This is the energy I need to start my new year—I hope you enjoy it, too! Watch this terrific performance of "Angels in Heaven" by Chris Rodrigues and the "Spoon Lady," whose real name is Abby Roach. This piece was recorded in Asheville, North Carolina on August 26, 2017 for "Play Music on the Porch Day."
Abby explains on her website that she learned to play the spoons in order to fund her travels around the United States:
I fell into both street performance and spoon playing when I started backpacking around the United States. I became obsessed with folk rhythm and culture, and the stories surrounding the railroad tracks and hobo jungles. I lugged around notebooks of handwritten stories and random digital cameras. I hitchhiked and rode freight trains around all 48 of the main states, figuring it out as I went. Playing spoons seemed like the best way to fund myself around the country. Another traveler taught me how to hold the spoons and run them down my fingers, and I taught myself from there. Many folks remember me from street performing in Nashville, TN, as I used it as a hub while I traveled until the police started pushing off more street music in the years 2012/2013.
After Nashville she landed in Asheville, NC where she became involved in the thriving local arts and culture scene, and eventually became President of the Asheville Buskers Collective, which was created in 2014 to promote and protect street performance in downtown Asheville. She continued that work until late 2019 when she moved back to Winfield, Kansas to be near family.
If you want to hear more of Abby's story and hear more of her music, check out her website, this 60 Second Docs, and this slightly longer story from FOX Carolina News.
