CARENARMSTRONG.COM newly updated! Check out the new photo Galleries and visit the revamped Music Store. Supporting the Arts has never been easier, we're talking ONE CLICK HOLIDAY SHOPPING PEOPLE!!! Watch for occasional specials, offers and custom burn lists!!! Thanks to my brilliant web mistress, Vidya for all the nifty updates. Check her out at http://www.mousepotatoes.com/.




JOSHUA ZUCKER on board!
You may have seen JZ slap his bass around town with any number of fine acts (and you still will). I'm happy to say that he will be seen with yours truly in the foreseeable future. Joshua (not Josh please) sat in for our pal Chris Kee when we played Kerrville TX in September and we had such a good time (code for he jumped at my every command) that he's gonna be playing with me as much as our schedules permit. Look for me to continue to add more and further excellent players as time progresses, working with them ultra-fine HOUSTON JONES boys gave me the itch to Play with Others. Check him out: http://www.joshuazucker.com/





FARWest FOLK ALLIANCE FUN FUN FUN. Booker Renee Gaumond and I had a grand time in Vancouver WA in November. Saw and played with many wonderful friends including RICHARD BERMAN, CHRISTOPHER SMITH, BILL ISLES, KEVIN DANZIG, THE BUCCANEERS, CAROLINE AIKEN, TOM KIMMEL, DAVID GANS, GYPSY SOUL and too many others to remember. PLUS I received a contra dance lesson from the President of the organization, fearless Leader Steve Dulson. If you are a folk musician of any genre you gotta check out Folk Alliance...Show Spotlight:
FREIGHT AND SALVAGE SATURDAY JANUARY 5TH 2008 8PM
I'm bringing ALL my guitars and Mr Joshua Zucker with me for this show. Special Guests TBA Come down and check out JZ and get real with us. "...Dressed in a black velvet dress with gold sequins adorning her derriere, Caren Armstrong hustled and bustled her way around the stage with the delicacy and determination of a chanteuse determined to give us Everything.....and Everything is what we got; from her spectacular vocals and passionate guitar playing to her pithy, pulsating lyrics, Caren’s one woman show at the Freight and Salvage left no emotional stone unturned...." Linda Zeiser, author, poet


As we approach Winter Solstice I find myself reflecting upon the arc of the seasons, the arc of the year, and the Life of a Song:


Summer 1997
Driving across Eastern Washington to visit friends between shows my journey slows down as I wait for a ferry on a warm Sunday morning. I get out with my notebook to sit in the quiet air and write down the first thing I see, a sign that reads: “You are leaving Lincoln County”. This causes big chunks of song to come tumbling out of me and as I write, the trip across the lake on the ferry intermingles with my sadness over the news that my favorite uncle has just passed. When I arrive at my destination my understanding friends point me at the “writer’s shack” and leave me in peace to finish my song, “Leaving Lincoln County”.

Fall 2007
I receive a call from the same friends in Eastern Washington. The cancer had returned/spread. Further treatment declined. Through my tears I take the amazing opportunity to heap appreciation on my friend before we said good-bye, for what I knew to be the last time. Her partner called last week to say she was gone. It will be from a different place that I sing this song from in the future:

“Three days ago, I left Sacramento
Where I said good-bye to someone
For what I knew to be the last time
I’ve driven 1300 miles, but that’s nothing on the distance
That my friend traveled yesterday, in the blink of an eye…”
(From Leaving Lincoln County)


Winter 2005
I receive a lovely, hand painted card from my artist friend for Solstice that ends: “May you drink from the well of your heart”. The next day, a close friend’s mother passes at 96, leaving behind a family legacy three generations strong. I am asked to sing for her memorial service. Sitting in my living room in the Oakland Hills I gaze through the eucalyptus at the winter sunset strumming my guitar and wondering what I will play. A wire crosses in my brain and the title track to my most recent CD; “EVERYTHING” is born, written so quickly that my pencil can barely chase the words across the paper.

Winter 2007
My artist friend loses her partner, abruptly, horribly, before his time. She writes me that she listens to “EVERYTHING” over and over again for comfort. I can’t help but wonder about her inspiring the song that two years later will soothe her shocking loss.

"Now the days draw dark
As the year dies down
And the spring lies
Frozen in the fallow ground
Bide your time, mind the fire
No belief is required
The seasons teach the reason
That we cycle around
Again and again
Every ending a Beginning

And if things should fall apart
May Kindness be your finest work of art
May you dream
May you dwell
May you drink from the well
Drink from the Well of your Heart
May you Drink from the Well of Your Heart"
(from "Everything")


It occurs to me that life is as mysterious as songwriting and I wonder why I presume to think that I ever do more than just hold the pencil.

Wishing you all a joyful and peaceful end to your year. Please mark your calendars and plan to get 2008 off to a great musical start with me on Saturday, January 5th at the Freight.