Wow, what a tour.
I’m super exhausted and thankful for what was simultaneously fast and slow 7 weeks. Thank you everyone that came out, those that connected with us, and especially thank you to the folks that hosted us for the evening. Without all of you this whole gig is basically pointless. It straight up comes down to you fruits, the folks that dig it. Love you.
Now it’s on to trying to do more booking and continuing the social media posts and writing while at the home stead. Whenever yours end I always find routine comes hard. Your bed is different, your shower is a stranger, the lawn has changed, whatever. One thing that doesn’t change is the love for our family. I’m writing this in the van on the way back to Portland from College Grove, and I’m beyond excited to see my darling blueberry again. Lord knows, y’all.
Takeaways from this run? Beside people being awesome and California being an incredibly huge and powerful state, Bisbee, Arizona is the coolest town I’ve run into besides Murphys, CA. Cuter than cute and incredible locals. That’s a rare gem in the world- a whole town of folks who get what each other are going for. We booked the show there to try and see Doug Stanhope (Sweet and I’s favorite comedian) and we’re going back because the people are incredible.
I think this is the first tour I’ve actually been able to settle in and make friends. Maybe it’s a length of the run thing? Whatever it is, I finally let my guard down in a way that let me, as a person open up to folks I met. There’s something of facility on the instrument that does that too, maybe.
What I mean is that in order for your playing to be more intuitive or connected to your inner mental musical flow you need to free the cobwebs in your mind. A lot of musicians who aren’t able to break a certain musical ground are simply guiltily of guarding themselves in some way. You are the music. You are a musician. The goal of a musician when practicing is to eliminate the boundary between their fingers and their mind. The instrument they’re drawn to is exactly that, an instrument with which they can better let the music out through.
Point being that because of how often this band tours, there are certain pieces of music performance which are becoming more practiced simply because of the sheer amount of shows and how often we play the tunes we do.
For example, dynamics while singing. Being able to accompany in a way which requires so little extra thought that the vocal performance and instrumental playing are able to be fluid, and then musically in tune with the bands dynamics and energetics. Personally, in the past (even at the beginning of this tour) that was an unachievable part of my playing. Something was guarded inside of me which disallowed the progression of that part of my playing, and must have been resolved.
I know what that is, but this is a band of fruit who just want you to party. Can’t freak on the good thing for too long, you feel me?
Dig
Dig this
Dig this vibe
Dig this
Dig
See y’all on the road. Juicy out.