Ode to a Joy

Part 2. May it be a never ending story

A continued dedication to one heckuva joyful Marlene Young-Humberd.

Welcome to a feast of The Rainbow Girls.

You’ll often see Vanessa May on the bass, Erin Chapin on the Resonator guitar and Caitlin Gowdey on an array of instruments. Each is seen playing a minimum of four instruments in different vids and they sure know how to sing purdy and sometimes fierce, while their audience interplay adds another level of personality to the mix.

They live together within a small bubble of other musicians and extended family in Northern California where they’ve been able to remain safe as a large household would, without the distancing some music ensembles are forced to Zoom to accomplish.

With differing indoor and outdoor environments they utilized at home and in the touring days that ended in mid-Spring, acoustics may vary but I think you’ll find most are just fun, spanning a range of original songs plus covers of songs from folk, rock, country, light jazz, soul, pop and several other genres.

Take some time to pick out the ones that bring you a smile.

From January 15th this year, 5 days before the inauguration.

And here’s a working family bit of folk from July 2017 that we found some soothe in.

And a November 2018 original with a bluegrassy feel. Their most seen video.

This is an upgraded song from last Friday of a tune they first performed in November 2019. The improv at the beginning lightens the heavier load of its lyrics.

Last Friday they released this gem of a partly commercial intro before launching into this cover of a 1952 Les Paul & Mary Ford classic. If this can’t make you smile, have you considered light therapy?

Backtracking a little, to 2015 for a ditty that included their former percussionist band mate, Savannah Hughes, who took her leave later that year. The vid notes say “ Filmed and recorded at Windy Bitches in Bodega, CA”

The trio would, in 2017, cover this classic in the cheesiest falsetto ways imaginable.

And just as the first states in the country began their shutdown last March, this live audience participation funfest debuted. A Velvet Underground cover. Brrrrrr!!

And what better day to celebrate the New Year in 2020 than March 30th ?

Let’s go to a Gram Parsons cover released last mid-April, recorded in a gas station bathroom outside of Montgomery Alabama.

Erin and Caitlin released an early April song from the movie, The Jerk, which should be credited to its composer in the Roaring Twenties.

By May, they’d cancelled their touring. In June, they released this wonderful message after the summer of 2020 erupted with nationwide BLM protests, a month after George Floyd was murdered.

So there’s a dozen songs to get you acquainted. Ending this on a serious note, but I promise, much of their better work is yet to come in my tribute. Better get ready for the truly joyful stuff.