Staying In Tune

I want to a concert last night, billed as Shawn Colvin (most familiarly of the hit "Sunny Came Home"). She came out for the first few pieces, which were really great...and then started talking about how she was nostalgic for the days when she played with Mary Chapin Carpenter, and all of a sudden Chapin was on stage with her! They finished the set together, alternating back-ups and solos and each playing a few signature pieces.

The concert was great, and I was especially taken with the way the energy changed when Mary Chapin Carpenter came on. Of course partly that's because she's a big star, and people were really excited, and surprised, to see her.

But partly it was because all of a sudden a solo act became a duo, and frequently a duet. The prep times were longer--both women spent a fair amount of time getting their guitars in tune, and joking about how long it took them--and sometimes they had to remind each other of the lyrics. So it one way, it could seem that the solo act was more polished, more together. I was so struck, though, by the special experience of seeing two musicians perform together, and especially two musicians who had known and played with each other for so many years. They had great stories to tell of acts in Colorado and Paris and everywhere in between, and they listened for each other's note and knew just when to come in.

It made me think about the people we go through life with: partners, friends, members of our congregations, family, colleagues. And the special joy of experiencing a whole lifetime of work and play with someone, the way that makes the time we spend tuning worth it.

It was a really neat evening. And it prompts me to say thank you to the people in my life who have been singing with me for a while.