Small Potatoes

Most people think that a dream of being a troubadour, of travelling the open road and performing in towns along the way sounds about as feasible as running away to join the circus! Thankfully, our guests today aren’t most people!  Twenty-one years ago, Jacquie Manning and Rich Prezioso, the Chicago-area duo known as Small Potatoes, decided to hit the road. “In one year, we quit our jobs, bought a house, bought a car, and became full-time folk singers--not exactly the greatest combination, financially speaking, or what most people would call a sound business model. We didn’t throw darts at a map, but we might as well have.”  They might not have had the best plan, but what they did have were great songs and musicianship, and the ability to put on a show. After nineteen years, a million and a half miles and 3500 shows (not to mention five Dodge Caravans...) they are listed as a “favorite act” by many coffeehouses, clubs and house concerts across the U.S. They have made repeat appearances at major folk festivals, including the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Walnut Valley Festival, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Superb musicianship and showmanship, award-winning songwriting, and a strong sense of tradition has made them, as Dirty Linen Magazine once put it, “one of the most polished, inventive, and entertaining shows on the circuit.”  Host Steven Kapp Perry chats with Jacquie and Rich about life on the road, passion for music, and some of their favorite experiences they’ve had over 20 years of performing together. And as a special treat they share with us a brand new song called Cherokee Bill!  Songs Featured:  Simple Truths; Time Flies; Cherokee Bill; Waltz of the Wallflowers; I Will Pass This Way Again;  smallpotatoesmusic.com  Follow Highway 89 on twitter @byuh89