Brattleboro, VT is a small town but it has a very rich and vibrant music community. There are musicians that play traditional music, rock music, classical music, and just about any other genre that you can think of.
Last week I recorded a little at a show I was attending. I apologize for the quality, but I couldn’t see what I was recording, because I held my camera against my body so that I wouldn’t distract anyone (I actually was filming upside down).
It was a fund raiser for Groundworks Collaborative. I found this piece very moving.
Here is my YouTube write up
Excerpt from “Homeless Wassail” performed 2023-12-05 by Arthur Davis and friends at a benefit concert at the Latchis Theater Brattleboro, VT for Groundworks Collaborative.
“Homeless Wassail” by Ian Robb
Performed by Arthur Davis, vocals & banjo
Emma Schneider, vocals
Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin, vocals & accordion
Donal Sheets, cello
Please donate to https://groundworksvt.org/
The official live stream can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH6hM6nKQWk
“Groundworks Collaborative was established in 2015 following the merger of two well-established organizations: the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center and Morningside Shelter (having previously been in existence for 27 and 36 years respectively). We work with people and systems creating solutions to end hunger and homelessness for all people in our region. We envision a community in which all people have their basic needs met, including a safe and dignified place to call home.”
The lyrics to the missing verse and a half (not included in this video) are:
Wassail, wassail all over the town,
Our cup is white and our ale is brown;
But huddled on this iron grate
We poor and hungry curse our fate.
Chorus: No Wassail bowl for such as these,
No turkey scraps, no ale, no cheese;
This Christmas Eve our heart’s desire
Is a bottle of gin and a trash-can fire.
Good Christian mind as home you go,
With dreams of holly and mistletoe,
That the holly bears a dreadful thorn
For those who wake to a frozen dawn
