Penny Nichols was my first ever girlfriend at my young age of 19. Two years younger than me, beautiful Penny sang like she knew Darcy and Vandemere, and we played (often with Mary McCaslin, too, back then) around the clubs of So. Cal. at hoots. Hootenannies were everywhere then, which meant you were doing sets at clubs for free…I had not met Tom Campbell nor Steve Gillette yet, but they had written one of the most beautiful folk love songs, one that became a personal favorite when I first heard