A Brief Intermission

It's been a while since I've written on here. And not for a lack of things to talk about. There's been a lot going on. Let me give you some of the highlights of the last month or so.

Nathan Thomas, my bassist and main go-to-guy, and I have started pre-production on what will eventually turn into the next album. Since moving to Nashville (and a little before) I started demoing ideas on GarageBand. From simple acoustic sketches, to full-blown homemade productions, I've gathered around 20 songs now. Nathan and I have choosen 5 to focus our attention on.

* So Hard to Find an Easy Getaway - the oldest song of the bunch. I originally wrote this song in the Spring of 2008 while visiting my cousin David in Texas. We briefly played it during the last days of the Traveling Mercies. It didn't seem to fit the mood of "Shouting At A Silent Sky", but I kept the song around. Recently, I've revised the lyrics a bit, and we've brought it back into the last few shows. The song has a Chuck Berry style narrative about a troubled flight from Seattle to Texas, and has a Stones-eque loose rock feel. "Well, Austin might as well have been Boston / San Marcos might as well have been Spain / I left the clouds hoping for sunshine / but the dust bowl was flooded with rain / Yeah, the world is so strange it's so hard to make an easy getaway."

* Southern Pines - I started writing this song in the Fall of 2009, and it's gone thru quite an metamorphosis over the last few months. There's a time-change on the chorus, which I kept going back and forth on, but I think it'll be an interesting record when it's done. Like, "Easy Getaway", this song has a storyline narrative, but there are more layers to the lyrics. I originally wrote it as a sort of jazzy tin pan alley tune, then it became more like an Irish Folk song, and now it's going more riff rock. So we'll see where this one ends up. "You took me in under your spell / You clipped my wings and I could tell / Your ivory tower was now my prison cell / I plead my case and I rebelled / Your love letters were all misspelled / And I escaped without a word of farewell."

* What is this Love? - This song burst forth over the Summer of '09, and I've hardly changed a thing since. It's got an almost Latin groove to it, and it feels really fresh to me. Songs about love can be the most challenging since there have been so many great songs (and plenty of crappy ones) written about the subject over the years, but this one comes at it from a unique angle. It's more about the mystery of love, with contrasting sensual and spiritual themes. "What is this love that is spreading / What is this love like a virus / My heart pumps it to my brain and I keep waking up everyday / Just when I think I've had enough / What is this love?"

* When You Found Me - This was the first song I wrote as I settled into Nashville. Again, it's always nice when a love song presents itself and it's not a complete throwaway. The song revolves around a repeating blues riff, with a hypnotic groove, during the bridge it switches between minor and major in a way that hopefully wakes the listener from their trance. instead of focusing on how great life is with this new lover, it focuses more on how bad life was before. "When you found me I didn't believe in love / I'd been burned and I'd been bluffed / Wasn't a woman I could trust / I was blind I could not see / When you found me."

* I Know I Should Know Better - It's ironic that this is the title of the first song I'm re-recording. I originally wrote and recorded the song for the Mercies' first album back in 2007. But over the last couple years, I've felt like I could re-approach this song and breathe new life into it. It's always been an important song to me, and where we are taking it now should be a whole new experience for the listener.

So these are the first batch of songs Nathan and I will be focusing on once he gets back from his Honeymoon.

Honeymoon? On Saturday, June 26th, Nathan married his long-time sweetheart Leslie at a beautiful ceremony in Dickson, TN. They are now off to Mexico for the week. And the rest of the band has been busy as well - over the last month Aaron Tosti has been sharing his drum talents with Run Kid Run, The Almost, and will soon be on the road as a drum-tech for Underoath. Eric Newcomer has been on the road playing bass with House of Heroes, and our most recent addition to the band, the amazingly telented keyboardist Travis Terrell has been driving a bus for Peter Frampton. Yes, Peter Frampton!

So all that to say, progress is gonna be a little slower than I'd like, but hopefully we can find a day or two when each of these great players can add their magic to these tracks. The goal from there is to get these pre-production demos into the hands of people that might be able to take the project to the NEXT level. Whether it's a producer, a label, or whatever - we should have some good tracks to pass around.

So what have I been doing with my downtime? Well, I'm still working three days a week at the best honky tonk on Lower Broadway - Robert's Western World. And lately I've re-discovered my love of painting. I've started a series of "Heroes", and I've almost completed my first two - Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. For Nathan's wedding gift I painted him a portrait of Prince (who is his favorite artist).

As always there is more to talk about, but I've said enough already.

But you'll be hearing from me soon, I promise.

Hot Springs

I just returned to Nashville from my first out-of-town show since relocated to the Southern portion of this here United States. Hot Springs, Arkansas - the childhood home of Bill Clinton - and one of the coolest clubs I've ever seen - Maxine's! And this is all thanks to the great Paul Sammons.


I first met Paul, a native of Arkansas, when he was part of a duo called the Antiques. He had recently "moved" to Seattle, and we both had a weekly gig at the Can Can in the Pike Place Market of Downtown Seattle. When my girlfriend Meagan and I found out they living in their car, she invited the Antiques to stay at her place as they settled into Seattle. But within a few months, the band dissolved and Paul returned to Arkansas. Fast-forward a year and half, now we are living in the south and I reach out to Paul. Within a couple days he has me booked in Hot Springs playing an amazing club where he is the "Artist in Residence."

This club reminded me a lot of the Can Can, with its seated audience of little tables and it's everything-black-and-red, "French Quarters" decor - but it was much bigger venue. And the sound was amazing, thanks in large part to their wonderful soundman, Jake.

For my set, it was just me and my acoustic guitar. Jake let me use a guitar pick-up he had, so I didn't have to mic the acoustic (which is always awkward, and usually results in quite a bit of feedback). In Nashville I've been used to playing shorter 30-40 minute sets, but to fill the hour set, I pulled out a few covers.

HERE'S THE SET-LIST (w/ clips from various solo shows)

1 Fair Warning
2 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Dylan)
3 Honey I Choose You
4 Next Best Thing
5 Oh Lonesome Me (Don Gibson)
6 Idle Hands
7 Let Me Down Easy (Mark Pickerel)
8 Never Turnin' Back
9 I Gotta Get Drunk (Willie Nelson)
10 Death & Texas
11 Black Widow Blues (Townes Van Zandt)
12 So Hard to Make An Easy Getaway
13 Little Sister (Elvis)
14 Across the River
15 Country Heroes (Hank III)
16 I Know I Should Know Better


It was a chatty crowd, but a very responsive crowd. For the last song, Meagan brought our dog Boris on stage. I sang, "I Know I Should Know Better", to Boris as my closer.

Next up was Paul. I was immediately blown away by how much his music had evolved since I last shared a bill with him. With the Antiques, he had an interesting mix of classic country, originals with both southern and Seattle (grunge/folk) influences, as well as more gyspsy/vaudeville leanings. Now the music seems to come from a purer place, there is still the blues and country influences, but there is a positive force behind his music that wasn't as apparent before - and not in a sappy or cliche way, but very raw and inspired.

He is a very self-contained solo performer, using a very cool homemade "bass drum" (made with two pieces of wood around a pick-up that he stomps on), he alternated between acoustic guitar, and a hollow-bodied acoustic lap-steel that sounds amazing, and he also incorporates a didgeridoo, which adds texture and depth to these solo productions.

Being that he was the main attraction of the night, he broke up his 2 and half hour set with an intermission. During this break, the club owner Agnes (who incidentally was celebrating her birthday) encouraged Paul and I to collaborate on stage. I'm always up for something crazy, but Paul wanted to make sure we didn't make fools of ourselves - so we quietly strummed thru a few old songs then hit the stage together.


We kicked off with Hank Williams' classic, "Your Cheatin' Heart", which I sang lead, Paul added harmonies and took a few solo breaks on harmonica and guitar. Then we did "That's All Right Mama" which was still fresh in my mind from a recent Hootenanny at the Family Wash. And for good measure, I suggested we end our collaboration with Jimmy Reed's great blues song about trying to please, "Baby What You Want Me To Do." With that I handed the show back over to Paul and he played another hour or so, keeping the crowd happy til after 1am.

Paui was a great host as well. His mom lived only about a half hour away, and had an extra basement room (Paul's old room) so we had a free place to stay. We woke up around noon, and Paul lead us to a great local BBQ joint. We went back to his moms's, introduced Boris to the Sammon's family dogs, Babe and Lulu. What a great trip! I can hardly wait to get back to Hot Springs, explore Little Rock and see what other wonders this great South has to offer.

Drifters in hindsight

Still don't have internet at home. I know, what's my problem, right?

Sitting at Sip Cafe, my closest coffee shop.

So the first show is behind me now.

Got more people out than I expected. Luckily, its a smaller place, so my 9 or so friends (plus the patrons) actually felt like a lot more.

Without much time here to write. I will leave you with the set-list. It was nice to dig deep into the my "cannon" and pull out a few surprises. Here's what happened last night.

Set I:
1 Black Jack Mama (Townes Van Zandt)
2 Oh Lonesome Me (Don Gibson)
3 Fair Warning
4 Next Best Thing
5 I Know I Should Know Better
6 Lyin’, Hidin’, Cryin’
7 Ain’t No Grave
8 The Basement in Nashville
(song I wrote for my first trip out here in Spring of '08)
9 Running Forever
10 A Billion Odd People
11 Across the River
12 Hesitation Blues
13 Honey I Choose You
14 Since You’ve Gone
15 So Hard to Make an Easy Getaway
(rarely performed 2 year old song, I've yet to record)

I took a short break. Quenched my thirst, then went back at it.

Set II:
1 Can’t Get You Off My Mind (Hank Williams)
2 Mortality Blues
3 Eliot
4 Idle Hands
5 Suspicious Minds (Elvis)
6 Death & Texas

I had more songs planned for the 2nd set, but with my late start (I left my capo at home and had to retrieve it), these 6 songs took me to 9pm perfectly.

Alright, what's next?