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Last November, you might recall, Chris “Citrus” Sauthoff (U.S. Pipe, Lord of Word, P-Funk) suffered a minor stroke, and as a result, the gifted guitarist lost some of the feeling in his picking hand. “It was one of the scariest times I’ve ever had in my life,” recalls Sauthoff’s wife, Laura McGaughey.
He still has mild aphasia, she says, and the sensation in his hand is not completely back (“He describes this like wearing gloves,” says McGaughey), but he’s continuing to recover. As part of his recovery, Sauthoff’s been playing lots of guitar as therapy, and, in addition to teaching himself, has been taking classes with Rene Heredia and learning new styles such as flamenco.
On Saturday, April 21, Sauthoff is slated to make his return to the stage as part of Swallow Hill’s Top of the Hill series with some Swallow Hill staffers and some students and friends. McGaughey says Sauthoff will be playing a mixture of styles from flamenco and folk to funk and Hindustani, with a little blues and gypsy jazz thrown in for good measure.
“The evening will be a celebration of love, life, family and friends,” she says, adding that the show will also serve as a testament to “the power of what music does for us, as it gives us so much to transform and even be reborn.”
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