How strange and wonderful it can be when one ventures into once foreign territory for the 2nd time to find the unfamiliar more intimate, the odd more acceptable, and to no longer feel as a stranger in a strange land.   Thus was the feeling as we steered our rental onto the grounds of the Quiet Valley ranch on this, our triumphant return to the Kerrvillian tranquility base, the mecca of all folk troubadours stateside.  To breathe in the dust, soak up the Texas heat to bask in the incessant strumming and howling of guitars and voices both distant and near, throughout the day and into the starry night, was like stumbling across a hidden chapter in a book that could aptly be titled "The True Art Of Living".

At the outset, things seem quite the same - you check in at the gate, find a spot and pitch your tent.  Within moments of completing our task, we were greeted by old friends as if awaiting our arrival.  A seat, a beverage, a bit of conversation, a smile for and from  strangers passing by, and quite suddenly we're home, however brief, 2000 miles from whence we came.

And now, for the task at hand - my offering to the 2001 Kerrville New Folk Concert.  The austere Kerrville Mainstage seems somehow softer and more comfortable, the expanse of the amphitheater more compact and those presiding over the affair, from Rod Kennedy,  the festival's founder, to the sound technicians and backstage hospitality crew, seem less like nine-foot industry giants ...  rather more akin to compadres on a common vision-quest for the perfect song.

Of which there were many.  Sixty well crafted tunes offered up by half as many performers. Songs which moved me to both tears and cheers.  Songs upon whose shoulders it fell to be judged, three remarkable individuals whose job, to select 6 "winners", was the envy of no-one.  Who would have thought that one of those winners would be me!

One of the perks of "winning" was being allowed to stay on and take in many of the evening concerts by Kerrville's mainstage performers, all exemplary of the finest artistry I have ever viewed. Presiding over all, Rod Kennedy Mastered the Ceremonies with the grace and eloquence of a true gentleman, every bit as entertaining as the artists he presented.

I was moved to inspiration beyond expectation.  I will admit that I first came to Kerrville in 1998 a bit of a cynic.  After all, back then I was a street smart city-kid more akin to the faceless masses than to the kindness of a stranger.  Since then, I have changed. Perhaps I've even grown.  I've traded my urban dwelling for a pastoral New Hampshire community.  I've replaced the anonymous passers-by with pleasures of being on a first name basis with the folks at my local post office.  The passage of each day, once governed by the biorythms of rush hour traffic, are now marked by the changing colors of the sun moving peaceably across the New England sky.  I am happy.  Happy, and of course, immeasurably proud to be a Kerrville New Folk Winner.  But, more potently, as we exited the ranch in our rental one week later, leaving behind old friends and new, serenaded by the final wafting of the notes that had become so familiar to us throughout the all night songfests, I now feel a deeper understanding of the truth in the words that usher us off to our continuingly uncertain future:  "It can be like this always".