Imagine my surprise when I took myself to the Vergennes Opera House on the night of December 30th to hear well-known fiddler and multi-instrumentalist Pete Sutherland play, and he concluded his two-hour show with the following pronouncement, “This is a coming out party. I am a card-carrying Vermont secessionist and a supporter of the Second Vermont Republic.” He then went on to explain what the Second Vermont Republic was and that his Vermont Secession Song “Two Hundred Years Is Long Enough” was available on the Vermont Commons website. He and his band consisting of string musicians Colin McCaffrey and Will Patton, accordion and keyboard player Jeremiah McLane, and vocalist Karen Sutherland ended the show with a rousing version of the Vermont Secession Song. The mildly shocked audience gave the band a standing ovation.
I later learned that this was the third night in a row in which the band played the secession song, having done so previously in Norwich and Montpelier. The coming out party was repeated the following night at Burlington’s First Night Celebration.
The CD “Two Hundred Years Is Long Enough” is available for $10.00 by writing to the Second Vermont Republic, P.O. Box 544, Charlotte, VT 05445. Alternatively, a complementary copy may be obtained by contributing $50.00 or more to the Second Vermont Republic.
The Vermont Secession Song as well as Pete Sutherland’s other recent CDs are also available on his website www.epactmusic.com. They include: “A Clayfoot’s Tale,” “Going Elsewhere,” and “Out Takes.”
Thomas H. Naylor
March 1, 2008