Florida, Alabama, and Davidson College! November tour!

Hello from Nashville!

That’s a new photo of me from a photo shoot at my great-grandfather, John Rufus Smith's, cabin. He built the cabin in the late 1800s and generations of Smiths lived there until the 1960s. Now, the cabin and the land around it is owned by the gas company who have sunk a gas well nearby. But the intrepid Smith can still get there with dresses in her backpack! Photo by Graham Frear.

It's been great to be in Nashville after more than a year away! At first, I felt a bit overwhelmed seeing all of my old things. I wrote an essay about that and you can read it on my blog at Little Yellow Sewing Box. But now, my journey ahead seems a bit clearer and I am brimming with ideas about the future! But, first, time for a tour! 

Tomorrow, I begin my journey by heading further south to Florida! First stop is Gainesville for a house concert on Saturday night, Nov. 4th, at the home of banjo aficionado Chuck Levy and his lovely wife, Sandy. If you’d like to come, just write to Chuck: levyce@aol.com. 

On, Sunday, Nov. 5th, I’ll make my way down to Lakeland for a 2pm concert at the Lakeland Public Library. I haven’t been there in several years and I remember when I played there last, a woman wrote a beautiful poem based on my singing! Who knows what will happen this time around. 

Then, I am heading down to the greater Tampa area for four concerts: 

Tues, Nov 7, Jan Kaminis Platt Library, Tampa, 7pm

Thurs, Nov 9, New Port Richey Library, New Port Richey, 6pm

Sun, Nov 12, Lake Echo House Concert, Odessa, 3:30pm

Thurs, Nov 16, Hugh Embry Library, Dade City, 1pm

 And before I head back to Nashville, I will be stopping in Huntsville, AL, for a benefit concert for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI supports thousands of families struggling with mental illness. They do vital work that saves lives and I am very honored to be playing for them. That concert will take place on Friday, Nov 17th, at United Church. Doors open at 6:30, concert at 7. Tickets are only $10.

I am thrilled to say that the last concert of my tour here in the USA will be held at my alma mater, Davidson College! Please join Professor Randy Ingram and the students of English 240 for an hour-long performance on Thursday, Nov 30, followed by a Q&A at the Carolina Inn. Doors open at 6:30, and the concert will begin at 7pm. I will also be available on campus throughout the day, so, if you’d like to have a cup of tea or lunch, let me know! I will be meeting with students at the career center from 1pm to 3pm on the 30th. So, if you know any current Davidson students who would like to talk with me about a career in the arts, I would love to meet them!

You can always find details of my concerts on my tour page. And you can buys CDs at bandcamp, cdbaby, and iTunes!

Thank you to all of you who came out to the concerts in MD, PA, and VA! I had such a great time seeing old friends and making new ones. If I missed you, I’ll hope to see you in 2018! 

Happiness, peace, and kindness to you all,

Jeni

Concert announced at Davidson College!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Special Birthday report from just outside Joshua Tree National Park, California: Happy Birthday to my mother, Marcella Hankins. My mother solves problems in the night. We can be puzzling over a quilt pattern or how to build a new wall for my laundry room and, in the morning, she has the answer. She remembers all kinds of names of people and places. Her brain is buzzing all of the time with encyclopedic knowledge of everything from where I accidentally hid my rotary cutter from myself 400 miles away in Nashville to complex multi-step stain removal.

When I was working on my novel a few weeks ago, I was speaking to her about my characters' nicknames and she came up with perfect Christian names for them and a couple of plot points as well. She did that in the middle of talking about the next animated movie that was coming out that she wanted to see with my Dad and talking about my dress for the Big Picnic Band Concert.

We sometimes call my mom, Martha Junior, because she knows as much about crafts and decorating as Martha Stewart, but she's way funnier. My mom laughs and laughs just like her mom. The biggest bone in her body is her funny bone.

When I was a kid, my mom could make a coloring book page into a true work of art. She was the master of the coloring book in our house. She brought the scarecrow and Dorothy to life --even coloring Toto seven different colors of brown, black, and grey until he was ready to sit down on the page and bark.

My mom can pack a suitcase better than a salesman who flies five days a week. It's down to my mom's training that I was able to fly a hand crank sewing machine home from England and make the flight attendants reminisce about their mums sewing clothes for them when they were toddlers rather than fretting over my baggage weight. My mother has never surrendered a souvenir of foreign or domestic travel at the hands of a ticketing agent and I am determined to follow in her footsteps.

People ask me how I learned to tell stories and I can only explain that I come from a colorful family which makes for an endless supply of material, but that I also have a mother who read to me, who taught reading to other children, and who treasures books, especially children's books, like other people treasure gold or fresh air.

My mom is a quilter, a newspaper publisher, a photographer, a comedian, a master of pies, a vanquisher of stains, a house painter, a gardener, a movie nut, and, with my sister, my best girl friend. She has been cracking me up for a long time now and I expect there are many more hijinks, quilts, and pies up her sleeve.

To Marcella Hankins, Happy Birthday, long may you laugh. I love you, Mom.

Photo of Mom and me having a deep consultation about millinery at Davidson College. 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Birthday Tour Report from Los Angeles, California: Happy Birthday to my Dad, Greg Hankins!

When I was seven, my Dad took me to a graduate seminar in religion at Harvard, where he was a student. I played with my Raggedy Ann doll and colored in the corner of the room. I was home sick from elementary school, my mom was at work, and there were no sitters available, so I went to Harvard for the day. 

I saw how serious the students were and I listened to my Dad talk with a voice that has always sounded kind and tree-like to me. I couldn't easily understand what they were speaking about, but I loved the music of their discussion. I also noticed they were all writing things down. Their paper was not grey with big lines like mine, but white with skinny lines and all bound together. I had discovered the notebook.

After class, I asked my Dad for a notebook and he took me to The Coop in Harvard Square. When we got home, I asked him what I should write in it. He said, "Write me a story." So, I wrote about Will and Dill, two pickles who were forgotten in the back of the fridge. My next story was about kumquats. And so it began, my life of finding the best words.

Here's to my Dad who taught me to write and to play music, who sang to me, and sang with me -- to my Dad who took me to concerts and festivals, plays and museums. When I sat with my Dad in the Old-time tent at Merlefest, I had an epiphany about poetry, art, and music, and found my calling -- this calling.

The other day I was trying to tell my Dad this without making him feel too sheepish and he said, "Well, I took you to NASCAR, too, so you could have gone in a whole nother direction." 

That's my Dad!

Photo: Starting my education early at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, at my Dad's graduation.