The late Mem Semmes from Dunnellon loved music. Not only did she write hundreds of songs, but she also helped provide a long time venue for Florida’s singer songwriters through the monthly concert series, The Sunday Sampler. Just a few years before she died her son Jon Semmes helped Mem produce her first CD. Mem talked about songwriting with Donna Green-Townsend in this one hour special aired on WUFT in December of 2007 on Across The Prairie.
Mem Semmes on These Diamonds CD Project
The late Will McLean spent his life writing songs to save Florida through music. Now the foundation named after the father of Florida folk is marketing an environmental CD trying to continue McLean’s lifelong mission. The acoustic CD features musicians from across the Sunshine State singing about a wide variety of environmental stories and issues. As Donna Green-Townsend reports even the CD title, These Diamonds carries a story behind it.
Florida musicians included on the CD are:
The Eagles Fly – Mindy Simmons
Lullaby of the Rivers – Bob Patterson
Rose and the Gold – Mem Semmes
Florida Pines – Paul Garfinkel
Paw Prints in the Sand – Ken Skeens
These Diamonds – Grant Livingston
Turtle Tears – Amy Carol Webb
Rand McNally Map of Florida – Jim Bickerstaff
Plumes – Steve Blackwell
Apalachicola Doin’ Time – Dale Crider
Song For Our Children – Mary Ann Dinella
- Early band photo of Mem Semmes
Donna, Mem Semmes and Harriett Meyer at Apalachicola Doin’ Time Celebration in 2000
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