Their songs are inspired by books. Their tour is inspired by weather.
Aidan Quinn and Christine Stay are the folk duo Friction Farm and they brought both of their inspirations to Jacksonville on Wednesday for Lunch @ The Lounge, a monthly concert series at the Main Library Downtown.
It was their first stop on an eight-city Florida tour that also will take the couple to Sebring, Melbourne Beach, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Hobe Sound, Stuart and Jupiter.
They live in Greenville, S.C., and when the weather is cold at home, it’s time to hit the road and head south.
“When it’s February and there’s snow on the ground, Florida is a good idea,” said Stay.
“By the time we get home, it will be spring,” Quinn said. “Well, almost.”
The 11 original songs on their latest CD, “I Read Your Book,” were inspired by experiences they’ve had with reading.
They’ve been touring the country for the past 12 years, playing folk festivals, listening rooms and coffee shops.
Four of the Florida venues are public libraries, which is a good fit when you enjoy reading as much as Stay and Quinn.
It also will open a new audience for their music and live performance.
“Playing libraries reaches an audience we might not otherwise get to meet,” said Quinn. “And they are free public spaces. It’s amazing what you can learn inside them.”
One of their songs, “Katie Raise Your Sails,” was inspired by a purchase at a used book store.
The book was “Voyage of the Beagle,” written by Charles Darwin to recount his travels in the late 1880s aboard the surveying vessel HMS Beagle.
It wasn’t the story that inspired the song, it was what was inscribed inside the book’s front cover.
“A 14-year-old girl got it for her birthday in 1961 from her grandfather,” said Stay. “It made us think about why he would give his granddaughter a book about exploration and discovery.”
Lunch @ The Lounge debuted in December.
At noon on the second Wednesday of each month, attendees are invited to bring their lunch and hear a free concert that ends in time to get back to the office, said Kathleen Brunner, a librarian who works in the reference and periodicals department and books the acts for the series.
She also worked for 10 years in the children’s department.
“I always enjoy the way children’s faces light up when they come to the library. It’s the same with music — it makes people’s faces light up,” she said.
Before the concert began, Brunner wheeled in a cart laden with copies of the books that led to the songs Friction Farm performed. She encouraged the audience to check out the books before leaving the library.
The Navy Band Southeast Wind Quartet is scheduled to perform March 9, followed by local songwriter Al Poindexter on April 13.
For more information on programs offered at the Jacksonville Public Library, visit jaxpubliclibrary.org.
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