It’s not unusual for a folk musician to strive for release from a conventional lifestyle, longing to take to the road to share music and a message. Then there are the brave souls who actually do it and are better for it.
Four Shillings Short falls into the latter category.
Being homeless and owning few personal possessions—it’s the stuff that inspires music. It certainly inspires Four Shillings Short. But not in the way that you’d think. The duo is actually inspired by the freedom their situation affords them, not by the pursuit.
“When you figure things out for your life, everything else falls into place. It’s a gift we’ve been given,” said member Christy Martin.
The duo, made up of Aodh ”g ” Tuama and Martin, travels with about 30 instruments, such as a hammered dulcimer, mandola and mandolin, tinwhistle and woodwinds, sitar and banjo. They use most of the instruments on stage during their performances, creating an energetic evening that incorporates jokes and storytelling.
Four Shillings Short performs celebrated traditional Irish tunes and airs, Indian ragas, folk ballads, old-time songs, medieval and Renaissance instrumentals, and a cappella numbers, as well as contemporary folk favorites.
Because they aren’t under contract with a record label, Four Shillings Short can play where they want and reach a wider audience.
“It’s almost like a paradox: Through giving up everything, we’ve gained something of immeasurable value,” Martin said.
That’s confirmed every time someone sheds a tear or shares a story after one of their shows—in short, every time their music touches someone.
And that happens a lot for Four Shillings Short. Take the first time they played in Des Moine, after a devastating hailstorm. Coming into town, they could see the crops were decimated.
“I remember a lady came up afterwards and said her husband had died a year ago. She said, ‘This is the first time I’ve gone out and done something for myself since my husband died.’ Then she gave us $50 and told us, ‘Go out and have dinner on me,’” Martin remembered.
” Tuama and Martin have a big enough network of friends that they are often able to stay with them along their tour route, but many times they prefer to be close to nature.
“We both love the wilderness,” ” Tuama said. “We both love to camp. We love the wild.”
He counts camping in the Olympic National Forest in Washington state as one of his fondest memories. Then there’s the time they performed on a 2-mile walkway in Virginia in front of a 1,000-year-old tree in a virgin cypress swamp that’s never been logged. And the time the politically active couple ran into Joan Baez.
“We were working on a song in Woodside,” ” Tuama remembered. “I saw Joan Baez
coming out of a store. She was getting into a car with a bumper sticker that said ‘Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam.’ I said, ‘Look at the bumper sticker on that car,’ and then she gave us a thumbs up.”
It’s each friend they meet, each awe-inspiring look at nature, each soul they touch that keeps Four Shillings Short alive on the road and keeps the music alive in Four Shillings Short.
“It’s been an amazing, unending journey,” said ” Tuama, who started Four Shillings Short in 1985.
The band saw various musicians come and go over the years, but the only thing that stayed the same was ” Tuama’s involvement—until he met Martin. She had been in her own folk band (Your Mother Should Know), and both bands played the San Francisco scene.
At St. Michael’s, a coffee shop famous for regular performers like Baez and for starting the Grateful Dead, Martin popped in one day to catch a Four Shillings Short performance. ” Tuama introduced himself to her after the show and discovered that she was also a musician.
“He said, ‘Oh, you’re a musician, too—here, put your name on my mailing list, and your phone number,’” Martin said.
A week later, ” Tuama called her. After a long chat, the two went on a date. By the second date, they knew they had something special. After sitting in on each other’s bands, “it became obvious we had good harmonies and our music would marry really deeply,” Martin said.
By 1997, Four Shillings Short became a duo, and Martin and ” Tuama stared their first tour. They played 60 concerts over 90 days in 30 states, and drove 30,000 miles. When they got back, they were still talking to each other, so they decided to do it again. By the third tour, they held a garage sale to sell off all their belongings to live as full-time minstrels.
“We’re trying to live our lives the way everyone should live their lives: doing what they love,” Martin said. “Our idea is to be doing this until the end of our lives.”
INFOBOX: Spare some change?
Four Shillings Short will play from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 22 at First United Methodist Church, 925 North F St., Lompoc, as part of the Lompoc Concert Association’s “Live on Stage” series. Tickets are $15. For more information, call 736-4429 or visit lompocconcert.org. Check out Four Shillings Short and sample their music at www.fourshillingsshort.com
Arts Editor Shelly Cone found a few shillings on the ground last week. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 13-20, 2008.