I left my home on this snowy, dark evening to perform at the Golden Pond Retirement Community, a seven-acre landscaped site nestled adjacent to North Table Mountain, an imposing desert mesa.  I intermixed classical repertoire, three Bach pieces and a Milán piece, with six traditional American folk songs.  The folk song set included “Shenandoah,” “Red River Valley,” and “Yellow Rose of Texas.”  These songs derive from the time of America’s restless westward expansion and remain a part of our national identity.