Sometimes I find myself thinking, as I travel, "when I get off the road in a week, I'll get back to my letters, I'll go to the library, I'll put some time into making bread right, I'll go for a run along Paradise Creek, I'll fix the step..." and my mind careens off into all those lists upon lists of stuff to do that aren't related to playing music and writing. I've found though, that any road you go down besides the one you're currently going down, is bound to be a dicey one. Speaking of which I have to tell you about this one we're on in a second. I think about it like rock climbing: you don't look up and you don't look down, you just look for the hand and foot holds in front of you. The show is the thing each night, just as the writing is the thing when at home. Still it can be hard to concentrate when your desk is full of other stuff dragging you away from your main job. So this morning I got up early and have been working on a few things to get them off my "desk."
Firstly there are the arrangements just beginning for the orchestral arrangements for my show with the Boston Pops. Sean O'Laughlin, the arranger, has sent along some great stuff and I'm just now having the chance to listen to it. I'm also doing some email interviews, which take awhile to do right. Finally, I'm looking out the window at this incredible southern Ohio scenery floating by the bus as we make our way from The Music Mill in Indianapolis to the Bellbrook Jamboree in Xenia, Ohio later on today. The road is incredibly narrow and I've been up to the front several times to see how Richard, our bus driver, is doing. The man is a horse and I have total confidence in him, yet there are a remarkable number of rusted-out cars on the shoulders of this curvy mountain road, and it's no harm just checking to make sure he's good.
These last several days have been beautiful and although the shows have been smaller, the crowds have been a joy to play to. In Little Rock I got a chance to visit the Clinton (Bill) Presidential Library with Zack and Liam before sound check and then play with some great guys, The Benjy Davis Project, at the Revolution Room in town. This was by far the craziest venue of the whole tour. Perhaps five bars and a restaurant in the place, students going completely wild (not for us) in every nook and crevice (of the building). Cops were everywhere outside on all manners of conveyance ranging from foot to horse to Segway to scooter and car, a religious revival happening in a tent behind the venue, and in the corner, strummin' away, Josh Ritter and his band. The folks in our crowd were great sports to put up with the carnage all around, and festivities were in full force when we slipped out of town a few hours later.
In Omaha, Dawn Landes and her be-bearded drummer Ray Rizzo joined us for a string of shows starting at the glorious Slow Down. I'd read that this was rated the best new club in America so my hopes were high, but the rocket of my dreams blasted through the ceiling of cold hard experience when we arrived and found fresh hot coffee waiting for us and a group of people who were genuinely proud of their club. Here is a place that puts on four shows a week at most because they think more shows than that are too hard on the club and make for a less enjoyable experience for crowd and performer alike.
The next night, in Des Moines, was a night off. Nights off are expensive but necessary, and with only two nights off the whole tour, I wanted to do something fun. So Ray, Dawn, Brandon Eggleston (my guitar and monitor tech) and Bill Heath, who is making a documentary of the trip, and I all went down to see the Des Moines Cubs play the Portland Beavers baseball team on a beautiful clear Spring night. We also ate bratwurst and drank beer and harassed a walking piece of pizza, cheered the Cubs, took sides in an anthropomorphic fast food race between a hot dog, a chimichanga and an egg roll (go egg roll!) and ducked as hot dogs and tee shirts were variously shot out of a gun at the crowd. We (the Cubs) won handily and to celebrate we walked out of the stadium and down the street to the High Life, where we drank High Life and bought (it seemed like a good idea at the time) High Life sweatshirts.
Our show in Madison was great fun and a proud moment. Several years ago, when my band and I were opening for Sarah Harmer, we took a swing from the tour and opened the High Noon Saloon for about eight or nine people. This time it was sold out and with school getting out and the summer fast approaching, spirits were high in the crowd and on stage.
There seems to be a lot of porch sittin' in rural southern Ohio. Porch sittin', which was actually invented by my great great uncle, is near and dear to my heart so I'm gonna sign off now and watch some champions at work as our rolling porch tilts and sways towards the Bellbrook Jamboree.
Talk soon!
Josh
photos by Austin Nevins (and Josh)