Everyone always says:  When one door closes, another opens. 

Well, one door has closed.  On March 8th 2008,  at the Buckeye Dulcimer Festival, Sweetwater played our last concert.  And as we call it a day, all we can think of are the places we’ve gone, and all the wonderful people we’ve met in over 22 years of playing together. 

Memories are what brings the past into the present…and we have some pretty wonderful memories to fall back on:

Being ‘on tour’ from Ohio to the West Coast…all the wonderful parts of this great country that we experienced… how we found wonder around every corner and friends with every mile.

All the festivals and clubs where we’ve performed and taught ….every class being better than the last one…with  lots of laughs and a feeling of accomplishment for the students and us as well.

Playing for the Governor at the installment of the late Dr. Susan Porter in the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

Going on the first Great Black Swamp Festival tour to the UK and Ireland.  Finding that the folks over there liked our music as much as we like theirs….   and finding dulcimer players in the oddest places.

Watching the Buckeye Dulcimer Festival grow and grow – becoming larger and more influential, but still keeping that friendly feeling.

Watching as our own camp, Shady Grove, became a small gem – and was a warm, family-style place for people to learn to play, and make friends as they made music.

Gosh, there are many more memories that will certainly pop up in our minds from time to time….  Way too many for this letter.  But you get the idea…

One thing we’ve always tried to do, is take the music to the people, and have fun.  We’ve tried to bring you songs that inspired you, hopefully enlightened you…and made you laugh.  And if we’ve put a song on your lips, or a smile on your face…well, that was our aim.

Hopefully, our good work is not over.  We’ll be around…each in our own way. 

Shari will be concentrating on her publishing firm.  Shelley will still be playing solo, publishing her books and vending at festivals, as well as continuing her private teaching.  Cindy will be doing her celtic radio show, The Dear Green Place on WYSO FM,  and watching her new grandson grow.

And who knows what other new doors will open?

To all our friends…well, we hope we’ve already told you in many ways how special you are to us.  You’ve all made it fun to be Sweetwater for all these years.

Thanks for everything…

Shari, Shelley and Cindy

 

Note:  our stage act may be over, but we've created music that will still be there for a long time (we hope!).

Please visit CDBaby... www.cdbaby.com/sweetwater

(for other selections, just add 2, 3, or 4 at the end of the url)

And our myspace page is still up - you can hear some of our tracks and be one of our MySpace friends!www.myspace.com/sweetwaterohio

Shady Grove 2006 is but a memory.....but a good one! We had lots of happy campers this year.

Our thanks to Janita Baker, Steve Eulberg, Louise Ziegler, Gary Sager and Art Burmeister for being wonderful teachers. Thanks go out as well to Mike LePage and Gene Pugh for helping the building class.



Sad as we are to say it, this 10th annual Shady Grove camp was the last. I just seemed like time to try something else, I guess. So, what are YOU doing this July 4th??? <G>

All of our love and appreciation goes out to the folks who came to Shady Grove year after year, and thanks as well to those who tried it the first time and liked it. I've always felt that we did Good Work at Shady Grove - we changed some lives, helped people have fun learning to play the dulcimer.....and had a blast, besides.

Thanks and gratitude to those who helped in a thousand ways - Louise Ziegker, Mike and Mary Jo LePage, and all the other special people who volunteered to move chairs, take tickets, haul things, lead jams.....you're the best!

I'd also like to thank all the wonderful, talented artist/teachers we've had during the entire ten years of Shady Grove. All of them, stout-hearted and true, and ready to help in any way they could. From wet cabbage leaf hats, to morphing into the Little Blue Man, you've all been good friends, and your expertise has enhanced the Shady Grove experience many times over. From the champions, to the local friends, getting to know all of you better, and exposing your music to our campers was the gravy on our biscuits! (and trust me, that's GOOD!)

We will miss you all dearly. Shady Grove may be but a memory, but there are lots more dulcimer festivals out there. Maybe we'll see you there! Sure hope so.....keep in touch, now.

xox
Cindy
Shari
Shelley

The Sweets

Click here to see the video.

Well, the party we've planned for a year is now over. We're so tired, we can barely form audible sounds.

THANK YOU to everyone who attended. Try as we might, we never expected a grand crowd like that. Friends drove from Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan and from all over Ohio to be there. The fact that you traveled so far to be with us means a lot to us.

We estimated that about 150 people were there, give or take 30 people or so. We were surrounded by the faces of dear friends, family and even some new folks we had not met yet.

Click to see all our friends who posed in front of the Flying Pigs drop!

Click to see more pictures of the party!

Thank you all for the gifts you brought for us. The care and the thought that you put into them is truly heart-warming. The one thing we do well, is to save - we save every piece of memorabilia and gift we've ever received. Every bit has a face, or special memory tied to it, and they often remind us of wonderful people we've met or places we've been. Thanks for the memories this time too!

THANK YOU as well to our family and friends who helped with the party. You all did far more than we ever asked you to do, and you were there with us until the end, at about 2:30am! Our love and thanks go out to: Jim and Mike, Mary Chris and Kevin, Jenny and Chris and Beth, Joyce, and Lisa. When we were going out of our minds, you were all there to do what we could not do.

Thanks to Joel McDargh - PigMaster! There was never a porker whose entrance was so eagerly awaited!!! It tasted great, thanks for your hard work.

During the past 20 years, the music has taken us to amazing places, and led us to meet some really amazing people As we think back over the places we've been, the memories are papered with hundreds of smiling faces. We hope we've been as instrumental in your lives as you all have been in ours. The music has taken us all over the US and to othe countries, but the effect is the same - people love the music, and they love to have a good time. It's great that we've found so many people who think the way we do!

Thanks for 20 years. Whether family or fan, we could not have done it without YOU!

Sweetwater, in full-pig regalia

The Flying-Porker...the most eagerly-awaited swine in history!

See more Pictures of our fab party here!

I don't think we've ever been able to say that we knew a Cover Girl - but now we can. Our talented best-selling author friend Sharyn McCrumb is gracing the cover of Dulcimer Players News, where the article details how much Sharyn merges music and folk tales into her Ballad Series.
www.sharynmccrumb.com

We've been her House Band whenever she comes to the region around Ohio. She gives book talks regularly, but occasionally she does her Words and Music presentations - she does the words and we do the music. When Sharyn appears in other places, she also asks Betty Smith or Jack Hinshelwood to do the honors. Between us, we're the only musicians who back up an author. Who knew it could be that much fun!!!

You can check out the article on Sharyn at:
www.dpnews.com

And for the accompanying article on Sweetwater, here it is!