Deep in the White Mountains of eastern California lives the oldest known tree in the world: Methuselah, a 4,852-year-old bristlecone pine. To protect it from vandalism, its specific location wiithin the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a closely-guarded secret. The ancient bristlecone pine tree in the cover photo might or might not be "the" Methuselah -- but in any case, it is probably at least a thousand years old (and probably several) -- which is still really, really old.

This month's piece was improvised by Ménage à Trio in response to the prompt "Methuselah Tree". This recording was made last summer on our front lawn (widely socially-distanced, because 2020). Unlike some of the more sprightly pieces Ménage has created, this piece took a more somber and slow-growing approach (after all, if you're nearly five thousand years old, you aren't going to be in a hurry).

Ménage à Trio is my string trio (with Alexander James Adams on fiddle and Sunnie Larsen on violin/viola. We improvise music in the moment, usually in response to audience prompts. Ménage is very excited to be performing together again (thank goodness for vaccinations!); our first concert in over a year will be broadcast online at 12 PM Pacific Time on Sunday, August 8, as part of Music Under the Trees 2021. Ménage's video shoot is scheduled for July 10; we'll be improvising live together onstage, with our crew and family as a small but appreciative live audience. And, we would love it if you could send us your prompts! Please email prompts to prompts@menage-a-trio.com. Our faithful Promptmeister, Shawna Jacques, will choose her favorites and call them out during our live-for-video performance on 7/10/21 (and she will not show them to us in advance!).

If you'd like to come to the concert, you can get tickets at onlineconcertthing.com; tickets are $25 (suggested) for both days & all four MUTT 2021 concerts (Betsy Tinney, Vixy & Tony, Alexander James Adams & Menage a Trio).