I had a great time at the Georgia Renaissance Festival this year.  It was a huge success for many reasons.  Though it still had its challenges.  One of which forced me to cancel the final weekend.

This is the first time I can ever remember canceling a gig.  I beat myself up over it.  But health takes precedence, and my doctor advised against it.  So I took the final weekend off, missing out on the grand huzzah of the last weekend of Faire.

Despite my health, the whole run was a blast.  One of the things I always loved about performing at Ren Faires is that it gives me a chance to grow musically.  I spend most of the day playing music.  I'm not great at practicing at home.  So get me in a location where I have plenty of time to do so, and that's all I can do, and I flourish.

Every morning, I sat on the steps of the pub before my show and played Celtic songs I know.  I tried out new rhythms.  I practiced the same songs over and over.  I watched the response of people as they entered the festival.  By the end, I found some new favorites, including “Ye Jacobites By Name“, “Leaving of Liverpool“, “I'll Tell My Ma“, and a new song I wrote for my wife in Ireland last year (still to be named).

My pub shows started mixing some of these songs into the set list.  It was a different set from last year when I had more drinking songs in the show.  These had a bit more rhythm.  I know people love the wild, crazy, rambunctiousness of songs like “Old Dun Cow“, but I prefer the groove and rhythm of “Johnny Jump Up” and “Jacobites” more.  That's probably because it's a LOT less exhausting… but it also makes my body move.

Back in college, I was a ballroom dancer.  I love to dance.  I still wish I had dancers at my shows.  But I understand why I don't.

To compliment my fun pub show, I had a ballad show at the Oasis.  This is a beautifully designed Turkish tent-style stage, complete with a wooden camel.  The show was right after the joust, during the hottest part of the afternoon.  A nice breeze usually blew through at 3 o'clock when my show officially began.  Though I usually started early because this was my ballad set.  I love ballads.

I've never had a stage where ballads actually worked.  I don't know how much of that is a state of mind or the beautiful circumstances of a peaceful oasis.  Whatever the case, I played eight to twelve of the most-beautiful Celtic songs ever written.  Most had stories that I could share as well.  So in between, I offered a wee bit o'Celtic education.  I hugged my autoharp and sang, immersed in the beauty and an experience I rarely enjoy.  It was bliss.

The best thing about the weekends were the people.  Patty and Deb came to every show and helped out by selling CDs or carrying stuff for me as I made the trek to the Oasis.  I'm very grateful to them.  They are the reason I decided to make a limited-edition run of Celtic Cat hoodies.

It rained a lot at the festival and when I broke five strings in one day from the humidity.  Patty even turned those strings into pretty bracelets for me to sell and recoup the money lost that weekend.

Quite a few Gunn Runners made the journey and made a special stop to watch my pub or ballad shows.  I feel extremely blessed.  When a musician starts out at a faire, they have no one watching their shows.  Most aren't great at hawking shows.  It's not until they make a splash and get people excited enough to come back a dozen times that they finally have audiences.  That is a crappy feeling.  I still get that at some Ren Faires.  But here, I never had a crappy show.  There was always someone there to hear me perform.  It was awesome!

All in all, I had a wonderful time at the Georgia Renaissance Festival.  I am hopeful that they will have me back again next year, but only time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm gearing up for another brilliant vacation to Scotland.