The whole thing started because I was writing a lot of songs, until I had so many I didn't know what to do—the proverbial shoe problem. I didn't always do this.
I was first, for fifteen years, a painter, until my son, Noah, was born. I spent a few very busy years being a mother to Noah and my daughter, Kihra, and doing very little of anything else until, one day, a song burst forth. It really was about like that. The song pleased me so much that it sent me into an intense songwriting phase, with songs arriving sometimes daily over the next few years. I would often work on them in the morning before anyone got up, and many of them came directly out of dreams.
Since then I've collaborated with several different people and combinations of people. Ellen VanLaar, Chris Williams, and I put together a band called Darlene's Daydream and performed six of my songs at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan, February 1992. Ellen and I continued working and performing together for several years, Ellen playing keyboard, fiddle, viola, and singing her very unique harmonies.
I've also enjoyed working with Lisa Johansson, of Song of the Lakes, on several projects. One was a flute and poetry performance, where I met Richard Curtis. Lisa and I also collaborated on a musical retelling of an Inuit folktale, Sedna, which we presented at local schools and the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City. read more
website & images©2016 Susan R. Gilbert
Darlene's Daydream performing at the
Ramsdell Theatre, Manistee, 2/15/92
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listen to Darlene's Daydream with happy blues, this recording from a practice tape |
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Tone Soup singing my song Come In, from their CD A Matter of Taste, sometimes available at Amazon |
