Sarah King in Ripton, Vermont

Sarah King

Ripton-based musician and part-time staff in the Middlebury College Bookstore

Location: Middlebury, Vermont

Submitted March 31, 2020

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I'm a musician, part-time Midd employee and Ripton resident, and I've been working from home for the past few weeks since students were sent home. It's been a weird time for sure, especially as a working musician, because all of my gigs are canceled, most of my students have chosen to pause lessons for the time being (versus online lessons, mainly due to the overwhelming amount of screen time everyone is getting now), and many of us are struggling not only to figure out how to manage right now, but also how things will look when this is over. 

My biggest fear is that the economic and social fallout will be long and drawn out, and will trickle down slowly. As people lose jobs, they lose income. Without customers who can spend money, businesses — including establishments that support indie musicians — will be forced to close. Without venues that support indie musicians, we'll have nowhere to play unless we're already selling out stadiums. Then we'll be out of work longer, and the cycle will continue ...

On the plus side, being home with a heavily-reduced schedule has given me a lot of time to work out, do live-stream concerts (which are actually AWESOME) and practice music. I've also made some live music videos, like this parody to Dolly Parton's Jolene as a Covid-19 PSA to get people to stay home. It was filmed on an iPhone in my driveway. Enjoy! (And hopefully I can actually play live shows again someday.)

King is conducting live streams on Thursdays at 7 p.m. EDT for the remainder of April (and potentially beyond). She’ll be rotating platforms “because rural Ripton internet can’t handle all three at once” — her next will be on YouTube. See the schedule of live streams here.