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Rachel Bissex was a wonderful person who died this past February after a two-year battle with breast cancer. I met Rachel back in 1980 when I was booking music for the Fresh Ground Coffeehouse in Burlington. She was playing in a duet then called Rachel and Roo. She later started the Burlington Coffeehouse and I finally got to actually know her about ten years ago, after the Ripton Community Coffee House got started and I began booking her there. I played some gigs with her, doing the warm up slot and then backing her up on mandolin. I also had the opportunity to play mandolin with her at a few NERFA and Folk Alliance conferences. She would ask me to play with her and then introduce me to everyone, praising my songwriting and trying to make connections for me. She would also bring musicians to meet me who she thought would work at the Ripton coffeehouse. Rachel had incredible networking skills, and she was also always helping other musicians. As she got older and more popular she worked even harder for other musicians. It was one of the things that everyone loved about her. She had been telling me for almost ten years that I had to get down to Kerrville. Last year, in June, 2004, she played the Ripton Community Coffee House. She drove up from Kerrville for the gig. At her performance she said that it had been 105 degrees every day, there were chiggers, fire ants and the occasional scorpion, but she would always go back to Kerrville. At Kerrville, many of the musician who loved her performed her songs at a tribute concert. It was beautifully done. Vic and Reba Heyman made sure that Rachel's children, Matt and Emma could attend. There is a tribute CD due out soon featuring artists doing Rachel's songs, including Dar Williams, Catie Curtis, Ruthie Foster and others. 100% of the CD sales will go to the Rachel Bissex Memorial College Fund to fulfill Rachel's final wish to pay for the college education of her children. Please visit www.rachelbissex.org for more information. Click the thumbnail to see the full photo.
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