Month: August 2014

Once again, we are safely back home from an amazing tour! Our trip out West was one for the books. Driving back across the country from Utah to Tennessee, I had plenty of time to revisit all of the awesome scenes from the tour. We started with 2 fantastic nights in Sioux Falls, SD with our friends Lance and Sarah @Old Skoolz. That was the perfect way to start our tour! Paying a visit to our friends at Byron’s in Pomeroy is always a blast. Yellowstone Brewery in Billing is always a blessing to visit.
Two new (to us) venues followed; Sapolil Winery in Walla Walla, WA and Duff’s Garage in Portland, OR. I can’t wait to revisit both of these places! Jazzbones in Tacoma, WA. (Where half of our gear fell out of the trailer and was almost lost forever until the amazing Weber family rescued it!) and Double Mountain Brewing in Hood River, OR couldn’t have been more fun and I hope to return real soon.
The Mt. Baker Blues Festival in Bellingham, WA was next and the only thing more stunning than the view was the kindness and hospitality of our host, Mr. Lloyd Peterson. It was such a joy to get to perform at his beautiful festival.
Heading down to San Francisco, CA to play at Biscuits & Blues for our friend Steven Suen is always an honor and a privilege. It was also, sadly for me, the last night of the tour for our bassman; Mr. Doug Swanson. Staying behind to spend some well deserved time off with his beautiful family, he’ll be rejoining us next month.
Finally we made our way to Salt Lake City, UT to perform at our old friend Carl Weyandt’s new venue Bleu Bistro. If you’re ever in SLC and are hungry for great food and great music make your way to Bleu Bistro, you won’t be disappointed! Joining us for the last two dates of the tour was our new friend Jon Q, filling in for Doug on bass. It was great to get a chance to get to know and jam with this fantastic musician. For our last night on the road, we were the guests of Carl and his wife to Red Butte Garden to see Galactic and Trombone Shorty. A really nice treat for us!
The only thing left was the 24 hour drive home. As the miles roll by, I’m reminded of how beautiful our country is. The landscape changes from wide open spaces to mountains to rolling plains to those lush green Tennessee hills that I proudly call home.
I want to say thank you to my partners in crime; Tour Manager Milburn Edwards, Bassist Doug Mug Swanson, Drummer Ashley W. Smith and Bassist Jon Q. for giving their all every night.
17 days, 6,885.4 miles total. It’s what we do. #loudisgood #twangandbang