Welcome, everyone, to Room At the Table: Kitchen Conversations — A series of conversations with poets, authors, musicians, spiritual thinkers and folks from all walks of life — about their work, about what sustains them, inspires them, what helps them stay grounded in challenging times. This first episode is with beloved Author Parker J. Palmer. Upcoming episodes will include Poet, Jack Ridl; Author and Theologian, Philip Gulley; Musician and Director of The Hundreth Hill Artist Retreat, Krista Detor and more!
This new series will first be available to Supporting Subscribers who are generously helping to make this creative endeavor possible. Episodes will be made available to all subscribers sometime within the next month.
NOW, on to the series!
Today on “Room At The Table” I’m delighted to welcome my friend and colleague, Krista Detor. MusicDish magazine called her work: "like Richard Wright’s 'Manchild in the Promised Land' or the musical equivalent Kurosawa’s 'Dreams”; The Allmusic Guide called her “An artist of rare ability with a deep poetic gift,” and Rolling Stone, "A small miracle." Krista was the only American woman invited to The BBC’s Darwin Songhouse Project, Shrewsbury England. She has been commissioned to create choral pieces for several national and international choirs. We collaborated together on a wonderful album and theater project call Wilderness Plots. Krista has 6 solo albums including Barely, The Flat Earth Diary, Chocolate Paper Suites, The Silver: Winter Songs and Mudshow. Her musical theater production ‘The Breeze Bends the Grass” earned her the ‘Indiana Masterpieces’ grant and she is currently working on two new albums, including an album of lullabies, which will be released in 2025.
In 2020, she launched The Hundredth Hill Artist Residence and Retreat, along with her husband, David Weber, on their 50-acre homestead in Indiana, for which they’ve been featured in Forbes, Broadway World, The Washington Post Magazine, Midwest Living and many more. The Hill is a beautiful artist and writers retreat center that is nurturing the creation of art and music and poetry.
I loved this conversation with Krista Detor. I’ve known Krista and her world for many years, and she never fails to inspire me with the quality and spirit of her art and her dedication to creating beauty and opportunities to nurture creativity and community. Her personal journey into music is touching and powerful, and how she hold space for creativity at The Hundredth Hill Artist Residence and Retreat gives me so much hope and encouragement. I hope you check out her own musical offerings and the upcoming events and retreat opportunities out at The Hundredth Hill!
I hope you enjoy sitting around the table with Krista as much as I did as we explored her life as an artist, her work and how she feels about creating beauty in times such as these.
The next event at the Hill will be the May 2025 Residency Call Out: A Poet’s Response to These Troubled Times.
If you would like to learn more about Residencies at The Hundredth Hill (grant funded & personally funded) here is the link.
Warmly,
Carrie
Question
What did this conversation bring up for you? Do you have stories to share about how a song or work of art helped or expressed something for you that you did not yet have language to articulate?
Music Always Music
Here are a few Links to Krista’s songs. You can find Krista’s music on her website, Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream.
From The Darwin Song House Project
Steal Me a Car from Her Album “Mudshow”
Krista and I were also part of a really fun theatrical and recording project called “Wilderness Plots” based upon the collection of short stories by Scott Russell Sanders of the same name “Wilderness Plots”. Here’s a video of one of those songs.
More Than I Dare Say - Wilderness Plots Project
Ice Mountains & Hairy Elephants by Krista Detor - written for The Wilderness Plots project with Author Scott Russell Sanders & Musicians Krista Detor, Tom Rosnowski, Tim Grimm, Michael B. White & Carrie Newcomer - such a fun piece I just had to add this clip inspired by Scott Russell Sander’s short story about a surprised surveyor in the 1900’s trying to convince the townspeople in a small Midwestern settlement that the gouges in the ground were made by glaciers…and not angels. You can see the entire PBS Special by WTIU on YouTube.
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