Our annual Pig Roast managed to avoid the rain but we held a “barn dance” just in case. Here are four songs from our band, Shady Grove. Hope that you enjoy them.
Eyes of the WorldShady Grove Chinatown Shuffle Blues in A
Our new barn is about half done so it was perfect for a barn dance.
Christopher Kimball Blog 
Liked the blues the best
Howdy Kris!
Don’t worry about your day job! Your music, personalty and good looks will keep your creative artistic side going. I really enjoyed the music you all should make a CD and sell it.
I enjoy reading about what you do in each season and brings a tear to my eye because it reminds me of when I was a child growing up where there were seasons and my grandfather letting our neighbors have a fall barn dance.
Good luck with your new barn.
Kaye
Chris, you guys are my favorite PBS program. Love every minute of it.
As an old on the road Rock musician, now closer to Home, really enjoyed the sounds of your band.
Eyes of the World reminided me of some neat chord progressions on some old CHICAGO LPs. Liked it all. Love to see a video of your band. What instrument do you play and do you sing?
Thanks, Mike Winters, Indy
Okay, so when do you put your album on the website for sale? The blues songs remind me of my youth. That is what I use to listen to before Buddy Holly broke onto the scene. (BTW we at Lubbock High thought Buddy was far better than that kid that played at the Lubbock County Fair – some kid called Elvis something.) Good music. Sorry I don’t live in your area. I am sure I would love the cookin’ and music and my wife would love the snow – as long as someone else shoveled it.
Well, want to start writing our own stuff first — other than the Blues piece, these were covers. But, that is my project this winter!
Good music, and I was able to watch almost every program for this season.
Thanks,
Chris:
Have you tried All Along the Watchtower yet?
No but good idea — perfect for a haunting electric lead although someone else is gonna have to come up with the Dylan voice.
I enjoyed the tunes you have a fine band. I allso enjoy your letters from vermont. I listen to a wide variety of music from classical to current, rock, folk ,jazz , blues and country. You never stop amazing me from maning a chain saw to clean up after a store to your guitar playing. Catch you on PBS. Wayne Some day i will have to trek to Vermont, i do hear our Door County in Wisconsin is similar but condoes have scarred the beauty.
Love the music. Gives you the feeling of what its like being around loved ones,friends neighbors in a comfortable surrounding. Loved the letter as well. You sure have a lot of interesting things to do up there.
Chris,
Love the tunes! Didn’t know you were a Dead-Head and played in a band. What’s your instrument. Any other links or videos?
Keep on truckin’!
Music files could not be found.
As an amateur cook and professional musician, I love the idea of rockin’ cooks! Cool!
chris…what a renaissance man you are great guitar and band…we so enjoy the vermont stories..we in illinois have very tall corn….we know cause we just just lost in a corn maize last weekend….
Love the pics of your place (especially the horses) and the events going on around town
Your works add so many precious jewels to the richness of the fabric of my life. Magazines, Books, Blog, Photos, Newsletters, Television Shows, yes and even the sound of your barn-dance music. Thank you, those who support you identified as family, friends, your hard-working talented staff.
Very nice cover of “Eyes of the World”
could use a little banjo on “Shady Grove” 😉
Hey, you guys are good – if I were a bit closer than the San Francisco area, I’d come see you (OK, a lot closer). I’d love to see you playing the guitar (ps, you sounded very good). I’m an old Deadhead from the 60s and 70s, when I used to go to most of their concerts, and Eyes of the World took me back to those days. Why, your singer is almost as good as Garcia – sorry, that’s not very nice. 🙂
Maybe you should open your shows with a little guitar playing.
PS, I also enjoy all your cooking shows.
hi christopher. sounds good. what do you play?
Wow, i’m impressed with the tunes! nice licks on the guitar and kudos to the lead singer. keep the weekend after labor day open next year and you can play at my annual Barn Dance in Eagle, WI., the “Heart of the Kettle Moraine”.
Ok, wait a minute. I love your magazine, your show and, especially, the feelings induced by ‘Letters from Vermont.’ (I’m an urban cube worker.)
Now you tell me that you play lead guitar–quite well, I might add–AND you’re a Dead fan. Well, sir, I am impressed. Keep up the good work… and thanks!
Chris
Chris love the show…your playing sounds great. I hope you invite me next year.
Kenny B
Hi Chris–I tried the Fruity Zuchinni Bread recipe over the weekend and it turned out badly–like a wet brick. I had to throw it away it was so bad. I come from a family of eight children and raised in the 50’s and 60’s. This is the first time I can remember actually throwing food out. Any idea what went wrong? I followed the recipe to a T–including squeezing the water out of the zuchinni. I could tell it didn’t rise enough. I run a bed and breakfast so I know my ingredients were fresh and not out of date and the oven temperature was a consistent 375 degrees. I am mystified as to what I did wrong. Thanks!
I really enjoyed listening to your music, somehow I felt I was sitting right there listening and watching while enjoying a end of summer outing. Good Job and keep at it. Thanks for sharing.
Gwenn
The music is out of sight and I think you could quit your day job even if you do get a little hungry (smile). Joking, I really enjoyed it
Wante to se pictures of the pig
Well, well! Truely mulitfaceted indeed. Good on ya!
I enjoyed all four tracks. However, I enjoyed “Blues In A” more than the others. Great performance, Chris.
I’m impressed!…and surprised! I enjoyed your music and definitely enjoy ALL your “food” knowledge! Keep up the good work!…and music!
Great to see that the Gratefull Dead are still doing barn dances! Band sounds great. The dancers at the Barn dance look like they are having such a great time and what beautiful women. Wish I was there. Haven’t been to a pig roast in 30 years.
Enjoy,
Paul Howes
Pleasantly surprised.The music was most enjoyable.Didn’t know Chris could groove like that.Keep it coming.I love the food network show but this is outstanding.I am a lover of jazz and blues.You made my day.Who would have thought.(smile)
What a happy, gentle version of Eyes … making me miss VT all the more …
I just love the Vermont humor in your letters. I’m 83 so I have no need for cookbooks but everything about your site is wonderful. Thanks.
Very nice, although I never took you for a Dead Head! Rock on!
I need a good barn dance but lol, its a long way from Oklahoma to Vermont. Thanks for sharing the music.
Betty Pettus
I have always enjoyed your cooking shows on PBS; listening to your music was just as enjoyable!
my husband and I very much enjoyed the tunes. we are a couple of old hippies ourselves. married in ’68.
Nice covers. Look forward to hearing your own tunes.
I have to say your music speaks to me more than your signature photo does. Terrific music. I decided not to subscribe to your mag because I was diagnosed with cancer and my eating has been very selective and pretty limited. But your music may have just swayed me. We all connect to different things.
Keep up the great music and mag.
Libby
Sounds great! When do you guys play Baltimore? 🙂
Eyes of the World is one of my all time faves as well:
“The seeds that were silent all burst into bloom, and decay,
night comes so quiet, its close on the heels of the day.”
So beautiful.
Love ‘Blues in A’! The whole Barn Dance thing sounds like a great big fun time. Would like to hear more of the Blues. :))
What a beautiful, but bittersweet, way to wake up this morning. Thanks!
I say bittersweet b/c it makes me long for the days when I didn’t live in the city of brotherly drain your soul, and we’d camp every weekend. Good food, good music, awesome friends!
On the plus side, our tomato plant is the size of a small tree and is still giving us so many tomatoes that we’ve resorted to passing them out to anyone walking by.
So we’ve got that going for us, I guess.
Great sounds. How about some pictures of the band?
We’re devoted Cook’s subscribers and you’re at our house every weekend on KERA. Maybe you could film your next pig roast so we could live vicariously. Since hubby enjoys his little Cook Shack smoker, did you ever consider doing segments on smoking some stuff smaller than a whole pig? LOVE Blues in A – y’all are some kinda good!
I would never have guessed that you are a Deadhead. Your music is fantabulous.
Please direct me to the Maple Milk Shake recipe. I just returned from Brattleboro with bottles of Grade B syrrp for my favorite co-workers at Sur La Table. I’d love togive them the recipe with the sweet stuff.
Peace In,
Kathlean
P.S. I’m in Santa Monica, CA and it’s Th. 7:45 am
WOW Chris. Very impressive. You are one talented man.
What a great band! I loved the music. Love your show, too. I didn’t realize you lived so large, Chris!
I saw Jerry Garcia in his last concert in Chicago. He would have enjoyed your music. Good tunes.
I had tickets to a September concert in Boston and he died in August — hadn’t seem him in almost 30 years. Nobody played like Jerry but thanks for the compliment.
Hey fellow New Englander, love the music and good times. Love the show. Sometimes I have trouble finding it. Any suggestions? It used to be on RI PBS, but I can’t find it on there anymore. If I wasn’t such I tight Yankee I’d buy the TV guide, right? Oh, well. If you play in any clubs keep us posted out here. Here’s another band to keep an eye on Right Angle Woman, they play in the Worcester area, not a bad band, just folks our age keeping the faith, playing the rock and roll.
Happy fall,
Jen aka, TyeDye
Enjoyed them all, especially Eyes! Next time you do a book signing tour, bring your band along with you!
Really do enjoy the letters and being a Deadhead myself and very amateur guitarist was quite impressed…rode my bike down Danby mtn on the new pavement in August…several miles at high speed was exhilirating…whereabouts are the hares?
Loved the music!!!! If I had a barn, I would definitely have a Barn Dance. Sounds like fun.
Enjoy your update email. Thank you.
Christopher,
Since I enjoyed hearing about your barn dance so much and almost feel I know you a little bit from shows blogs recipes, etc and especialy your music, I thought you might relate to my morning- off to the Jersey shore to catch stripers in the surf so we can smoke them tomorrow tailgaiting at Penn State v Iowa. Cornell ’77 Estimated Prophet rockin’ the Suburban. Thank you for all the recipes and smiles.
I can’t wait for the video!
I want to thank you for such good letters from Vermont. I have enjoyed them for so many years. You are an excellent story teller.
i enjoy the stories pictures and now the band so much many years agoi was born and raised on a black angus farm in virginia my gandparents made three meals a day for workers and as a lil one i was put on tne line to learn and we had heyrides pig roasts etc when i grew up i married and moved to penna but i always miss my farm hard work but so much fun my grandfather gave me a workhorse molly i loved her so much when she died he had a special place on the farm to bury her i still go and say hello to her with my children and grandchildren you bring it all back for me god bless you and yours
Hi, Chris, I watch your cooking show on PBS every chance I get. Totally enjoy it. Am sitting here now enjoying your band. This music is great. Mellowwww,
Thanks, also, for your Vermont country letters.
I enjoy reading about your town and the farm. My sister’s family lived in Winooski, Vermont for about 10 years while her husband attended medical school at the University of Vermont in Burlington. I forward your letters to her when I receive them. She
lives in Danville, PA. now. Out family would visit my sister in Vermont whenever possible and truly loved this state and its people. What beautiful country! My Best to You All, Jan Schneider,Chicago IL
I loved the Blues, I will be playing it over and over again.
Chris-
Love both your shows, & especially your column at the beginning of each Cook’s Magazine. Wonderful writing. But I’m trying to get a question on the live Q & A & my computer is not letting me post one, for some reason! Could you answer a couple questions I’ve had for a long time?
You said on one of the TV shows that you threw out all of your nonstick cookware for health reasons. What are those? Is there something carcinogenic or unhealthy about Teflon or ironstone cookware? Does this apply to the factory-coated cast iron pans like Lodge, too?
Also, being the pie expert on the show, could you share your personal pie crust recipe with us? I have had troubles with everything except for the press-in-pan crumbly crust that you & one of the lady chefs taught us last season, which is blessedly easy! Thank you! But I still want to make a flaky, sublimely wonderful traditional pie crust & I’m not afraid to use lard! But our store doesn’t label it as anything other than ‘LARD,’ so I don’t know if it is leaf lard or not. Why is it called leaf lard?
Blessings! Thanks again.
Nonstick cookware starts to smoke at over 500 degrees and the chemical surface will start to break down over 600 degrees. If you inhale the smoke, you can get something called “polymer fume fever” which is not that serious but gives you a headache. (Tried it one and it was unpleasant.) That being said, there is no definitive research to say that using nonstick is a serious health threat. However, I use a steel BERNDES pan that is very heavy but needs seasoning much like cast iron. If you are willing to take care of the pan, it is a great choice. Most home cooks aren’t, however. I will email you our VOdka Pie Crust recipe which is the best — easy to roll out and always flaky.
Hi Christopher,
I so enjoy your letters and this time with the music of your Shady Grove Band included was a wowser. Enjoyed “Shady Grove” and the “Blues in A” the most.
Your band has a real professional sound. How about a wee touch on your kitchen show?
Thanks for letting us get to know you better.
Ksthy
Would love to play on the show but then we would have to practice!
I look forward to your descriptive letters from Vermont, like a child waits for Santa. My daughter and I clammer to the mailbox for your magazine. I have so enjoyed building your house, tapping the maple trees, hunting with Bernadette and buying your horses. I feel ownership. Listening to your band,my husband and I felt like we were right in front of you on the sawdust floor. Keep up your talents Chris, there are several us out here in Missouri enjoying you.
Thanks — unfortunately the band plays about once per year at our Pig Roast but it is hunting season so we are keeping busy through the end of the year. Glad that you enjoy the letters.
Hi Chris:
Sounds great. For the last few years, I have been having a brisket bbq get together at my place. I use the rub from A.T.K. It’s awsome. Everyone loves it. And a few other treats I learned from Cook’s Country. Then afterwards, some guys I used to play with set up in the garage and jam for the neighbors. My Dad was visiting this year and brought his fiddle. If the crowd gets any bigger it won’t fit in my garage anymore. We’re up to 2 14# briskets and smoked turkey for meat, plus pot luck. We may have to start renting a park.
Guitar players that cook. 🙂
Keep pickin’.
I am 76 and watch the show every Saturday on PBS. Would loveto visit the farm next summer when I am traveling in the northeast. I really enjoy the girls–and they are girls to me–and the way they present the food and talk to you. You can’t put anything by them. The music is very enjoyable, and I can understand the words. This in itself is not the norm today. Keep up the good work.
Actually, you can rent the Cook’s Country house – log onto http://www.twopigsfarm.com to get info.
Now just a pig roastin’ minute…Don’t tell me after all the other things you have on your plate, you have time to be “playing in the band”, and sound great I might add.. I’m trying to picture Jerry with a bow tie..ha.
Well, was a Deadhead long before becoming a cook — first things first. Just file this under the heading of, “Everybody wants to be something that they’re not!” By the way, Jerry’s estate used to sell 30 million dollars worth of ties per year; not bowties however.
That blues is smokin’.
We are trying to make all of this clearer and also notify everyone well in advance before shipping. The problem is that we are about the last folks in the world who have the equivalent of a book club and people don’t read the “fine print” although we have tried to make the copy larger and clearer. We are trying to do better, using clearer, more direct language but we NEVER ship books unless someone has agreed to the terms in advance.
We are trying to make all of this clearer and also notify everyone well in advance before shipping. The problem is that we are about the last folks in the world who have the equivalent of a book club and people don’t read the “fine print” although we have tried to make the copy larger and clearer. We are trying to do better, using clearer, more direct language but we NEVER ship books unless someone has agreed to the terms in advance.
All I can say is…Wow Chris!!!! If this ‘cooking thing’ doesn’t ever pan out (LOL!) I will be first in line to buy about 20 of your albums, and play them for friends here in Illinois, and my friends and family in Ashland and Warren New Hampshire!!!! Love you Man!!!
Wow!!
Yes, I really did just listen to your awesome band recordings in this email for the first time, right now. You guys are truly good and put down some amazing licks for a group that does not practice and performs only once a year! I wish my string group could do the same.
Everything that you put your hand to is of such amazing quality and integrity. Thank you for sharing with PBS viewers and internet users.
Ellen
Chris,
Just shared this link on FB…all my Dead Head friends will truly enjoy. Two of my former band members who are on FB (and joined me at the Europe ’72 concerts in Holland) will definitely approve…especially the jam sections. When are you guys going to do some stuff off Anthem of the Sun — Alligator?
My husband and I enjoy the heck outta Test Kitchen show! Love the letters from Vermont. NOW I find out you’re a musician, and ex-hippie to boot! Too much for one night, ha!! Please post old pics of yourself back in the day w/the long hair. It’d be interesting to see. The band sounds pretty darned good too btw!!