Allison Adams

Lena’s Place Coffeehouse

Allison with Lindsay Petsch
Central Congregational Church, 2676 Clairmont Road, between LaVista and Briarcliff Roads, Atlanta, Georgia
Saturday, August 14, 2010
8:00 p.m.: Chuck Henderson
9:00 p.m.: Allison and Lindsay
More information at lenasplacecoffeehouse.com

I love a good stretch. As a practitioner of Iyengar yoga for about nine years now, pushing my body just a little further than I think it can go has become a welcome discipline. And as I get older, it has become a necessity. If I drop out of yoga for a time (as I have — I let other stuff get in the way sometimes), my body and mind both start to feel constricted. Limited. Stretching, while making me keenly aware of my limitations, paradoxically also makes me feel limitless.

Likewise, there is nothing like a good musical stretch. It’s easy and tempting to stick with what you know you are best at — the same songs, the same musicians you’ve known for years. You know their music and they know yours, and everybody knows what to do. And there is something deeply rewarding and gratifying about that, and I love it. But then it’s good sometimes to stretch yourself beyond that comfort zone.

Earlier this year I got to know Lindsay Petsch. He and I have been tag-teaming the coordination of the Tuesday night Asheville String Club with our good friend Jimmy Galloway, and upon hearing each other’s music, we decided to get serious about learning each other’s songs. Lindsay is a mighty fine songwriter and guitarist. If you’ve ever been to the Maple Street Guitar store in Buckhead, you probably have met him. His parents founded the store, and Lindsay handles sales, guitar maintenance, and customer service. He has grown up literally surrounded by guitars. Lindsay’s musical vocabulary is vast and varied.

We’ve been stretching together. Lindsay learned that I dabble some with the concertina, so he gave me a few of his tunes he thought would benefit from some concertina accompaniment. It turns out that Lindsay’s songs are full of surprises and complexities — little twists and turns that captivate and delight your ear. But they are hard to play on the concertina! And guess what? That stretch has been good for me, and I am becoming a better concertinist. He also very gently nudged me to learn a couple of his songs on the mandolin, stretching me into a more supple and precise player of that instrument. And knowing Lindsay’s amazing gifts with the guitar, I asked him to work out some leads on a few of my tunes. He says he doesn’t often play leads, so my asking him to do so has also been a stretch for him. I think he would say it’s been good for him, too.

So I hope you’ll come out this Saturday night for our one-hour set at Lena’s Place Coffeehouse and tell us what you think of our musical yoga practice.