When exactly we played our first contra-dance is a bit of a mystery, was it late 1988 or early 1989? Anyway I met Tom VanCleve and Fred Haver who were experienced dance musicians (they had already played a few dances). Being nice guys they let me join in with my guitar and fiddle. We picked the name after seeing a bit on the second Bob Newhart show where Larry Darrel and Darrel described a menu item at their dinner.
The number of musicians has frequently changed over the years, but the through line is Fred plays piano and I play the fiddle. Jill Moore is playing with guitar with us now and dancers seem to like what we’re doing.
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