It is always a pleasure reconnecting with an artist after a few years. It’s also a pleasure to promote good folk music, especially when served up by three very talented women: Lynn Deeves, Trina Hamlin and Colleen Sexton. The trio will return to Slates in Hallowell this coming Monday evening, June 25, and to that end I arranged a chat with Sexton from her Boston-area home. I began by asking a question about this group’s history — when they began, specifically.

Sexton: This is well over 10 years ago now that we started gigging together in Maine, and for over 10 consecutive years we made an annual run up to Maine. We’d play the colleges, a lot of different venues, house concerts and we just kind of kept that tradition going — it’s something Lynn, Trina and I have really all enjoyed. Over the years we’ve made a lot of great friendships in Maine and really just enjoyed doing it every year.

Q: Is this group known by a name?

Sexton: We usually just book it by our own last names. I think that’s how Lynn does it.

Q: Now, do you collaborate on songs or is this a show where each of you performs your own songs while the other two back you up musically?

Sexton: It’s really both of those. We really do collaborate on lots of songs. All three of us play guitar and Trina also plays keyboards and harmonica — like, stellar harmonica. Lynn also plays harmonica and will do some percussion. I’ll do a little percussion along with guitar, so we will trade off and play on each other’s tunes. We will also sing on each other’s tunes. It’s kind of nice because when we do our songs in our solo shows we’re used to just having ourselves and our guitar, or whatever that instrument is, but it’s nice for all of us to add those layers in vocally with the three of us together. And, we do some slightly different arrangements of our own songs because of that, because we can take more liberties and really kind of, I think, add more to a lot of the songs in the performances. So, that’s something we really like doing.

Q: Well, I for one am a huge fan of vocal harmonies — I have been ever since I started doing this back in the late ’60s.

Sexton: (Laughter) Yeah, and you know what? Our human ears like that. I love it, too, and it’s something we can do so why not do it?

Q: Now, do you have something new out now?

Sexton: I’m beginning to work now on a set of songs. I don’t know if it will be released in a typical CD or if I’m going to be releasing them online, but I have said for a few years now that, “Yeah, there’s another record in there, for sure!” But I have not bent down and put pen to paper. In the past few weeks, though, I have kind of been inspired to make that happen. So, there’ll be some new songs from me in Maine and I’ve also put out a very soft ultimatum to Lynn and Trina that we want to have some new material for the great folks who come out and support us in these shows, so we’re going to do that, too.

Q: Now, is there any chance that the three of you would sit down and put out an album together?

Sexton: Yeah, you know, I believe that Lynn has released a live record — it may be more like an EP — that contains several songs of us together, but I think that’s actually a great idea and it could even be a very limited run. It’s pretty easy to make a CD. Lynn has done that to an extent, but I think it’s a great idea.

Q: Especially for the fans up here?

Sexton: Yeah, yeah.

Q: Now, you’re coming up to Slates, I believe.

Sexton: Yes, we’re playing Slates as part of their fabulous Monday night series. The last time we played there, last year, it was such a warm show, it was a completely full house and there was such a great vibe in there … a very memorable show, as all of these Maine shows are, but it’s a really great room.

Q: You just said, “as all these Maine shows are,” which leads one to assume that you three will be playing and singing up in our fair state at other venues this time ’round — is that the case?

Sexton: We are. We are playing the Frontier Café and Theater in Portland on Friday, June 22; we’re playing the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts in Brunswick on Saturday the 23; and we’re playing a private house concert on Sunday the 24 — that’s our Maine run this year, and we enjoy all our shows up there. And I don’t know if you know this, Lucky, but my last record, “Greatest Find,” was actually recorded up in Maine in a town called Unity. I have to give a shout-out to a guy named Randy Labee who was the producer on that and it was put out on his label at the time. So, I very much associate music with Maine: great listening rooms, great fans, great supporters of music up in Maine. Oh, and we’ll all have CDs with us at these shows.

Q: Is there anything, Colleen, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?

Sexton: I know that there are a lot of music lovers in Maine and I would just encourage people to come out to the show. This is specific to the Slates’ show, right Lucky?

Q: Yes.

Sexton: And knowing what a great room that is, this show is really like a celebration of life and fun, and if people are looking for an evening out this is a really good excuse to get up off your couch. We look forward to our show at Slates, we look forward to seeing a lot of old friends who we always see at these shows, and hopefully we’ll see some new folks, too, who might see this article and think, “Yeah, this sounds kind of interesting!”

Lucky Clark has spent 49 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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