You don't have to wait until next summer at Tanglewood to hear James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma give an outdoor concert in the Berkshires. The two local favorites will be peforming live on the porch of the Red Lion Inn on Monday, September 15, as part of Good Morning America's "50 States in 50 Days" whistle-stop tour. GMA will begin its day at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum at the historic Lenox Station, and then a special Amtrak train will make a stop in Lee before arriving at the Stockbridge Station, where local residents will be able to greet Diane Sawyer, Chris Cuomo, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion. The second hour of the show will be broadcast from the Red Lion's porch and will include a segment on Red Lion chef Brian Alberg's work with the Railroad Street Youth Project. There will be special area set up to view the show and concert. (The Town of Stockbridge has not yet announced its parking and traffic plans for the day.) The broadcast is a coup for Red Lion Inn owner Nancy Fitzpatrick, who is the ultimate Berkshires booster and founder of the Berkshire Creative Economy Council. She is thrilled that her historic hotel will get national television exposure but she was coy about her involvement in getting the two world-famous musicians hooked up with GMA. "Well, they both happen to be personal friends, however, wasn't it a no-brainer for ABC?," she said in an email Tuesday night from John F. Kennedy International Airport, where she was waiting to board a plane for Europe. The indefatigable Fitzpatrick noted that she would be in Ireland next Monday on a long-planned Mass MoCA trip. "I'm really sorry to be missing all the mayhem at the inn, but at least it will be easy to stay out of everyone's way."
