Colorado Folk Alley Fan visits, and is immediately put to work.

I know it feels most of the time it’s just you, me, and a box of CDs (wonderfully inventive and often overlooked CDs at that). I always want you to feel like that IS the experience, by the way; Folk Alley should never feel like a non-personalized commercially driven formula. There is, however, a lot of work behind the scenes. Loading songs into the hard drive, arranging the mix using the music software program, researching or even interviewing the artists. Saturday I was shorthanded and nearing trouble.

I often have a couple helpers, usually ambitious students. Last week they all disappeared. Ashley the singer was in St Louis, Andy the mandolin player was in Rome, and Adam had graduated. Lindsey could fill in a bit, but had to leave early. To top it off, I was expecting a visitor. Bruce Metzger, a listener from Colorado was passing through town and asked if he could visit. “Sure,” I said, but as deadlines approached I called and asked him to delay his visit because I was behind. Thank goodness he had already left.

Besides being a mountain climber and a dog lover, Bruce is also a computer programmer. My brain began to fester with ideas. After Lindsey gave Bruce a tour and split for an important function (“Tommy’s party, of course, didn’t you know?”), I asked Bruce: “Say, you wouldn’t be in for a real experience would you?”