Down the Valley: My Favorite Driving Music

Brahms, young, pre-beard, rather handsome.

The Bee Gees, in all their gold glory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long drives are when I think, brainstorm, get inspired. Some of my favorite music for driving, especially “up” or “down” the Shenandoah Valley on a sunny afternoon, follows…

Three and a Half Hours on a Saturday

Flyer for the Hollins recital, February 2011.

So on Friday night (Saturday morning) I was on the stage of Mill Mountain Theatre in downtown Roanoke, accompanying several really talented student musicians for the recital series I was insane enough to instigate, along with Bendy Goodfriend of the Kandinsky Trio – Music After Midnight. So that particular night (morning) I played Haydn (cello concerto in c minor, first movement); Mascagni, Verdi and Mozart (arias) and Saint-Saens (violin concerto number 3, third movement).

Not So Distant Sounds: Ben Arthur’s Music and Fiction

Ben Arthur (on left) performs with Michael Crehore at Joe's Pub in New York City.

I grew up with Ben Arthur, a singer/songwriter/composer now living in New York City with his wife Heidi and two daughters. When he was in college at the University of Virginia, he once opened for Tori Amos. I still remember afternoons in our high school auditorium when he’d come in to listen to me play the piano, and he returning the favor on his guitar, playing a heartbreaking song about friends who got married while facing the probable death of one from cancer.