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 traditional Irish and eclectic folk music in Coppers & Brass and O’Keith & McFiddle, original folk-rock in The Soft and Low and beautiful stringscapes in Freegrass String Quartet (with Blake Shaw, Dan Padley and Annie Savage).
Parenting and homeschooling takes a lot of my time so I feel fortunate to also be an actively performing musician, a community volunteer and a house manager at Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.
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