Guitar for Ferron - and a new book!

For thousands of us, making our way through this world as women outside the norm, Ferron's music has told our story for decades. We shared her vinyl records and bootleg cassettes, passed hand-to-hand at lesbian socials and political meetings. We played "Ain't Life a Brook" on repeat as we sobbed out the grief of a breakup. We stood swaying in dark auditoriums surrounded by our sisters singing along: "By my life be I spirit, by my heart be I woman, by my eyes be I open, and by my hands be I whole."

If you have ever wondered how you might give back to her, for all the times she spoke the words in your heart, now's your chance.

 

 

 

 

No longer a girl on a road, Ferron lives peacefully settled in her own cozy home nestled in nature as she enters her 70th year on June 1, 2022. She has a canine companion.

 

 

 

 

All that's missing is a guitar. The gorgeous professional touring instrument with Ferron's name inscribed  in the fretboard fell victim to an accident involving a trailer hitch. It's beyond repair.

 

 

 

Ferron has been invited to prepare for a show July 8-10. And another show, more magical: July 26-31 on festival land in Michigan! She is full of joy -- and some anxiety. She needs a good guitar to replace the broken one. She doesn't know whether she will have one in time -- or ever.

 

She reached out to me and asked, in a roundabout way, extra hesitantly, whether I might somehow be able to make a new guitar possible.

 

Why did she have my number? I found hers a long while ago, in the middle of one night, when I was searching and re-searching to find a way to share my gratitude for her poetic music: the soundtrack of my life. I contacted her, and miracle of miracles, she was open to talking to me, and we have since become friends.

 

Ferron's wish for a 70th birthday gift is a guitar from the workshop of Eric Schoenberg, the artisan who created her original touring guitar. Eric has a beautiful instrument ready to go to her. Sounding from the structure of Indian rosewood, spruce, and Honduras mahogany, adorned with Gabon ebony, maple, koa, and abalone, the treble will sing sweet and clear while counterpoint and bass lines will coexist peacefully.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The price is $6,485. Fitted with the sound equipment Ferron needs to perform on stage, and adding taxes and shipping, we are looking at about $7,000.

 

I've stretched a bit to make possible this magnificent gift and have made the initial down payment of $1,000 because I believe -- as I hope you do too -- that her hands need an instrument worthy of her voice.

 

Please join me by contributing, and help share the word.