It’s funny to the fourth degree when the Vail Theatre of the Arts presents its Funny Females of Folk concert this Saturday.
Four touring folkies, Cheryl Wheeler, Cosy Sheridan, Claudia Nygaard and Christine Lavin, are teaming up for an evening of well-written songs meant to bring out the belly laughs.
Lavin, a semi-regular visitor to Tucson, spoke to Caliente last week from her home in New York City.
Here’s what you can expect on Saturday:
Prepare for new tunes. Lavin’s new album, “If You’re Drunk, You Cannot Buy a Puppy,” is due out Nov. 25, giving her plenty of new material to pass on to Tucson audiences.
The release was put on hold after the death of Lavin’s boyfriend in January 2013. “I am still not over it,” Lavin said. “It really took the wind out of my sails.”
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Lavin’s own health scare earlier this year, a twisted stomach that resulted in a three-hour operation, jump-started her efforts.
“It was very traumatic, but it got me thinking that we aren’t here forever,” she said. “I had to finish my record.”
The title track comes from a story in the New York Post about a pet store in Greenwich Village that had that sign posted in its window.
“It was a pet store surrounded by bars,” she said. “People were buying puppies and then having buyer’s remorse the next day.”
Bring your knitting needles. Lavin has been a knitting fanatic for more than a decade and will hold a knitting circle for ticket holders before the show on Saturday.
“Knitters are such a wonderful group of people,” she said. “They are always knitting for others. They never seem to knit for themselves.”
The circles have gone over well with fans. One show in Olympia, Washington, brought in more than 80 knitters. It is not uncommon for people to bring glow-in-the-dark knitting needles to performances so that they can work on their projects during Lavin’s set.
“People ask if I am offended by that,” she said. “I tell them if I didn’t have to play guitar, I would be knitting, too. Sometimes knitters can listen better if they have knitters in their hands.”
As an added bonus, local folkie Robyn Landis will perform her new song, “Knitting,” during the circle, with Lavin providing harmony.
Expect to see Lavin dining downtown. Lavin will often hit some of Tucson’s most popular restaurants when she swings through town. One of her favorites is El Charro on North Court Avenue. She owned a copy of its cookbook for a time, but gave it away as part of what she calls Lavin’s Lending Library.
“I’ll write a review in the front cover of a book after I’m done reading it, then pass it on to someone in the audience at a show,” she said. “I must have about 200 books lent out across the country.”
