Cowboy Jack

Before our gig in Nashville the other day our picking pal and former Opry regular Walter Forbes took us over to a nice old neighborhood and into a re-purposed big 'ol house that turned out to be Cowboy Jack Clement's Bunkhouse Resort and Recording Spa. Our Mission? To hang and say howdy to his longtime friend, cohort and sometime business partner, Cowboy Jack Clement. Who the heck is Cowboy Jack?
Check out: http://www.cowboyjackclement.com/
Jack was the first recording engineer at Sun Records (Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, a kid named Presley and many, many more) and is still working at his own justly famous aforementioned studio, cutting sessions with the legends and would-be legends of country music.

A session was in progress upstairs so we wandered on up, said hello all around and took seats, shooting the breeze companionably, waiting for a break in the action. The singer coming through the control room monitors sounded familiar and when one of the players waiting to cut a part said "Charlie's singing really well" - I realized it was Charlie Pride.
Charlie was working an old Hank gospel number called "Thank God" with a rock-solid band and as the groove bore them triumphantly verse to chorus a sudden flood of happiness ran through us right there on the couch.
When music is going well - there is very little better on my earth...

They finished the take and another and the door opened, emitting legends Joe Allen and Kenny Malone. We stuck our heads in the door and there sat our friend 'Hoot' Hester, putting mandolin away and getting his fiddle ready for the track. - "Everybody out!" cried engineer Johnny and we went back into the control room with a grinning Charlie to listen to Hoot fiddle.
"I got off the melody" Charlie said, faintly amazed and began singing what he had wanted to track all along.

We said hello to our friends, traded new contact information, promised to be in touch, laughed at a couple terrible jokes - It was all just folks, except some of the folks filled out their union cards for the session, noting songs and times and hurried off to the Opry, we drove back to our rooms to prepare for our gig.

There are things about this business that I do love...

Big fun in the Southland

"...that you-all and shut-my-mouthland" - according to the immortal Tom Lehrer.
What a gas.
Great to see our pal Ed Snodderly at the Down Home in Johnson City, nestled comfortably in East Tennessee.
Ed's place is the sort of venue we all want in our home town. Great music, great variety, good vibes, nice people, plenty of pickers in the audience and a steady stream of talent.
...not to mention noble beers on tap.
I love that place - can you tell?

Ed is in a play over in Abington TN about the Stanley Brothers. Our flight got in too late to go catch the matinée which was the only real dissapointment of this trip.
Dang it.

Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee

...sounds like a Woody Guthrie song...
But that is where we are headed Thursday, April 20.
We play Oklahoma City on Friday, Austin Texas (Old Settler's Fest) Saturday & Sunday, travel Monday, Knoxville (live on the Blue Plate Special), Nashville (Douglas Corner), and Johnson City, Tennessee (Little Chicago Fest) the next three days and come home the 28th.
I can't wait.
The band is sounding great and we can't wait to take the stage these days – fun to be in a band when that energy is going around.
The Internet tells me it feels like Summer in the South – I guess we'll see.
I hope we see you, too.
... all y'all that is.

The Road

whew.
Fun, though.
The recent Southern California trip...
At McCabe's Van Dyke Parks played accordion with us the first set (then rushed off to finish up a movie score to be turned in early Monday) and Dillon O'Brian played piano in the second set. The joint was packed and I do love playing that room...

This trip came near the end (I hope) of the rainiest season California has had in many years – which made it the greenest, most visually beautiful California I have ever seen. The place looked like Ireland. The desert is all purples and yellows, the usually golden hills are every shade of green, every puny little waterfall and dry creekbed thinks it belongs in Yosemite and are they ever booming.
Come have a look.
Just to be on the safe side – Bring rain gear.