Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 50

G Chasing the Stars: Do it Now!
by Joan Vannorsdall

Guest
Column

JOAN VANNORSDALL IS THE AUTHOR OF TWO NOVELS, 'SOLITARY PLACES'
AND 'THE HEARTS OF SOLIDERS,' IS COMPLETING HER THIRD AND HAS
BEGUN HER FOURTH (WITH MUSIC COWRITTEN WITH YATA PIENOVICH).
SHE'S STILL WAITING FOR HER TURN ON THE RYMAN THEATRE STAGE.

Joan Vannorsdall (left) stands with singer Santana Hope, in Clifton Forge, Virginia.

IT WAS BUSINESS AS USUAL at the
August Open Mic Night at the Clifton
Forge (Virginia) Masonic
Amphitheatre, and we'd come for
some Saturday night music. You can't
ever know what you're going to hear:
oldies are big most nights, a good
bluegrass romp, a little gospel.
And you never know who's going
to take the stage. Mostly, the performers are probably like me, whose
Patsy-Cline/George Jones dreams of
singing on the Ryman Auditorium
stage faded to pale a long time ago,
but who still love music: playing it and
singing it and maybe even writing it.
And on Open Mic Night in our small
mountain town of Clifton Forge, you
just sit back and take what comes
along, and it's all fine.
This night, there's the guy who
looks disconcertingly like John Denver.
50 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

He's pretty good, and he gets a nice
round of applause. And one who does
faint justice to "Nights in White
Satin," but who gets a lot of points for
playing his neck harmonica and guitar
simultaneously.
And then there is Santana Hope.
Up there on the stage all by herself, all
legs and arms and long hair and
dreams.
Seventeen years old, and already a
three-time American Idol tryout veteran. She looks like she doesn't quite
know what to do with herself up there
at first. And her music downloads
aren't cooperating very well. But
when the stars align, and the opening
chords of "Say Something" start
through the speakers, Santana looks
into the heart of the night and takes
us on a beautiful ride, one she is in
charge of from start to finish.

It's something about her phrasing.
The flips notes at the end of lines. The
halts she allows just before the surprise of the verse. Whatever this girl is
feeling inside when she stands in front
of the darkened audience that night,
what we hear is confident, calm,
beautiful. Forget Christina Aguilera
and A Great Big World. That night,
Santana owned this song.
In the past few months, I've heard
Santana sing several more times. Her
boyfriend Chase Burley-Smith sometimes plays backup with his fine bluegrass band "Virginia Fast." More
often, she's by herself, singing everything from Patsy Cline to Bonnie Raitt
to Leonard Cohen. I've gotten to know
a little bit about Santana Hope. Her
late father's favorite songs (Bob Seger's
"Turn the Page" and Sarah
MacLachan's "Eyes of an Angel").
How she cut her teeth listening to The
Grand Old Opry in her maternal grandparents' living room ("My momma's
mother and father played and sang
everything; they were huge country
music fans.") Her own songwriting ("A
lot has happened to me. I draw from
the hard stuff when I write lyrics.").
Her dreams ("When I look into the
future, I see nothing but me singing.").
Coming from a little town in the
mountains of western Virginia, without big-name backing or money or
connections, can Santana Hope make
a name for herself? She has a lot of
folks in these parts hoping so.
But maybe that's the wrong question to ask. Instead, maybe ask yourself this: If, all those years ago, you'd
had the courage to stand on a stage
and share your big talent and heart
with your neighbors, wouldn't it be
possible to reach the stars? 

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Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015

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