast. Part of traveling means accepting opportunities as they come, so I said why not!

After nine hours in airplanes and terminals, I walked outside the airport into the dark and rainy night. A hot, humid breeze immediately washed over my body and I felt my shirt dampen with sweat. John Booker to the rescue. John was a saint for picking me up, and a joy to know. His calm, quiet, and thoughtful ways immediately won me over, and we had some great tunes over a beer at his flat in Jamaica Plain.

Cantharellus cinnabarinus

The next day we picked up his friend Bryant and headed to the woods of north-eastern Connecticut. Rustic Roots was a refreshing change from what I was used to. Lark Camp and The Mill have attendees that number in the multiple hundreds, where Rustic roots had barely twenty.  It was more like a cool camp-out with workshops during the daytime and a campfire jam during the evening.

Andy's fiddle workshop was really useful. He has some interesting tunes, exercises for rhythmic dynamics, and a fabulous impromptu chopping workshop on Monday. I felt an immediate kinship with the other fiddle teacher, Rachael. Her approach to traditional music is similar to mine: find great music and learn it! Rachael's workshop was day after day of learning beautiful tunes.

Cantharellus c. everywhere!

The upside to the rain was that when I got out into the woods there were mushrooms.  I found a species of chanterelle that I had never seen before: Cantharellus cinnabarinus. The beautiful bright orange body of this mushroom make it the among the most beautiful mushrooms I've seen. It speckled the forest floor with it's fiery hues creating quite a scene! We cooked some up and it had a mild chanterelle flavor with peppery overtones.  I also saw a beautifuly green Russula virescens, a raggedy Strobilomyces floccopus, and some strikingly purple Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus.

On the last day of camp my fondest flautist friend Christie arrived, and after an evening of tunes we whisked ourselves away for some more adventures.