I am a freelance musician with a degree in music therapy from The University of Iowa.
My professional interests include traditional Irish music, original folk music, jazz, recreational music making, theater, and neurodivergence.
I have a number of projects always in the works but you can most often find me playing original folk-rock in The Soft and Low and beautiful stringscapes in Freegrass (with Blake Shaw and Dan Padley).
Parenting and homeschooling takes a lot of my time so I feel fortunate to also be an actively performing musician, a house manager and arts assistant for Coralville Center for the Performing Arts and a community volunteer.
Tara McGovern 
Excellent article in little village. You nailed the Rapson vibe spot on.
Fascinating blog entry, if that’s what people call it, at https://taramcgovern.com/2021/06/18/esteban-and-the-children-of-the-sun/ I’m now a “follower.” Being a 20th-century refugee with no Twitter account, I’ll sign up with an email address.
I found out last night from an Iowa friend about the musical suite titled “Esteban & The Children of the Sun” to be performed Oct. 3 at the Englert Theatre. I noticed that you will be one of the musicians.
My wife and I published the weekly newspaper in Mount Vernon for 12 years until selling it in 1997 and moving to New Mexico. I was thrilled to hear about this musical suite and wished I still lived in Iowa so I could attend.
My interest is rooted in my last book, a biography of Esteban published in 2018 by University of New Mexico Press titled “Esteban: The African Slave Who Explored America.” It’s been slow gathering traction because the publisher put a price of $39.95 on both the hardback and the ebook. Sigh….
Can you think of any way we can tie my book in with the musical suite?
–Dennis Herrick