Well Reader...

I meant to share some updates back in December, or at least January...or February. I never was good at getting holiday cards out on time, and apparently I'm no better with newsletters. Mea culpa.

This past fall & winter were jam-packed and joyful, pulling me well beyond my comfort zone (a collaboration with Viano Quartet! hosting a 50-person climate solutions dinner party!), and into various long-overdue parts of the country (West Virginia, Minneapolis, Wisconsin & Indiana, Arizona & New Mexico). A retrospective on all that some other time, perhaps. For now I'll just say: thank you, for this blessed way of life in strange times.

On to upcoming stuff!

Few Of A Kind debut EP + March 24 release show in NYC

A few years back, I joined the reboot of a chamber ensemble, started by trumpeter Brandon Ridenour and violinist-singer Ben Russell. They'd already brought on two other new musicians: Andrew Gutauskas on bass clarinet & baritone sax, and Yousif Sheronick on percussion - both conservatory-trained and brilliantly versatile, like Ben and Brandon. "You guys know I didn't, like, study study music, right?" Yes, they did. I've been the giddy kid sister of Few Of A Kind ever since.

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​And now we have an EP out! It includes a fresh take on "Transcontinental, 1:30am" from my Dreaming Through the Noise days; Brandon's timely, St.-James-Infirmary imbued setting of the Maya Angelou poem "Alone"; a wild romp in 5/4 time called "Fives Alive" by Andrew, channeling machine-learning mayhem; and Ben's impassioned arrangement of Bobby Bland's gem "Two Steps From the Blues."

We'll play those tunes, and plenty more, next Tuesday, March 24, at the Loft at City Winery NYC. If rehearsals go as hoped, we'll include a couple of songs of mine that I've never recorded, that I'm excited to finally try putting to tape with these guys.

Upcoming shows

After that night of FOAK music, I'm headed straight for Colorado; then in April I'll be in the Northeast, as well as my hometown of Saratoga CA - playing in some of the most splendid listening rooms out there, all along the way.

I've been weaving recently-written songs into my sets, alongside requests from you all. (Sometimes I get requests for recently-written songs, and that means the world.) If you're nearby, I'd love to play for you, and share a hug afterwards.

Oh, and: on April 12, I'll be knocking doors with Ground Truth in Easton PA before the Sellersville Theater show. Game to try asking voters what their concerns & priorities are, then passing that info on to candidates to shape their campaigns & policies? Come join me!

MARCH

• **Few of a Kind EP release** Tue 24 Mar @ 19:30 EDT - New York, NY - The Loft at City Winery NYC
• Fri 27 Mar @ 19:00 MDT - Fort Collins, CO - The Armory w/Taylor Shae​
• Sat 28 Mar @ 19:00 MDT - Boulder, CO - eTown Hall w/Chris Koza​
• Sun 29 Mar @ 19:00 MDT - Denver, CO - Swallow Hill Music - Daniels Hall w/Nina de Freitas​

APRIL

• **on Patreon** Sat 4 Apr @ 14:00 EDT - Live@Home #44 + action hangout
• Thu 9 Apr @ 20:00 EDT - Groton, MA - Groton Hill Music Center - Meadow Hall
• Fri 10 Apr @ 20:00 EDT - Ogunquit, ME - Jonathan's Restaurant, Upstairs Listening Room
• Sun 12 Apr @ 20:00 EDT - Sellersville, PA - Sellersville Theater
• Sun 26 Apr @ 19:00 PDT - Saratoga, CA - Carriage House at Montalvo Arts Center

JULY

• Fri-Sun 10-12 Jul - Harbor Springs, MI - Blissfest (2 performances + 1 workshop)

All tour details are at viennateng.com/tour, as always.

Blissfest in Michigan, July 10-12

My friends, I am so thrilled about this one. Camping in northern Michigan in summer. An iconic music festival for folks of all ages. A dreamy lineup of musical acts to check out. And a chance to share my folkie-musician-with-gadgets self and my climate-and-civic-action-nerd self, at the same event. I'm so grateful they've invited me to this party. More info at blissfest.org.

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what Blissfest 2025 was like

Goings-on in Patreon

Lately each month's Patreon gathering has felt like a much-needed hug. Thanks so much to all of you who tune in to the Live@Home livestream shows, as well as all you thoughtful helpful folks who join the Zoom hangouts afterward.

A few recent highlights:

• ​A Chinese New Year themed set in February, featuring four songs in Mandarin, including a family rendition of "海洋之心" from Moana.
• ​A rough demo of a new song, "Arm's Reach," which refused its initial assignment to be the closing song for a climate solutions tasting party. Nah, it said. I'd rather be a pop duet about tending love across time and difference. Or something.
• ​Last Saturday's discussion of gatherings we'd be excited to host, guided by Priya Parker's The Art of Gathering. Among those set in motion: a brunch reunion with old work friends to meet their families, a "come zone out with me" get-together for busy folks, and a music jam for introverts.
• ​By-request covers of Billy Joel's "Vienna," dodie's "I'M FINE," and Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" in January's livestream. In the hangout we touched on small-yet-mighty climate solutions, like those in the NYT's "50 States, 50 Fixes" series.

As always, my Patreon is pay-what-you-wish, and you can cancel and/or rejoin anytime (many do!).

Other appearances

​Mountain Stage invited me back in January - and what a show to be added to! Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble played a fiery, life-affirming set in honor of Don's beloved friend Bob Weir, and we all closed the show together with "Ripple" too. Joe Crookston floored me (and plenty of others) with his storytelling and crackling energy, and William Matheny & band were a delight. We were all held in the expert care of host Kathy Mattea, the house band, and the whole Mountain Stage team. The episode airs next week - check out where you can find it on the airwaves.

​Bounce Back Stronger with Donna Ferris - this was a thought-provoking conversation with a wonderful podcast host, who'd seen me by chance when she came to the Bryn Mawr Twilight Series last summer. We get into what a mother and son shared with me about "City Hall"; my love of deep canvassing principles; a surprising exchange in YouTube comments in November 2024 about "Stray Italian Greyhound"; and Donna asks me to sing "Green Island Serenade," right there on the podcast.

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​Conversations with Musicians with Leah Roseman - this one covered a lot of ground, thanks to a very thorough host in Leah Roseman: from my musical origins and early lucky breaks, to waxing rhapsodic about my Few Of A Kind bandmates, and a whole lot in between. The episode opens with this thought:

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​Zachary Scot Johnson's A Song A Day - Zachary has released one song every single day for over 13 (!!) years, and I was honored when he asked if I'd do one backstage with him in Minneapolis. Since the only piano at Dakota was onstage, we did a duo rendition of "The Riversitter" there, to a very nice audience of surprised dinner guests.

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Finally, if you haven't seen it: I put out a standing invitation to chat across political differences. If you like my music and you're seeing current events differently from mostly-liberal-progressive me, I'd love to talk. Every exchange I've had so far has left me wiser, and even less inclined to flatten other people into caricatures. I hope - and often I'm told - that my conversation partners feel the same.

How are you doing? What fills your days, your thoughts, the cup in your heart? I'd love to know.

Love,
VT