Doug Spears: Updates

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 9, July 18th

Off to pick up Judy in Columbia, SC and then head down for the Edisto gathering with Jack & Judy Williams and crowd. Enjoyed my stay in Cherokee and will miss the cool down in the hotter summer climes of rural South Carolina. I was concerned about getting out of the mountains on the gas remaining in the tank so, despite my resolve about gas prices beginning with a 4, I put five gallons in at $4.08 – ok, I stopped at $20 so not quite five gallons. I just couldn’t take it anymore with the sale amount numbers spinning madly while the gallons display just crept along.

Left Cherokee the same way I came, past the Harrah Cherokee Tribe Casino then on through Maggie Valley. I needed to be at the airport in Columbia at 3 pm, a 4 hour drive, and having left at 10 am I had plenty of time so to try to conserve fuel I set the cruise control at 60 and ambled along I-40 towards Asheville then took I-26 south towards Spartanburg. Just northwest of Spartanburg I saw a sign for gas at $3.76 per gallon – hot damn!! Jumped off and filled the tank ignoring those pesky admonitions about not “topping off” the tank. I got every drop of that “cheap” gas in there that I could.

I made another stop shortly thereafter at an Engles grocery to restock the fridge, etc. and then cruised on to Columbia hitting the airport right on time. I pulled up to the Spirit passenger area and Judy was waiting at the curb. Apparently a 24’ camper rolling through the airport there is somewhat unusual as folks were stopping and starring a bit. And, I think they were even more mystified when the comely Miss Judy sashayed over and hopped in the grungy looking rig driven by an old, bald, white bearded guy. Eat you hearts out boys.

As we neared Orangeburg, SC we hit some pretty serious rain – a real gully washer. But I could see that it was coming from the river and that likely it would already be past when we arrived. Sure enough it was dropping its last as we pulled into the family encampment on the Edisto. Our hostess, Mary Lib, met us in her truck and had us park along the entry road until she confirmed where her son Neil had planned to put us. We walked on over the river shore area to greet Jack & Judy and the other early arrives. They had roasted a whole pig, split in two, and everyone was greedily picking at the melt in your mouth tender pork. To hell with hellos, let’s eat!!

Lots of old friends here and Florida is well represented – Tom and Aimee Shed, Chuck and Pat Spano, Bill and Barbara Derby (they’ve moved to Georgia, but we still count them as ours) and Hannah’s Whirl, Paul and Tami from Tampa. Lis and Lon Williamson will pull in sometime tomorrow, so the Sunshine state is on board. Daniel and Ellen Bolling are here from New Mexico, Ronnie Cox and Eric Schwartz from California, Dana Kurtz from New York and so many others.

After eating some great food, Neil directed me to my spot right in the middle of things by the main cabin facing the river and we got the camper squared away. By then I was drenched in sweat so we changed into swim trunks and plunged into the icy waters of the Edisto – Ahhhhhhh. Jack and a motley crew had set off with tubes to go up river and make the mile and a half float down. We dropped our chairs in the shade, I fixed myself a libation and we enjoyed the evening breeze as the sun began its descent. Once the Williams flotilla returned, Jack grabbed his ever more worn and beaten up Martin and headed for the dock to get the music rolling. The dock was soon overflowing so everyone moved to the pavilion where a circle was established and we began to play old tunes of one sort or another on into the evening. Danny Harlow, brandishing fiddle, mandolin and tenor guitar, was, as always, the crown jewel in the arrangement adding color and texture to every guitar.

Judy and I cashed in early, around 10:30 and headed to the trailer. Lots more music tomorrow here on the Edisto.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 8, July 17th

I’ll keep it short today – not much to report, a very laid back, chore day. I did dishes, laundry, cleaned up the camper (yeah, that’s right, I pick up Judy tomorrow in Columbia, SC) and did some minor repairs that I had been meaning to get to. I also pulled down all the posters I put up yesterday – since they just said TONIGHT!! wouldn’t want folks showing up and me not be there. Bad form that.

I did work some more on some new songs that are coming along. Inch by inch. I get a line or two and get stuck, move to the next song and get a line or two, then get sidetracked on a different idea. Ah well, no one said songwriting was easy.

I did my usual computer work sitting under the canopy of the camper looking up at the trees and listening to the sounds around me. Folks stopped occasionally to compliment me on the show last night and a few wanted to know if I’d be playing again tonight. I told them they were welcome to come back by after dark and sit around the campfire with me as I would surely be out playing a little.

While I was on the computer I made arrangements for some studio time to record the “Florida” album I have planned for release in January. It’ll be titled “Welcome Home” and will feature my specifically Florida material, new and old. I’m aiming to have those available for Christmas, so put that on your list for gift giving and getting!

Its early evening as I’m writing this and I’ll need to think about dinner soon. One great advantage of being in the camper is that I haven’t eaten out once since the first night when I stopped at Waffle House. I’m eating much better (healthier and less) than I would be otherwise and a whole lot cheaper. It takes about $100 gas the truck up, but I can gas myself up for mere pennies (potty humor, sooorrrrryyy).

I’m looking forward to the gathering with Jack Williams in SC. There’ll be a lot of music and folks I haven’t seen in a couple of years, as well as a number of folks from our far flung Florida folk flock (that’s Norm McDonald’s term right?). We’ll do a little river floating and just generally laze about in the Edisto River heat. It gets so hot there that, as one of Jack’s songs says, “I can break a sweat with just the thought of settin’ down.” That’s where getting in the water saves you. Then Sunday we’ll hit the road for West Virginia. I have a show up at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas and we are going to look for some property around Buckhannon while interest rates and prices are both low.

Ok, well, I’m thinkin’ rice with field peas and steamed mixed veggies for dinner. See you tomorrow from SC.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 7, July 16th

Well, today was a road dog, take you fate into your own hands kind of day – and well worth it. For starters, I went up to talk to the manager about the location of my show. Their choices were (a) next to the pool under the game room which has a little raised stage or (b) under a small pavilion on the other side of the recreation area where do they do the kids activities, etc. However, between those two was a large bricked area with seating and a fire pit, but no cover or shade – but, high exposure / traffic. I had noticed yesterday that just at 7 pm the sun dropped behind the ridgeline to the West and, consequently, shade was not an issue. And, the forecast was for clear skies, no rain in sight, so cover was not an issue either. Therefore. I pitched doing it out in the open on the big bricked patio area (about 2500 square feet or more) – they were hesitant, but relented under my persistence.

That settled I went about promoting the show. I brought lots of extra blank posters and had wrote them as the “sundown concert TONIGHT!! 7 – 9 pm. I put those on all the restroom / shower buildings, on the walkways to the nature trail, etc – about 15 posters in all I’d guess. I also went ahead and set up my sound system, etc. midday so that it was visible and put additional posters on the speakers, etc. (I covered them with garbage bags, etc. just in case the forecast was wrong). Then, after I’d showered and gotten presentable. I walked the campground and approached anyone who was outside with one of the postcards that I removed from the front desk (I left some with the promise that they would attach them to the registration papers like the guys at Natural Bridge had done). I probably handed out 50 postcards, chatting with folks as I went, and ran into a dozen or so more who already had them from the front desk (they kept to their promise) and said they were looking forward to the show. So, would it make a difference?

Oh man, did it ever! I had a terrific crowd – festival stage like – and it expanded and contracted as folks came and went given it’s high traffic location. I put a lot of energy into the performance and fed off the energy coming back from the audience. That’s a show I wish I’d recorded! CD sales were excellent as were the gratuities in my big plastic goblet I put out for that purpose. If all the shows were like this then this would clearly be a financial success. Maybe I can see a system developing here for these shows?!

I met folks today from all over the country and one couple from the Netherlands who enthusiastically signed up on my mailing list and bought both CD’s and a DVD – everything I had. I also met two groups of folks from Florida and one from Orlando – in fact the young lady (probably 11) was clearly smitten, hung in for the whole show, went to her dad twice to get more tip money and signed up on my mailing list. As it turned out, she goes to the same elementary school that Tanner did near us on Edgewater Drive – the folks you meet on the road!

Anyway, things could not have gone better and I thoroughly enjoyed the show, the people and the night. I’ve built a little campfire and am sitting beside it in the dark to type this – excuse any typos please. There are campfires dotted here and there throughout the grounds and you here distant laughter, kids playing, a bottle clinking here and there and the usual sounds of the night. I see couples here, and not always young couples – some look my age – with 4, 5, even 6 kids. The older kids are helping with the younger ones and the parents are herding the broods firmly, but gently. I envy them. I love kids, particularly babies and toddlers, but I was never a patient parent and, consequently I think I missed out on a lot of what these folks experience on trips like this.

I can tell the sounds are dying out. People are heading off to bed or going inside to read, etc. I’ve freshened my drink (a little Dalmore – single malt Scotch, wonderful stuff and affordable) and I think I’ll sit here, watch the fire burn down and soak up the night. See you tomorrow.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 6, July 15th

So, on to Cherokee, NC – a six hour drive west through Virginia, into Tennessee then South into North Carolina. A lot of up and down, the up being the toughest when pulling the trailer, but the down being of equal concern because the trailer also pushes when it gets gravity working on it. It was particularly “hairy” once I got off the Interstate and dropped onto the winding mountain roads through Maggie Valley and on into Cherokee.

Maggie Valley and Cherokee have both turned into a true tourist cliché. Maybe they always were, but when I was a kid coming up here with my folks it seemed a lot nicer and less cheesy. Now it’s like the 192 corridor between Kissimmee and Disney – an enormous Woolworth’s full of endless unnecessary plastic objects and “authentic” souvenirs mostly made in China. The tribes are exacting their revenge for our transgressions in whatever small ways they can. I passed the Harrah’s casino in Cherokee – ironic that we got the Native Americans drunk and stole their land and now they are getting us drunk and stealing our money. There is some symmetry in that, though far short of justice.

The Cherokee KOA is the biggest, most “plush” campground I’ve ever seen. The Raven River runs down one side and there are stocked trout ponds along the other. I don’t know how many campsites there are here, but if I had to guess it would be more than 300. There are 5 swimming pools! Now, personally I prefer the State Park type of set up when I’m really camping, but for what I’m doing this is looking pretty good. All of the RV sites are concrete pads with fire pits / BBQ’s and there are a lot of them. There are many empty spaces (which I would expect mid week), but at the same time there are a whole lot of folks here. I don’t perform until tomorrow night so I’m going to spend the day tomorrow “drumming up” my audience and doing the things that, in my humble opinion, perhaps the park should be doing already. There was some confusion at the front desk – they didn’t have me reserved for a RV site, though they had my promo materials out and obviously knew I’d be there. But, they were very friendly and helpful and got the whole thing squared away in short order.

It’s much cooler here than in Virginia – 15 degrees or more. I’ll be sleeping with the windows open tonight! I was all set up in my campsite by around 5 pm and then poured myself a little “welcome to NC” libation before walking around and getting oriented. The river is gorgeous, but then I’m partial to moving water of most any kind. Heck, I think water running off the roof looks good. But this is really pretty - quick running water, smooth stones, a little white water, etc. I took a few pictures and will post those at some point. I built a fire in my pit and went ahead and cooked some chicken on the wood fire which I ate with some black beans and collard greens – excellent! Then, with a little more Irish whiskey in hand, I got out the guitar intending to work on those new tunes that are coming along. However, as I was just warming up a fellow came by and asked if I wanted to pick a little. He went and got his banjo and dobro and we got to it. Before long we’d drawn a little crowd (all of whom I was certain to inform regarding my performance tomorrow night) and ended up playing until almost 11 pm. A lot of fun – Jason’s his name and he’s from NC about 2 hours away. So, I think the “drumming” is off to a good start.

The cool air is sifting through the windows and I can just hear the river in the distance. Yawn . . . see you tomorrow.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 5, July 14th

A day off! Sort of. No performance, but a lot of camper clean up, repair and computer work to do. So, I didn’t do any of the “local interest” poking around that I thought I might, but I spent the day outside in the gorgeous Virginia weather. Warm, probably in the 80’s, but with a fresh, gentle breeze most of the time. The have a lot of flies here, which is a little annoying, but it also gives you something to do – fly killin’ was my passion when I was a kid.

I went into Lexington to get some hardware I needed to put the real fix on the camper awning issue that started last Thursday. I think I’ve got that tightened up now and shouldn’t give me any more trouble.

As I said I hung around the camper and the campground most of the day doing computer work and just enjoying the air. Talked to folks in the park as they or I meandered around – you always meet the nicest people in campgrounds generally. Since it’s during the week there aren’t a lot of people so it’s pretty quiet. Took some pictures with my new camera that I’ll download and share at some point.

The evening was particularly nice. I fixed myself dinner at around 7 pm, then built a small campfire outside and got out the guitar. As the light faded the fireflies started appearing at the edge of the woods and were soon around the fire with me. Very bright yellow like a thousand little bug lights (how appropriate) and there were a couple of birds (couldn’t see well enough to say what kind) that were swooping through picking off the fireflies in mid-blink. I wonder if that’s the firefly’s only purpose, to light up so that a bird can eat them at dusk! Wouldn’t that suck.

Played tunes by the fire and worked on a couple of new tunes (plus started one about the fireflies, sort of) for about an hour and a half, but the comfort of the bed was soon calling and I surrendered at about 9:30. I did some more computer work (it’s endless, just ask Judy) and drifted off to sleep to sound of tree dwellers of all types all around me. Tomorrow, on to Cherokee, NC.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 4, July 13th

Ah Sunday, the day of rest – yeah, right. I roused for coffee at about 7:30, made some breakfast, did a little computer work and was loaded and ready to roll a few minutes before ten. Pretty good, a four hour plus drive to Natural Bridge / Lexington and do it all again.

Talked to Judy shortly after I left – did I mention that she stayed at home and is going to fly up (love those frequent flyer miles) and meet me for the middle week of the tour? I bet I didn’t tell you what she was staying home to do, right? Well, she had work of her own to do, which was why she originally decided not to join me for more of the trip. But, since she was going to be at home, she is also mowing the lawn with my little lawn tractor, doing the taxes (a lot of the issues with which are my music expenses / income – notice I listed expenses first) and other miscellaneous chores that I’m evading by being hundreds of miles away. One issue this morning was the lawn tractor – we had a brief lesson before I left, but it was too brief and some remedial instruction was required. There are numerous quirks and safety features to circumvent and one was keeping her from cranking the danged thing. I talked her through it with all the understanding and loving patience that a traveling musician who’d like to enjoy connubial bliss with his comely spouse again in the near future can quickly muster. I could tell that it was getting pretty hot in Florida, and I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout the sunshine. But, I spoke to her again later and it seemed the machine had succumbed to her considerable charms and whacked the grass as directed until the rain rescued her from further labors.

Having left her there to do all the work while I sing for my supper I am diligently focusing on the audience and proclaiming my tireless (tiresome?) motto: BUY A CD, SAVE A MARRIAGE!! Could be that the motto was never more true.

Back to the road – I dallied a bit near Richmond to pick up a few things I needed, including some $3.99 gas, and plodded on towards Natural Bridge. About 50 mile away I hit a hellacious rain storm – I’m talkin’ a real frog strangler. Folks were pulling over and sitting it out while the rest of us proceeded at a cautious crawl up and down the more mountainous part of I-64 West. I never paid much attention to those “grade warning” and “runaway truck ramp” signs before, but pulling the behemoth motel behind me they became suddenly, simultaneously, important and terrifying. Plus I’m thinkin’ “rain + small campground + Sunday evening + . . . well, you get the picture – I’m heading for a pocket full of water and not much else. No, No, No! says the good little (naïve and annoying) angel on my shoulder – think positive!

Anyway, I get to the campground at around 3:30 pm. I can see there’s not too many folks in the park, but I expected that on a Sunday night. I went to check in and low and behold, right there in front of both of the check in folks, was a stack of the park maps they give to everyone when they check in and stapled neatly to every single one was my post card that I sent them promoting tonight’s show – now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! I was quickly in my very nice, convenient, shaded site and headed over to the pavilion to set up – in the rain, of course.

Now this is a much smaller and newer KOA. So the pavilion was also quite small and not as “up town” as the previous two. Nevertheless, the staff was all over anything I needed and were genuinely excited to have me there to play. Set up was quick (getting’ pretty good at that), went and showered (are you sensing a pattern here?), fixed a quick ham, broccoli and rice with hoppin’ john dinner and set about restringing my Collings, my main guitar, as the strings were as dead as shoelaces after the last couple of days’ adventures.

Now, unfortunately I left my glasses in the car. I’m sitting on the bed in the camper putting the new D’Addario’s on the guitar. If you’re a guitar player you’ll probably know that this brand of string has a little color coded ball at the end which tells you which one goes where – If you’re not a guitar player just hang in there, this’ll only take a minute. Do you know what happens if you inadvertently reverse the D and G strings (because you’re too blind to see the difference between a tiny black ball and a tiny green ball in a dimly lit camper)? Well, first the “D” string won’t stay in tune and it buzzes slightly. And the “G” string resists every effort to get it to come up to pitch until the tuner is so tight you think you’ll have to put a wrench on it. Being the genius that I am I thought the tuner was freezing up on me and given what I paid for the guitar this was causing those little short words to slip out again. Never did I think that maybe I had made an error in string selection until the D string I had put in the G position popped with a sharp crack like a bullwhip and scared the you know what outta me – what a putz.

Having survived the exploding G string incident (hey, where have I heard that before?) I headed over to do my show. The rain let up in time so that the beginning was dry at least. A number of folks walked over right at 7 pm with their camp chairs slung over their shoulders. I noted with amusement that they simply laid their chairs on picnic tables and sat on wooden benches while I played the first song or two. I then took it as a good sign when they went ahead, set up their own chairs and got comfortable. A nice show with a nice crowd, again some good CD buyers (not the near perfect sales of last night, but strong nevertheless), and very friendly bunch. For the second night in a row a teenager bought a CD – I love it when the songs reach the younger crowd. The rain came back towards the end of the show and trapped a few of us under the pavilion where we sat and chatted while I organized my gear to load out when the rain let up.

So now with brown whiskey in hand I settle in for the night. I’m glad I have a couple of days off now because the throat is feeling a little ragged. On a couple of my songs with higher notes I noticed I was “reentering puberty” a time or two tonight. I’ve got some slippery elm tea that patch that right up. I’m going to stay here in natural Bridge tomorrow and then head down to Cherokee, NC on Tuesday – about 6 hours away. Next show is Wednesday night there in Cherokee.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . . .

I headed out from Wilmington at around 10, but soon realized that I had left some essential gear at the campsite and had to turn around. It was 30 minutes wasted, but I was soon underway. Beautiful day and the farther north I got the prettier it got. When I finally crossed into Virginia I was in fine spirits, working on a couple of song ideas and making good progress. My gas prices stayed right around $3.93 today – I’ve still managed not to break the $4 barrier. You know, even with the high gas prices, things may work out financially. Even if I’d have done this tour without the camper, I still would have been driving. While using less gas, I would not have cut the gas bill in half plus I would have had meals and hotel rooms. Other than the Waffle House stop the first night I’ve fixed all other meals in the camper. And, I’m not paying for camp sites – part of my KOA deal. So, while the expense in gas is significant, so is the savings.

It took about 5 hours to get to Virginia Beach, but a nice drive. Had another gas station incident – manners and consideration for others have gone completely out the window. I guess I should just let it slide, but I just detest inconsiderate behavior. Once again, I don’t think I so much as dented the person’s indifference.

The KOA in Virginia Beach is huge and even nicer than the one in Wilmington. It has a very large covered pavilion (at least the size of the main stage at Willfest at Sertoma) with a large raised stage, stage lights, etc. – very impressive. I could pull my truck right up to it so the load in / out was easy. It’s very warm here, but not like Wilmington. Here there is a constant refreshing breeze and it’s quite comfortable. The campground has more than 300 campsites and they are FULL! Lots of folks, so I was excited about the show. Now the catch is that I did my usual advance promo routine and printed / sent handouts, etc. in advance asking that they be given to everyone who would be in the park tonight. When I checked in I found those materials simply sitting off to the side hardly used. They had a “today’s activities” board out front and my name wasn’t on it. Yep, I was a little peeved, but you roll with the punches. Still, it seems like they’d want to maximize the crowd too. Obviously I’m not charging enough.

I went ahead and set up, took a shower, fixed myself a little dinner (Hoppin’ John with long grain rice and a small salad) and dressed for the concert. I got back to the stage plenty early so I could crank up the sound system (ran my iPod through it) to let people within earshot know something was about to happen there. At 7 pm a small but enthusiastic crowd gathered. Given the number of folks in the park the crowd should have been at least three times the size it was and my irritation at the park staff for not pitching in on promotion increased. But, BREATHE DEEPLY and remember – the ones sitting in front of you are the ones that matter, and only they matter. So I put my best into it and, as it turned out, I sold CD’s to nearly every person that attended – a very good night and helped knock a hole in those expenses!

I do enjoy the atmosphere of these campground gigs – very “festival like.” The people, particularly the small kids who just love sitting up front for a live performance, are laid back and friendly. Of course, you’re at the mercy of the weather, but then that’s true to a degree even with an indoor show – if the weather turns bad it hurts the turnout.

This is a very elaborate KOA. They have a humungous trampoline / moonwalk / bouncy thing that was to be half the size of an Olympic swimming pool. It tapers to the ground at the edges, is inflated, and is probably 5 or 6 feet high at the top of the “hump.” It’s like an inflated cow pie (or dinosaur pie) painted in the KOA logo and colors. The kids just go nuts on it. The bouncing, from a distance, sounds like thunder at times. There are also lot of planned activities, particularly for the kids, a doggie park, and at night they have an inflatable movie screen that they set up in field next to the pavilion and when I finished playing they started a movie. Pretty cool. (BTW – not many people showed up for the movie either. I guess the handwritten white board sign by the store where you check in just isn’t cutting it – DUH!)

Anyway, I’m pooped and I need to get an early start if possible tomorrow – on to Lexington / Natural Bridge for my show tomorrow night. Then a couple of days of RnR before dropping back down into NC for a mid week show. I’m hoping to hang out at the Natural Bridge KOA for at least one extra night and poke around the area some – lot of history up here. Humphhh, that’s dumb, there’s history everywhere, but you know what I mean – the history you read about in school (or were supposed to).

More tomorrow.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 2, July 11th

I got an easy, reasonably early start from St. George and headed on towards Willmington, NC and the first show of this run. The crummy highways continued through SC, but ended and turned into nice, smooth, well maintained roads the minute I hit NC. Wonder what’s up with that?

Anyway, things were going reasonably well until I jumped off the highway to get gas that I saw advertised for $3.87 a gallon. I was only down a half tank, but a lower gas price is not to be ignored – by me or, apparently, anyone else in the entire state of South Carolina. What a mob! And, folks seemed to have no concept of my maneuvering limitations pulling a 24’ trailer. This was a large, trucker friendly kind of station, but nevertheless with all the people there it was tight. It took a little while to get to a pump and then once I was done it took a little while for someone to come along in the heavy stream of traffic that was kind enough to give me room to get out. Then some jackass shot across from another pump and stuck his nose in front of me so that I couldn’t move up and get out of other people’s way. I felt compelled to get out while everything was frozen in place and go tell him just what a jackass he was – I don’t think he learned anything, or cared.

So, back onto I-95. The next little hiccup came when it was time to get off 95. My exit was closed for construction – hmmmm. Not to worry, I’m using a little Garmin GPS and I simply punched “detour” and it locked in on a new route. Here’s where I learned, again, the limitations of those handy dandy little units. It took me on a course on back roads (in NC, so nice, smooth back roads) and as I was nearing Willmington it took me down a winding road past some very large sod farms. I rounded a corner and suddenly the road ended at a river crossing – not a bridge mind you, but a small, one car ferry. The ferry operator took one look at me and my long rig and just shook his head. Apparently I’m not the first GPS user to be duped in this fashion. So, with a bit of jockeying and a few little bitty short words of the profane variety, I got the rig turned around and headed back the way I’d come. The GPS protested in its most stern “recalculating” voice, but eventually accepted that I wasn’t going the way it wanted so it generated a new route (that I double checked against and old fashioned paper map) and rolled on to Willmington.

The KOA here is very nice with a great, friendly staff. They had all my posters up and had been handing postcards with the show time that I had sent to everyone as they checked in. To my surprise, and pleasure, they have a regular stage built in the center of the campground, covered, with picnic tables surrounding it, etc. I went ahead and did all the sweaty work setting up, showered and then settled into my home on wheels to tune up and get ready for the show.

RAIN. BUCKETS AND BARRELS OF RAIN. Now I had planned for this possibility and had covered my gear, but rain does not help draw a crowd to an outdoor show. It let up at show time and I had a core group of about 20 with umbrellas when I got things started. A few more came in as they heard the music. Then RAIN, not as hard this time, but hard enough. At that point about 10 or so gathered up on the stage and I sat and chatted and played tunes for them for the rest of the time. While I sold CD’s to that crowd, needless to say it was not the first night’s revenue I was hoping for. But I enjoyed it nevertheless and picked up a few new fans in the bargain. That’s the real payoff anyway.

When the rain quit I stowed my gear and settled back into the camper to listen to the thunder rumble as I sipped a little whiskey. Tomorrow’s another day – Virginia Beach, VA. More from there.

Notes from the Road – The Gas Hog Tour 2008 – Day 1, July 10th

And so it begins. My summer tour this year will include shows in 7 states, 12 shows in all, and will cover 4,000 miles in three weeks time. With gas prices at $4 can you say STUPID!!! Geez, I think I heard you!

I booked this quite a while back before it was obvious that gas prices were racing the space shuttle to the moon. It’s actually worse than it sounds. A portion of the tour, 7 shows, are hosted and sponsored by KOA Campgrounds. What that means, for those of you who are missing the obvious, is that not only am I driving 4,000 miles, I’m doing it in my Ford Expedition towing my 24’ camper. Now that time I KNOW I heard you. I better sell a lot of CD’s or this will be a financial train wreck of the first order. Oh well, live and learn, die and forget it all, as my Grandmother used to say.

I got on the road later today than I had hope, but as usual I stayed too busy (and / or too lazy) to get an early start a few days ago organizing and loading up. So I left it all until last night and this morning which didn’t let me get on the road until about 1 pm. My first show is Friday night in Wilmington, NC so I made a campground reservation in St. George, SC to put me within about three hours of the show tomorrow. I’m at a great little campground called Jolly Acres in St. George run by some very nice folks whose names I didn’t linger on long enough to remember in my haste to get checked in. However, they are wonderfully accommodating and if you’re heading this way sometime I highly recommend that you stop in.

I have mixed feelings about long distance driving. On the one hand it is exhausting and gives you a tremendous case of TB (tired butt). On the other hand it gives you a lot of quiet thinking time. I thought about a lot of folks today, friends and family both. Some thoughts are just triggered by the quiet and letting your mind wander. Others are triggered by a billboard or a song on the radio (or in my case my iPod – in the shuffle mode I got a couple of good Steve Blackwell songs laid on me today). There’s a lot to be said for the luxury of quiet thought. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but in hunks of time like this I think it’s a very good thing.

One guy I always think about these days when I’m on the road is my musician buddy from NC, David LaMotte. When he was in FL in December I picked him up at the airport and the first thing he wanted to do was get something to eat at Waffle House – I know, that’s what I said too. But, as David explained it, Waffle Houses are cheap, a good source for protein if you are not a meat eater (as he isn’t), fast and they are totally consistent (whether that’s good or not I’m still not sure). And, they are EVER PRESENT – you can’t get off at any exit on any major highway and not see one. So, when David’s on the road he hits them frequently. Tonight, as I entered SC, I hoped off and hit a Waffle House – that one’s for you Dave.

Something needs to be said here and it pains me greatly. I have long been a dedicated complainer about our department of transportation in FL and the condition of some of our highways (I-75 and I-95 in particular). I have been grossly unfair to our DOT. I-95 through Georgia and SC is undoubtedly the worst highway there is and I manage to forget it every year. In SC in particular there are some potholes so big that folks were fishing in them – from boats! They jarred my poor camper so badly that one side of the roll up awning broke loose (gotta work on that in the morning). In any event, our highways are so far superior I am ashamed of myself (a little anyway) for having complained about them.

So, you can look forward to, dread, ignore, delete, block, etc. three weeks worth of Notes from the Road. I don’t get back to Orlando until August 3rd. Judy is joining me for the middle week when we hook up with Jack Williams, et al in SC on the 18th and will accompany me to my shows up in WV. Then she’ll abandon me again for the final week which ends up in Jacksonville on Aug. 2d in a show at The European Street Café with Larry Magnum and Lis Williamson. I should be well worn and road weary by then.

Stay tuned!

Doug
Doug Spears
36 Interlaken Road
Orlando, Florida 32804
407-257-4242
dcsnole@yahoo.com
www.dougspearsmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/dougspears
http://www.sonicbids.com/dougspears

Notes from the Road – Florida Folk Festival – Sunday, May 25, 2008

Oooooohhhhhhhhh – 10:30 a.m., what the heck am I doing awake? Guess we missed the breakfast today (only goes until 9:15). COFFEE!!!

I’m on the Seminole Camp Stage for my last show today at 1:00 p.m. and I need to restring a guitar. This humid weather kills guitar strings at an alarming rate, everything starts sounding like you’re playing shoe strings. I think I’ll play my custom Orange Blossom made by my friend Doug Montgomery at the Guitar Factory in Orlando – it has a huge sound and the Seminole Stage is all acoustic so it’ll carry well.

As I was lying here this morning trying not to wake up I was thinking how important this festival is to me. You know it’s the longest continuously running folk festival in the country. When I first started playing here I wanted the prestige of being included in this group of wonderful musicians, to have my name next to those of Gamble Rogers, Will McLean, Jim Bellew, Paul Champion, Vassar Clements and so many others who were the giants of Florida Folk - kind of a badge of accomplishment. Then it became one of a dwindling number of opportunities to play in front of larger crowds In a festival setting. There have been years when I considered (and sometimes did) skip the festival because it is always so hot here on Memorial Day weekend and coincides with other festivals in other parts of the country. But like a kid looking back after he has been out on his own a few years, now I think of White Springs as the place I come back to time and again to be with family and friends – home to me, my Florida heritage, my Florida Folk family and much more. You know, this is the 56th edition of the FFF and last night in the Amphitheatre the MC, Wayne Martin, was calling out to the thousands on the hillside to see who had been coming to the festival for how long. There were many who had been coming for 15 – 20 years. As he kept creeping up the calendar the numbers responding dwindled. He finally asked if anyone had been coming for 50 or more years. There was a guy right behind me that hollered out that he had been at every FFF for 51 years, the first time with his parents when he was 3 years old. When you’re sitting on that hillside under the stars peeking down through the pines and oaks surrounded by people so appreciative and supportive of Florida’s musical heritage and talent you can’t help but feel like you are among the best people there are anywhere.

Ok, enough of waxing philosophical – time to get ready to do some pickin’ and singin’. More in a bit.

Well, I knew today was going to be a tough situation. I was following Ben Prestage at the Seminole Stage and he is quite the buzz at this year’s festival – well deserved I might add. So, I knew that (a) he would have a large crowd gathered and (b) when he finished they would mostly get up and follow him over to the side to buy CD’s, chat, head to other shows, etc. I was correct on both counts. However, I managed to generate enough guitar sound with the intro to Steam Train as folks were getting up and milling about that I was able to keep a good crowd in place for my set. Man was it hot! They’d oriented the performer so that I was standing in full sun playing to folks sitting under the thatched roof Chickee. I was sopping wet before my first tune was done. However, the group I had retained continued to grow as folks came back to the stage or I caught them as they passed by. I got a good strong 7 song set in with tunes off of both current CD’s, as well as a new song I’ve been getting great response to, As the Crow Flies. Really enjoyed the set and the crowd – my last for this year’s festival.

We went on back to Nelly Blye’s for one last round of the great food over there, listened to Amy Carol Webb’s set on the Old Marble Stage, then headed for the ice cream guy – what a day for that! It was still not as hot today as it has been in past years and there was a breeze that would come and go while you were in the shade, but it was warm nevertheless. Ice cream in hand we headed back down to the Seminole Stage to hear Mindy Simmons, wonderful as always, another set of The Ashley Gang and the Jackson Creek (Joe & Katie Waller). Great sets by all and the breeze was nice sitting under the Chickee instead of standing out in the sun.

Now it’s shower and nap time. I don’t know what tonight will have in store – I’m starting to wind down. We’re going to head back to hear Gatorbone at 8 and probably the Daughters of Florida (Amy Carol, Mindy and Jeannie Fitchen at 8:45. Whether I will have enough juice to hang out and pay any music is a big question mark at the moment. My mind is already turning to the tasks of getting things packed up to go so that we get home at a reasonable time tomorrow. We’ll see.

So, here’s the thing – we went back, got dinner, ate in the beer garden while we listened to Patchwork (over the somewhat distracting play of the beer attendants on guitar and mandolin) the settled in and watched a GREAT set by Gatorbone. Those guys are TIGHT! I enjoy listening to them as much as anyone I saw all weekend and beyond. I was finding new energy - uh oh.

In the beer garden we had run into some new fans, Florence and her boyfriend Jerry from Destin, and they invited us over to their campground (Suwannee Campground just outside of White Springs) for a fire circle. Once I checked out of the CD booth and said our goodbyes to those who were available, we decided “what the heck” and went on over to Suwannee to visit for a minute of two. Well, there were a lot of folks there and they insisted that the guitar come out and before we knew it – well, you see what time I’m posting this (nearly 1 a.m.). While it’s not that late by ordinary standards, given that I was up until 4 a.m. last night it’s a whole lot later than I thought I’d be. But it was a lot of fun and we were made very welcome by all – some who are from the Tampa area and plan on coming to my shows over there in a couple of weeks. Very nice folks.

So that’s it, another FFF wrapped - a really great festival weekend with wonderful weather, tremendous music, dear friends and a spirit that carries you up and beyond. Thanks so much to Elaine McGrath, our festival director without whom none of this would continue to happen. Kudos to Tom Shed who really got the sound issues from the past couple of festivals under control – the sound on all stages was very good all weekend, the first time I’ve been able to say that in a long while – GREAT JOB TOM!! That boy worked himself to a frazzle and it paid off. Thanks to Frank Thomas for including me again in his River Gazebo line-up. Thanks to all the hard working volunteers doing every crummy job you can think of with enthusiasm and a smile – you guys are great. And, most of all, thanks to all the fans of Florida Folk music that came out to support the art and create / sustain the community – GROUP HUG! And, if you weren’t here (and particularly if you’ve never been to the Florida Folk Festival) we hope you’ll come be part of the magic next year.

All the Best –

Doug
Doug Spears
36 Interlaken Road
Orlando, Florida 32804
407-257-4242
dcsnole@yahoo.com
www.dougspearsmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/dougspears
http://www.sonicbids.com/dougspears

Notes from the Road – Florida Folk Festival – Saturday, May 24, 2008

Up and at ‘em. Kelly’s RV Park has a pancake breakfast each morning so I started with the breakfast of champions, sugar and caffeine – the blueberry pancakes were great! My set today is on the Ann Thomas River Gazebo Stage that perches above the Suwannee River in the Stephen Foster Memorial State Park. It is my favorite place to perform here. The weather is PERFECT – clear, breezy and comfortable. I’m really looking forward to this!

Tradition is a huge element of the Florida Folk Festival and the Gazebo Stage is at the center of that tradition. For decades Frank and Ann Thomas have hosted that stage and invited only those writers who have a body of musical work about Florida and received the Thomas Seal of Approval. It’s all acoustic, no microphones or speakers, so you have to be ready to project to the considerable crowd that comes in under the gazebo structure itself and then spills out to the surrounding walkways and hillside bleachers that were added after Ann passed away and the Gazebo was named in her honor. Being included in Frank’s line-up is a premium, sought after slot and I’m always thankful and honored to be included.

The crowd at the Gazebo builds during the morning with the most dedicated of the audience coming early to get prime seats and staying right there all day. We arrived in time to hear the last couple of songs by Bill & Eli Perras and then I busied myself off to the side of the Gazebo down a little foot trail warming up for my set. By the time I was introduced the Gazebo was pushing capacity and folks were backing up along the walkways leading down from the parking lot. As groups of kids swam in the Suwannee off of the canoe launch platform far below us I took the stage. My set included a lot of songs that I haven’t recorded yet (like Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams (#3 in the Will McLean judging this year), Hemingway’s Hurricane (#6 at Willfest), Withlacoochee Dreamer ( #7 at Willfest last year) and Welcome Home, my tribute to Steve Blackwell). Those songs will all be on a new CD titled Welcome Home which is scheduled for release in the late fall or winter. Playing Welcome Home was particularly special since Steve’s daughters, son and band mates were all there, now performing as Still Friends – got to sing the chorus looking right at Carrie Blackwell Hussey, such a treat! The crowd was exuberant and primed for more good things to come.

Right after me came The Ashley Gang with some of their crowd favorites, River Road, The Ashley Gang, Joe Hotel, etc. I’m particularly jealous of Al Scortino’s The Ashley Gang – one of the best written historical songs around. Great show, even without Paul Garfinkel who was unable to make this show. Then came Still Friends - Carrie Blackwell, Japhy Blackwell, Dan Leach and new band member, Tiffiny Coffey. In addition to their own new tunes they played several of Steve’s songs including Steve’s song about Stetson Kennedy’s home in Caloosahatchee, Steve’s tribute to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, The Real Magic Kingdom, Carrie’s protest song about big sugar in the Everglades that she wrote with a couple of contributors and, finally, at Frank Thomas’ personal request, Steve’s song The Line which, with Carrie’s knock you dead in your tracks vocals, is just one of Steve’s best works. Still Friends take my breath away, they are carrying on Steve’s music and tradition in a way that I know makes him so proud. If I don’t say so myself (actually, Norm McDonald of The Ashley Gang said it), between the three of us (me, The Ashley Gang and Still Friends) that was one hell of an hour of music!

With our friends Paul and Tami (Hannah’s Whirl) in tow, we headed for Nelly Blye’s Kitchen where all that cholesterol laden goodness I wrote about yesterday simmered away. Today my menu was fried catfish, collard greens, white lima beans and okra-tomato gumbo with cornbread – OINK!! We chowed down to the sounds of our St. Augustine buddy Bob Patterson who is among the finest guitarists, songwriters and storytellers on the planet. Great show from Bob as always.

With full stomachs and a few laughs from Bob stashed away we waddled back down to the Gazebo for The Roadside Revue’s great set – as you can tell we are big fans and end up catching a couple of their sets every festival – you should too.

But now the nap clouds are rolling in – those low hanging shapes formed by your eyelids drooping down insistently across your eyes. So we’re here back at the camper for a few winks and maybe a shower before we head back for the Saturday main stage starting with Del Suggs at 8:15 and culminating with Amy Carol Webb at 9:45. Then campfiring some more tonight. More later.

Ok, so it’s later – a LOT later, presently 4 a.m. For obvious reasons I’ll keep this relatively brief. I need some sleep!

As planned, we got back for Del Suggs who put on a great show. He did some new tunes I hadn’t heard, but he also threw in some old favorites – Magic Chair and Wooden Boat. If he’d have included Broken Places, my favorite, it would have been perfect. Terrific energy. And, they announced that, due to his work on behalf of various charities, Del has been nominated for the Harry Chapin Award – that is a HUGE deal! Congrats to Del for giving so much and being nominated. Harry was a shining example in a world with few who can measure up. Harry’s World Hunger Foundation received more than 50% of his annual income (I’ve actually heard the number was closer to 70%) – who can we point to among today’s “stars” that come close to even a small percentage of that. Del, my friend, I’ll immensely proud of you!

Charlie McCoy was up next – that boy hasn’t lost a step! Wow! I still have a cassette tape of Charlie that I made off of an 8-track we had around the house when I was a kid (and not as young a kid as I’d like to claim). For many, the harmonica is simply a kazoo with more holes. In the hands of artists like Charlie McCoy it is an instrument worthy of any piece of music written. Superb.

And, of course, closing the evening out was Amy Carol Webb. I was back stage before she went on and she was a little harried because she had come up one guitar stand short for what she needed. My car was nearby and I retrieved my compact stand for her to use. Consequently, my guitar stand has done something I’m never likely to do – accompany Amy Carol on stage – sniff, sniff, I’m sooooo proud!!! Exceptional show from Amy, as you’d expect, with guest spots by Ron and Bari Litschauer, Lon & Lis Williamson with Jason Thomas, Carrie Blackwell Hussey with Dan Leach (doing Steve’s song Mystery Tree) and Jeannie Fitchen with Mindy Simmons – Stellar all!

Then on to the campfires. We stopped first at Goody and Mike Haines’ campsite shared with Carl and Barbara Wade and Doug Purcell. Doug has learned my tune Sinner’s Song and I couldn’t wait to hear it. I loved his rendition and am so flattered that he’s learned it! James Hawkins sat in a s well and we swapped tunes for an hour or so there before moving on.

Next we hit the Gypsy Commune site assembled by Joel Kelly, Margie Laroe, Norm McDonald, Steve and Michelle and various others – a real tarp city. As it happened, Ron and Bari had just arrived and we joined the existing circle which included Norm, Michelle, Glen Smith, Linda Smith and, later on, Cathy Dewitt. We stayed there until 3 and wandered back towards the car, made a quick check at Ron & Bari’s campsite to see if there was any damage – Dawn was wearing beads which is never a good sign – then headed on back here to the trailer. We could have easily stayed up all night playing and it was tempting. But I do have that Seminole Camp Stage gig at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow so I guess I’ll close my eyes for a bit.

What a great Day! You shoulda been here if you wasn’t! See you tomorrow.

Notes from the Road – Florida Folk Festival, Friday May 23, 2008

“Well I woke up this moanin, Lord the rain was fallin’ down . . . yeah I woke up this moanin’ and they was clouds hangin’ down . . . raindrops on my rooftop I hope it’s better than it sounds . . . “ Yeah, I got the “rain the first day of the festival blues. Not heavy rain, just steady. I really hope it clears before noon so that folks will come on out. C’mon weatherman do that voodoo that you do!

Been up for a while playing some tunes and watching it rain. Surprisingly it’s not depressing – it’s very cool and comfortable out, peaceful and quiet. However, it will be no picnic getting to the stages today if this keeps up. Gonna go have some coffee, wash up and head over to see what’s happening – more later.

Amazingly enough, the rain stopped, but it stayed overcast – not the fry your brains hot brutal sun we’re used to for this fest. Wonderful. It’s still pretty muggy, but by comparison to past events quite comfortable. And the crowd seems to be the usual for the opening Friday. A lot of folks can’t make it until Saturday, so Friday, though well attended, is a little slower.

Got over to the fest grounds at around 11:30, dropped off my CD’s at the FOFF sales booth and then made my way around to the Under the Oaks Stage. It’s a stage I’ve never played before over near the ranger information building and in the middle of all the food vendors – a great location for midday and id did not disappoint. I had a very solid set before a healthy and responsive crowd. In fact I’ve rarely received as much after show congrats from audience and other performers alike. It was a good time to be “on” because following me was Amy Carol Webb. So not only was I playing for my folks and wanderers by who I pulled in, but also for her fans who came early to get a good seat. It was a high quality, demanding crowd and I had a blast performing for them! And, of course, I had the bonus of getting a big hug from Amy and getting to hear her set while I shoveled down a blue crab burrito from one of the nearby vendors.

After Amy’s set Judy headed off to see The Ashley Gang (friends Al Scortino, Norm McDonald, Michelle, et al) and I went over to the Seminole Camp stage to hear Sam Pacetti. Sam is one of those rare talents – an absolute peerless wizard of fingerstyle guitar. I’ve known him for many years and he never ceases to amaze me. Watch for that name and if he’s ever within 1 ½ of you GO! You won’t be disappointed. He was followed by my pals Lon & Lis Williamson, Jason Thomas and Mickey Abramson – a/k/a Gatorbone. Jason is the fiddler for the renowned Claire Lynch Band and spends much of his time on the road (actually, in the air all over the world). But he is at his best with Lis & Lon, two of the finest musicians and people you’ll ever see or meet. This group has a ton of fun together and the crowd is just drawn into it. The style is Gypsy Jazz to western swing to bluegrass to folk and its ALL GOOOD! Another don’t miss act.

Since we were right by the food vendors at the south gate (all of the churches in the cooking pavilion) we went ahead and pigged out for an early dinner. This is southern cooking at its very “cholesterol be damned” “to hell with weight” “ eat ‘til it hurts” best. We’re talkin’ fried chicken, collard greens, peas, okra, cornbread, sweet potato pie, etc. – yeah, you got it, OUTSTANDING!! And, the bonus was that we got to eat all that while we listened to our buds, The Roadside Revue, do a great set on the Old Marble Stage. I just doesn’t get any better.

We came back to the camper for a bit to rest and clean up, then headed back to catch Ben Prestage on the Amphitheatre Stage at 7:30. Blues and Travis style picking that’ll knock your socks off – that’s Ben Prestage. From the Southeast coast area he is another talent that you simply should not miss if you get the chance to catch him. High energy, exceptional guitar work, self accompanied by foot operated drums he is a modern day one man band. He got a standing ovation and an encore – well deserved. Next was a FFF standard and favorite son, Jim Carrick. Another magnificent finger style player, Jim favored the hill side Amphitheatre crowd with old standards, including Michael Smith’s “The Dutchman.” Terrific set.

Time to hit the campfires. We couldn’t get parked where we wanted so we had to hike in. The first place we came to is where we ended up staying all evening – with Joe and Katie Waller, Jim and (opps, braindead) Robertson, Lonnie & Marsha Hardesty and, later, the MT Pawketts crowd, Jeff Frieberg, Kace Montgomery, et al. We jammed and swapped tunes until near midnight before better judgment sent us packing. We did stop in at Ron and Bari Litschauer’s campdite for a nightcap and a song or tow, but then off to bed.

Tomorrow it’s the River Gazebo Stage with Frank Thomas at noon – more tomorrow – G’nite!

Notes from the Road – Florida Folk Festival – Prologue, Thursday, May 22, 2008

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and it’s time for the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs just north of where I-75 crosses I-10 in north Florida. We spent the morning getting clothes together, planning limited meals, getting instruments together and loading the camper – it’s all the nit-picking that builds the anticipation for any trip or festival. We got on the road around 1:30 pm, later than we intended as usual, and were a little concerned about the overcast skies and drizzling, intermittent rain. Weather.com says we can expect scattered showers throughout the weekend in White Springs. At least it’ll b3e a little cooler than it usually is for Memorial Day weekend.

The first shock was stopping to fill up with gas. I think I’ll rename the substance “GASP.” I should have filled up in town before getting on the highway. On the Turnpike it was $3.99 for regular – nothing regular about it. I didn’t fill up all the way since the pump shut me off at $75.00 and I didn’t have the heart to swipe the credit card again. So we decided to assuage our pain with coffees and ice-cream (also pricey by the way). It’s a good thing that folk music pays so well (wish I could put a laugh track into this thing). However, I made my first folkie pal sighting – Barry Brogan was “lurking” (and those of you who know Barry know what he looks like when he lurks) near the ice-cream machine. We exchanged quick hellos, but were both anxious to get back on the road.

We pressed on through the Turnpike and onto I-75 – traffic was nuts. I was dragging the 24’ Coachman and pushing 75 – 80+ mph the whole way and was constantly getting nasty looks from folks passing left right and otherwise as if I were crawling long, LORD HELP ME, at the speed limit. Around the Ocala area I closed in on a van with a license plate that read “FOLKY” and had a Friends of Florida Folk bumper sticker, so I was sure I’d know them. Yep, Bill Messer and Marg Chauvin from down in West Palm – We honked as we blew by, Billy being a much more conservative driver than I.

We roared into White Springs just after 4 pm. Just in time too as my $75 worth of GASP was already depleted. Checked in at the main office in the square near the park entrance. As I walked into the building I could hear my buddy Grant Livingston playing on the house stereo system. At the artists’ check-in I found Bari Litschauer and Verni Hardwicke handling my part of the alphabet so I got to say some more hellos and get checked in on a first class basis.

On to the campground – we don’t stay at the campground on the festival site at Stephen Foster. It gets very crowded and most folks that stay there come in a week or more ahead of time to get their traditional spots. I get a camping pass so I can go campfire hopping at night, but for the sake of a good night’s sleep we stay at Kelly’s Campground just a couple of miles from the festival entrance. It’s very convenient and quiet, plus they always give me a rock star’s reception here. I’m not kidding, they always call me to get my reservation, call again later to confirm it, get me a spot near the showers like I like and then fawn over me when I arrive. You’d think I was SOMEBODY the way they treat me here (I have a feeling the treat everyone that way, but I like to think it’s just me). I HIGHLY recommend Kelly’s if you’re coming up for the festival or any time of year.

After we got set up and settled in we headed on over to the festival grounds to see what was cookin’. Everybody’s streaming in. We got our campground pass and ran into Grant Peeples at the front gate. We cruised on around past Tom Shed’s massive motor mansion to the humble but hearty Roadside Revue site shared by Ron & Bari Litschauer, Stan Geberer and his lovely Kathy, Clyde and Loreli Walker and, later, Dawn and Charles DeWitt. That had out the hors d’oerves and tequila – HOME!!! We stayed and chatted a bit. Ron and I planned recording sessions for later this year on the two CD projects I’m working on. We gossiped some – the good kind, not the petty kind (ok, maybe a little). We called Dawn on the cell phone back in West Palm to see when they were likely to get on the road and to make her jealous because we were already funnin’ it up. We even sang an impromptu and pretty maudlin version of Happy Trails to her to end the call. Tequila is a magnificent substance.

Back to the camper to get some dinner and chill. I don’t think we’ll be campfiring tonight – I’m going to hang close to home, practice for tomorrow’s set on the Under the Oaks stage at 1:30 pm, sip a little whiskey and otherwise relax. That’s how you spend your first day on the road to the Florida Folk Festival, the granddaddy of them all. See you tomorrow.

Notes from the Road – Gamble Rogers 2008

Sunday, May 4th –

Another good night’s sleep and another beautiful clear day. A bit warmer today and it promises to get down right hot as the sun climbs overhead. But with no hint of rain in the forecast and the comfortable evenings we’ve had it’s hard to complain. The breeze is still blowing so in the shade it’s still really nice. But I can tell the stages are going to get warm. I don’t play until late afternoon so I can afford to be lazy.

After finishing up my post for yesterday while I had my coffee and sending it out to all you anxious readers (ok, a wide range from the semi- mildly anxious to couldn’t care less), I cleaned up a little and headed over to the hospitality building for an early lunch. Ran into John William Davis who was busying himself restringing a 1930 Regal slot head parlor guitar. Poor John, not a happy camper. To say that he detests restringing that slot head (which is apparently a little tricky) would be a vast understatement. He finally resolve to replace only every other string thereby cutting his work in half while, hopefully improving the sound – not sure how that worked out, but I wouldn’t have dared suggest any scenario that would have put him in a position to change all six strings!

Also spent some time talking to Chuck Hardwicke – like most all of us, Chuck was particularly impressed with the Carolina Chocolate Drops Friday night. But we also agreed that all of the talent booked for the festival was truly first rate top to bottom (including each other, of course!!). Magda Hiller danced through sporting a new short hairdo, very becoming. The food and company were great and before long I looked down and realized that I had to go shower, warm up and get ready to play.

The last day, even more than others, don’t leave much opportunity to catch anyone else’s shows, but I did see a little of each of Jamie Defrates & Susan Brown, Frank Thomas, Roadside Revue and The Larry Mangum Trio – all excellent. My show was on the Florida Stage and, unfortunately it faced so that he tent walls blocked all possible air flow so that it was going to be sweltering behind the mic. The good news was that I realized it in time to return to my camper to retrieve my handy, dandy industrial squirrel fan. Recommended to me by my bud Mark Harris (Peters Road Swamp Band) this little jewel creates a silent hurricane of cool refreshing air flow. Saved my life today! I stayed cool and comfy throughout my show. An expectedly small crowd for a late, last day show, but very enthusiastic and appreciative. Plus, with sound by Tom Ellis it was a treat to get to finish up on this Stage – great job Tom, Thanks! I played a couple of new tunes mixed in with some of my familiar material and included, in honor of Gamble, my version of “The Dutchman.” Fun set.

I went over, collected my remaining CD’s from the product sales area (pretty good CD sales, particularly with everyone adjusting to the new layout) and headed to the camper saying my goodbyes as I went. As I was breaking down the camper I could hear Bob Patterson’s wrap up show wafting from the main stage. We were on the road by about 5:45 p.m.

So, it’s another Gamblefest come and gone. For my money, the new venue is a good fit. I don’t know what the attendance numbers were, but I thought the whole event was particularly well run and came off very smoothly. The volunteer corps was outstanding, taking care of everyone’s needs and keeping everything moving forward and on schedule. I wish I knew all the folks to thank, but I know that Paul Linser, Bob Patterson and Lis Williamson deserve a good portion of the credit – muchas gracias my friends. Can’t wait until next year.

Notes from the Road – Gamble Rogers 2008

Saturday, May 3rd –

First, thanks to Norm and Mary on the Folkme list for adding the YouTube clips of all the performers I described yesterday – nice touch!

Another gorgeous day – a little bit warmer with less breeze, but still so much more comfortable than Gamblefest’s in the past have been. I was able to sleep in a little after being up late around the campfire. Felt good!

The performers’ hospitality area here is excellent – food is wonderful and the folks manning it are just terrific. I’m sure it make it more pleasant for the staff as well since it’s in its own little building complete with kitchen, etc. We’ve got table cloths on the tables, even candles! Very up town!

I admit that I was focused on getting ready for my own set yesterday and did not venture out to the stages until after I played. I did, however, get a scouting report from Judy and Jessi who said they particularly enjoyed Grant Peeples, Magda Hiller, Chelsea Sadler and Mindy Simmons. No surprises there, always great performances. Obviously, everyone knows Magda and Mindy. For those who aren’t familiar, Grant is a Tallahassee area songwriter with a wonderful style and a riveting growl to his voice (see Ron Johnson’s review of Grant’s new CD in his last Strings and Things column). Chelsea is a young singer – songwriter from Jacksonville whose voice I find really compelling. She was a finalist at the Suwannee Springfest competition this year.

I was on the Bean Creek Stage at 2:20 following Bob Patterson. Bob is just one of the best there is. An impeccable musician and a storyteller in the Gamble style – I know his old pickin’ pal is always grinnin’ when Bob is on stage. Bob had ‘em eatin’ out of the palm of his hand and the crowd continued to grow as I took the stage (probably folks getting’ there early for Red Henry who followed me!). I really enjoyed the set throwing in a couple of songs I hadn’t played in a while. Saw a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, including the incomparable Raven (what would you compare him to?) on the arm of his new lady love, Tisa Noble (that’s Tisa of Willfest campfire fame, the one that has the huge area with lights, flowing drapes, etc. with the assistance of her daughter Cassaundra and Ally Smith) – Way to go RAVEN! A very fun set with good sound, etc. And I got to chat for a minute or with Gabe Valla and show off my Collings OMH to him – forget it Gabe, not for sale!

It’s hard to tell how the total crowd numbers are doing here at the new location. But, it does seem like the outlying stages are getting more attention and have better attendance than in past years. For me, this feels more like a grass roots, homespun folk festival than the amphitheatre did, at least since all the fancy renovations. Hopefully this is a more economical alternative and will give the festival a new home for years to come.

After I put my guitar away I got a beer (of course, priorities after all) and headed over to catch some of Stevie Coyle’s show (see yesterday’s post for the FYI on Stevie). Talk about impeccable musicianship – this guy really knows his way around the fret board and has a right hand technique that is absolutely fluid. Stevie is also a Collings man (wish I could play mine like he does), a 000 size slot head that really sings. He told me later that the guitar fit his tastes so perfectly it was as if it actually selected him. For my money (and they ain’t cheap) not a better guitar around.

Then another beer (priorities again) and over to catch my buds, The Roadside Revue, on the Old Town Stage. They’ve got a great new tune the name of which I haven’t gotten yet, but it’s about a fly that hitched a ride in the van all the way from Micanopy to Key Largo – funny, energetic stuff as always. They were followed by The Larry Magnum Trio who “wowed” them with Larry’s great songs and vocals and lead playing by a guy who I did not get to meet but who Larry always turned to at the instrumental break and hollered “PICK IT WHITE TRASH.” I’m guessin’ that guy’s available if anyone’s looking for a great lead player!

Back to home base to clean up a tiny before dinner. The Roadside Revue gang, Ron & Bari Litschauer, Dawn & Charles DeWitt, Stan and Kathy Geberer (Ok, not married, but deal with it Kathy), along with their families, etc. came, accoutrements in hand (i.e., potent libations and mixers from south of the border) for a little happy hour action before dinner – what a hoot! Dinner in the hospitality area was excellent, particularly the white bean / red pepper salsa that made a wonderful side dish to everything! Then back to the camper for a few more happy minutes with the Mexican libations before wandering on over to the main stage for the evening shows.
Wonderful line-up! Amy Carol Webb put on her typically great performance, joined on one tune by Mindy Simmons and Jeannie Fitchen. Gatorbone (Lis & Lon Williamson, Jason Thomas, Gabe Valla and Mickey Abramson) was exceptional. I think those guys rival the best in the business in the bluegrass / western swing genre. Lis’ vocals are to die for and her rock steady right hand technique has been my envy for quite some time.

Mike Cross was up next. I saw him for the first time out at Winfield (The Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas) in the mid 90’s and was really looking forward to his show here. I had to chuckle about his photo in the Gamblefest brochure though – Mike hasn’t looked like that since high school! Nevertheless, the pudgier, less haired, over-alled current incarnation does not disappoint on the stage. Whether its lightning fingerstyle, bottleneck blues or rousing fiddle work, it’s all magnificently done and with a homespun, side-splitting humor that, I’m sure, keeps Mike in high demand.

Last for the evening was Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group. Another favorite of every folk fest and room in the country these guys are just top shelf. Linda opened the show with a classic, but introducing the band, including her “current husband” Robin (they’ve been married 35 years). These guys are full on fun from the first note. You can see a bit of them in the Garrison Keillor movie, A Prairie Home Companion, in which they play, well, themselves playing one of, well, their tunes – go figure!

I headed back to the camper at about 10:30 and got the fire going. Ron & Bari soon appeared and we started pickin’ a tune or two. I swear we’d only played part of one song when I looked up and there must have been 30+ folks pulling up chairs and settling in (man, we needed more Tequilla!). With Dawn on bass, Stan Geberer on harmonica , Bari on banjo and mandolin and Ron on guitar and mando, the tunes started to fly. In the circle (well, the part up next to the fire because folks were stacked three and four deep) were those I’ve mentioned already, plus Rod McDonald and a drum wielding pal, Larry Mangum, Kathy DeWitt (no relation – this is the Patchwork / radio one), another of Kathy’s band mates (I swear I’ve got to get better with names) who really belter out some great tunes, Chelsea Sadler (and her friend whose name I didn’t get either, but who was doing some great back up guitar and harmony work), Jamie Defrates and Susan Brown, Jeannie & Ned Fitchen and a fella I’ve known for years, tall, blonde haired guy, wielding a mini dulcimer and bearing some terrific brownies ---- ARGGGG!!! I gotta start takin’ some Ginko-Bubba to help this memory thing!!! I know I’m forgetting some folks and I apologize – this is your brain on tequila. Plus, a stellar group of listeners stacked all around including Mother FOFF, Jean Hewitt, Deb Watts and many, many more. Great campfire and it carried on until around 1:30 or so. And there were others still going after we subsided – Grant Peeples and Carrie Hamby were still at it and a really dedicated group of six or so were out in the middle of a field under a light pole – you could see them glowing yellow in the distance, sounds of rapid fire bluegrass of the booming bass carrying on the still night air.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . . . . .

Friday, May 2, 2008 –

The weather is BEAUTIFUL!!! If you ain’t here, you’re messin’ up BIG TIME!

The new edition of the Gamble Rogers Folk Fest kicked off Friday at the St. Johns County Fairgrounds a bit west of St. Augustine on SR 207 just outside of Elkins, Fl. For years the fest has been held on Anistasia Island at the amphitheatre on A1A. But circumstances (cost and others) forced the festival to move to new quarters to survive and continue on. Frankly, it seems like a good move. The fairgrounds are spacious and in many ways more “Gamble-like” since the amphitheatre went Hollywood in the past couple of years. This feels like home and exudes the kind of down home warmth that typified Gambles music and stories.

We got on the road early today and it took less than two hours to get on site. Lis Williamson had helped me out with arrangement s for a campsite (thank ya mam!) and we were all set . Once we got the camper situated we strolled the grounds, located the stages, said hello’s to many, many friends and then kicked back to enjoy the afternoon. I was a little concerned that our campsite was completely unshaded and the sun was beating down, but the weather stayed in the mid 80’s and a consistent breeze kept everything wonderfully comfortable. So I sat under the awning, sipped a little libation and restrung guitars – even picked a tune or two.

At 6 p.m. we joined the throngs for the renewed Friday night fish fry. What a feed!! Exceptional food – fish with hush puppies, cole slaw, baked beans (with some jalopenas for a little kick). Excellent!! The volunteers working that duty really earned everyone’s thanks. The long line for the food moved at a trot – literally – as everyone hustled to get the loaded plates out to us all. Outstanding guys – really enjoyed it!

Then a great line-up on the Big Top Stage to kick things off. The Aaron O’Rourke Trio came on at 7 p.m. – WOW! You hear that the trio is centered around the mountain dulcimer and you think melodic, old time, plucky / strummy music – WRONG!! Aaron is to mountain dulcimer what Jimmy Hendricks was to electric guitar. You can sit right there and watch him and still not believe what you’re hearing. Unbelievable music. And lest you think Aaron is the only hot picker up there, Mickey Abraham on mandolin is world class as well. If you get a chance to see these guys do yourself a favor and get there.

Mary Flower was up next. This amazing musician who currently makes her home in Portland, OR. Is an incredibly uanassuming virtuoso in intricate syncopated Piedmont styled finger picking and bluesy lap-slide guitar. I had heard of Mary, but had not seen her perform. Another WOW!! She has such a great relaxed and familiar stage presence interlaced with personal humor – simply a treat! Mary will be in Orlando Monday night at Fodor’s in Orlando sponsored by CFFI. Check the Central Florida Folk, Inc. website (http://www.cffolk.org/ ) for more details.

Stevie Coyle then took the stage. A co-founder of the high energy California group The Waybacks, Stevie left the group to tour solo. Another amazing guitarist, Stevie’s show is a combination of immaculate guitar work and zany humor that hits everyone in the audience “right where they live” at some point in his non-stop banter and lyrics. Stevie puts out a newsletter that is as entertaining as his stage performance and you can subscribe for free at http://steviecoyle.com – highly recommended.

Wrapping up the formal stage shows for the night was the amazing Carolina Chocolate Drops – three kids (everyone less than 30 is a kid to me) from North Carolina who are adept students of traditional music heritage and bring those styles to the present with astounding energy, versatility and infectious vibe. Their show includes fiddles, banjo’s, guitars, resonator guitars, jugs, jars, drums, fifes, mouth harps, harmonicas, stomping feet, clapping hands, dancing, amazing vocals and huge smiles on every face in the crowd. I had the chance to see them in Memphis two years ago at Folk Alliance and their ability to create music even simply with rhythm and rudimentary instruments, some of which they make themselves, is inspirational. Another don’t miss act.

With the stage closing down we headed back to the camper, got out the fire pit and fied her up. I had no sooner sat down, evening libation in hand, than folks began to gather - Larry Mangum, Ray Lewis, Larry’s old rock n’ roll buddy Jack, Woody, Chris ____?, John William Davis, Tina ______(damn I’m bad at last names!!), Grant Peeples and others ended up circled round the fire swapping tunes, jokes and jibes. Incredibly talented people all. I was particularly blown away by John William Davis’ friend Tina whose voice, guitar work and songwriting were just awesome. And, as we passed midnight we went from Grant Peeples’ birthday to Tina and Larry Mangum’s birthdays – all around one small campfire – too cool!

Not a terribly late night – everyone started easing away around 1 a.m. or a little after. What a beautiful night. Nice and cool, not a cloud in the star heavy skies and the smell of wood smoke. Sure hated to call it a night.

Notes from the Road – Barberville Spring Frolic

Saturday, April 26th –

Gorgeous weather and a perfect Saturday morning to kick off another annual Barberville Spring Frolic at the Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts just west of the intersection of Highway 17 and SR 40 in Voulsia County, Florida (that’s a little northwest of Deleon Springs / DeLand, almost due east of Ocala and west by southwest of Ormond Beach). Every Spring musicians from throughout the State gather with craftsman of all types to celebrate our native culture on the historic grounds of the Settlement. Thanks go to Joe & Katie Waller for their herculean and selfless efforts in organizing, scheduling and supervising the music – outstanding job guys!

A little bit about the Settlement: The Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts, Inc. was established as an educational institution whose general nature and objective is to render constructive, educational, and cultural services to the community through collection, preservation, conservation and exposition of objects which are the cultural heritage of the community. A dedicated program of preserving artifacts, buildings and local history is ongoing. This program consists of permanent and rotating exhibits, workshops on identifying and cataloguing artifacts, research of local history topics, and a program for interpreting history, and the exhibits and collections. Growing attendance over the years has created a demand for more space and the Settlement moved local and regional historically significant buildings onto the property. As a result a historical "village" setting emerged. Featured structures include:
1982: Pierson Railroad Depot (c. 1885)
1983: Astor Bridgekeeper's House (c. 1926)
1984: Turpentine Comm./Store (c. early 1900s)
1988: Turpentine Still (c. 1924)
1989: Pottery Shed (c. 1920s)
1992: Lewis Log Cabin (c. 1875)
1994: Midway United Methodist Church (c. 1890)
1996: Huntington Post Office (c. 1885)
1997: Quarters House (c. 1920s)
1998: The Pastime touring boat (c. 1910)
Through the years, additional workshops were built to exhibit various historical trades and lifeways: Print Shop, Wheelwright Shop/Carriage House, Woodwright Shop, Blacksmith Shop, and Timucuan-Myacca and Seminole Villages. There is also a myriad of farm animals and birds in residence, including a rambunctious pen full of peacocks who in the Spring are in full strut and very vocal. You’d really enjoy this place and if you haven’t been there, particularly with kids or grandkids, you are missing out.

I arrived at around 10 a.m. Saturday to check in and get ready for my set in the Church at 11 a.m. A beautiful Spring morning – blue skies, sun was shining, peacocks were caterwauling, Port-O-Lets were fresh . . . ok, too much information. I followed Rog Lee in the Church before a small, but appreciative early day crowd. The Church is one of my favorite venues in the Settlement – the acoustics are awesome. The set included a new tune, As the Crow Flies, which was very well received and folks stuck around afterwards to buy CD’s, which is always appreciated!

Judy and I went ahead and had lunch at around 11:30 or so and just beat the rush. By the time I got our thick burgers and huge, fat hotdogs the lines were 20 or more deep. Timing is everything! After we finished we ambled over to the Bridgehouse stage for the end of Barry Brogan’s set, followed by The Ashley Gang and then Susie Cool and the Coolottes (minus Stuart Hall who on conflicting reports was either kidnapped by a group of etiquette terrorists or finally arrested on those outstanding warrants). Excellent sets by all. I also slipped over to the Barn Stage nearby to hear a little of Bill & Eli Perras’ set. I wasn’t able to spend time with Bill & Eli this weekend, probably because they’ve gone big time after the publication of their great review in Sing Out! And, consequently, they are now being hounded by the folk paparazzi – a tough crowd indeed!

My next set was at 2:30 on the Sugar Cane Stage following Pete Easton and the Possum Pickers. Man has that group grown!! There were so many musicians on stage (well actually, on and around the stage – couldn’t get even half of them actually on the platform) that if the crowd had gotten the least bit unruly I think the band could have taken them! I’d hate to be a roadie for that crowd! Had a wonderful set there with my “fan of the day” Sherry singing along to every song I did from my 2005 Truths & Lies CD. Sherry made every one of my three performances on Saturday and bought a copy of my newest CD, Break Some Stones. So, I suspect she’ll be singing along with all of those tunes by the next festival. What a wonderful compliment!

And, we learned just after my set that one of my original MySpace pals and devoted fan, Kim from Eustis is engaged to Hartley from Leesburg! Congrats guys!

After that set we slipped over to the Family Stage and heard a little Jackson Creek (Joe & Katie Waller, etc.), chatted with old friends and dawdled in the shade. All of this fun was working up an appetite and, since I needed to eat early anyway, we decided to head over to the Blackwater Inn on the St. John’s at Astor for an early supper. Fingerling catfish!! Yum . . . .

We got back in time to catch Ron & Mary (that’d be Johnson and Matthews for the uninitiated) on the Barn Stage. Great set with tunes both old and new. Ron included his song, Rescue Train, about the great 1935 labor day Hurricane that hit the Florida Keys, the same subject as my tune, Hemingway’s Hurricane. Ron and Mary always put a lot of energy into their show. Nice job guys.

I had to skip out after that to go tune up for my last set. The best part of the day was the evening line-up on the Barn Stage. I played at 7 p.m. to a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd. Then I got to kick back and relax as some of my all time favorites performed: James Hawkins and Cold Harbor, then The Ashley Gang, then M.T.Pawketts and last, but not least, Jackson Creek. This was first rate music in a unique and wonderful setting. And to think, all of this could have been yours too for a meager $6 admission for the entire day! If you weren’t there you really missed out!

Sunday, April 27th

Judy decided to stay at home and work on Sunday so I was flying solo for Sunday. My first appearance was at Noon teaching a songwriting workshop with James Hawkins and Ron Johnson. I got on site a little before 11 a.m. and went over to see Stevens, Worrell and McKee on the Sugar Cane stage. Great show. These guys are all three first rate pickers and Worrell is equally lethal with a guitar or a mandolin. Check them out.

I grabbed one of those big fat hotdogs and an iced tea and headed back to the Barn Stage to hear Mullet Run followed by Salt Lick Serenade. Excellent presentations of standards and old favorites. Much fun to listen to and the audience was stomping feet, clapping hands and singing along enthusiastically.

The songwriting workshop was a relaxed affair where we played some tunes, told the stories behind some of our songs and talked about the process a little. It’s always hard to decide what to do that might be meaningful in a one hour workshop, but they always seem to take on a life of their own and lead you to where the folks want to go. So, I always enjoy them.

Now I had a break from 1 until 2:30 when I returned for my last set at the Barn Stage. I found a grassy, shady spot, took out the guitar and noodled around on it while I enjoyed the weather. Even go a couple of melody ideas sitting there. It also gave me time to plan out my last set which I decided would be an “all Florida” set of my historical / State based material. I got to the stage in time to hear the end of another Stevens, Worrell and McKee show while I got tuned up and then took the stage for the final time for this edition of Barberville. True to my plan I played four of my Florida tunes (Banks of the Old St. Johns [my Will McLean winner in 1997], A Mother’s Tears, Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams [my 3rd place Will McLean finisher this year] and a new tune about moonshing in North Florida, Yellow Butter Moon. Then my audience stepped in with a request – always welcome of course – for Annie’s Chairs. And then I finished out with my song for Steve Blackwell, Welcome Home. I stayed long enough to pack up and sell a few more CD’s while I listened to Starbird in the background and then headed for the car (I’d promised Judy I’d get home early and take her to a movie).

And so ends another terrific Barberville Spring Frolic. They do it all again in the fall in November there in the Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts so mark your calendars for November 1 & 2!! Thanks again Joe & Katie for a wonderful, well run event!

I have limited Internet access here, so I’m going to keep this diary style and post in one long entry. Bear with me.

When I left Suwannee Springfest last weekend we came to Dunnellon and dropped off the camper on site in the campground where “Willfest” is to be held this year. The campground is eclectic, but very nice. There is a lot of shade, plenty of sites with water and power hookups and many sites right on the Withlacoochee River. We got a site centrally located and then sent out emails to folks we knew were coming so they could camp nearby if they wanted. The plan had been to come over Thursday night for the annual potluck dinner for the early arrivers then settle in for the festival Friday through Sunday. However, events conspired against us and we didn’t get back until late morning on Friday – Oh well.

Friday, April 4th –

This is a day that Judy and I expected to be a little difficult, and it was. This would have been our son Tanner’s 18th birthday. It’s still so hard more than four months later to accept and comprehend that he’s gone. But we were surrounded here by so many good friends, family and music that it helped ease the strain.

Putting the word out on where we were camped did the trick. Ron & Bari Litschauer and Charles & Dawn DeWitt (Roadside Revue) got in on one side of us. Clyde & Lorelei Walker were just beyond them. Joe & Katie Bailey (Jackson Creek) were right behind us. And, Joel Kelly, Marjorie LaRoe and Dan Gribben (Work Release Program) were on the other side of us. Norm MacDonald was tucked in next to Dan Gribben and Al & Cindy Scortino (The Ashley Gang) were just one site over. Ally Smith, with Tisa, Rob and Cassaundra, were right across the road in one direction, Ron & Nancy Hagen in the other. So, as I said, we were surrounded by wonderful friends.

I was scheduled on the Main Stage in the evening at 8 p.m. right before the Dean of Florida Folk, Frank Thomas. I followed Carrie Hamby and Singing Biscuit – tough act to follow, let me tell you. They had the crowd fired up before they left the stage. I had wondered how many people we would have, particularly on Friday night, since this was a different venue for the festival. The answer was - big crowd, actually bigger than usual for the first night under the big pole barn style pavilion. So, at 8 p.m. sharp they brought me on.

What a fun, well received set! My folks were there with a close family friend, as well as my brother and sister-in-law, and it made the performance all the more special. Since we were sitting within both sight and sound of the Withlacoochee I started off with Withlacoochee Dreamer, a song I wrote last year (a top ten winner at Willfest last year) and which will be included on an “all Florida” CD I hope to release later this year. I followed that with Break Some Stones, the title cut of my 2007 release which recently won another award, this one from the Great American Songwriting Competition. Then I played Welcome Home, the song I wrote for my friend Steve Blackwell who passed away September 2006, dedicating it not only to him, but also to Bobby Hicks who passed away earlier this year. Both Steve and Bobby are beloved members of our Florida Folk Family and are sorely missed.

Then Ron Litschauer honored me by joining me on stage with his mandolin. We kicked it up a notch with Teppintine featuring Ron’s “workin’ man blues” style approach that makes that song a stand out on my 2005 Truths & Lies CD. From there we did This Old House, always a crowd favorite, and finished strong with a driving rendition of Steam Train. An excellent set, wonderfully well received and so much fun.

With the “work” behind me I visited with so many friends outside the pavilion while listening to Frank Thomas (assisted by a cast of several, including Ron who switched to guitar for Frank’s material). After the stage closed at 11:30, I slung a guitar over my shoulder and, refreshments in hand, began to wander. I sat and played for an hour or so over at Ally/Tisa/Rob/Cassaundra’s. They went to great lengths to decorate their campfire area with wispy white cloth strung on a high line between trees, Christmas style lights, rope lights on the ground and even solar powered ground stake lights. I told them that it looked like they’d had a rear-end collision with a WalMart stock truck on the way to the festival – very nouveau-folkie / redneck kitsch. They are such a great crowd, love those folks.

Then I filtered back to Ron & Bari’s where a serious, high energy jam was going on driven by Roadside Revue, Bob Patterson and Clyde Walker. Some serious hot pickin’ goin’ on there. I listened to that great music for a while, then wandered off into the dark looking for Tom Shed’s campsite down by the river. As it turned out I found it, but didn’t know it. I saw a motor home like his with a screen room next to it about where he had told me it would be and there was a song circle proceeding inside. But when I stuck my head in I saw neither Tom, nor anyone I recognized, and, though everyone is welcome everywhere, it was getting late enough (after 1 a.m. by this point) that I didn’t want to do the old “introduction to new folks dance” so I just kept on going. Turns out that was Tom’s circle after all and he was just inside doing host duties of some kind.

Anyway, I wandered back past the Cypress Stage where a large song circle was in progress with many folks I know (Tom Ellis , Mike Jurgensen, Dan Leach, Glenn Smith, Lee Hunter & Arvid Smith (Tammerlin) and several others). However, I was starting to sag, so after listening to several tunes, rather than jump in and start playing I decided to go get horizontal (about 2 a.m. or so). I’ve got a packed schedule tomorrow, so best not do it with little sleep.
Great night – I got comfortable and drifted off to sleep to the deep resonance of Dawn DeWitt’s bass next door (they said that circle didn’t break up until about 4 a.m.). More tomorrow.

Saturday, April 5th

Got a great night’s sleep and woke to a beautiful morning. Coffee, a little campfire (for atmosphere, certainly not heat), conversation with passers-by, then time to start some rehearsing. I had three shows today, two of which were as one of the winners of this year’s Song Contest – a new tune, Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams, was #3 and Hemmingway’s Hurricane was #6. My other set was on the Cypress stage and Ally Smith agreed to sing harmonies for me there so we spent an hour running those tunes to get set for that.

At noon I was on the Magnolia Stage to present Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams, get my award plaque, etc. Malcolm McKinney from Southeast Florida was #2 and Debary’s Rog Lee took the top spot.

At 1:30 p.m. I was at the Cypress Stage in time to hear Still Friends (Carrie Blackwell, Jaffe Blackwell, Dan Leach and another woman who, unfortunately, I haven’t yet met). These guys are just the cream of the crop and are in fine trim. Carrie’s vocals just knock you out and it’s great to hear Steve’s songs continue to live on. Great set guys. Then Ally and I gave the crowd Mournful Eyes, Lies, Sinner’s Song, Annie’s Chairs, This Old House and Hemingway’s Hurricane. I love playing for the crowds at Wilfest. They are among the most appreciative, respectful and giving anywhere.

After I finished at the Cypress Stage I hung around to hear Bob Patterson’s set. Bob, of course, hails from the St. Augustine area, was a close friend of Gamble Rogers and an integral member of the Florida Folk community. He is the master of the twelve string guitar and spins a tale like Gamble himself. Bob is the consummate showman and I envy both his talent and exceptional stage presence. If you’re not familiar with him, catch Bob’s show soon in St. Augustine or at any of Florida’s best festivals.

Then on to the Azalea Stage where all top ten song finalists presented their songs. What a great group of tunes. Rog Lee and I both had two songs in the top ten. He was #1 and #5 and I was #3 and #6. So, I lost to him TWICE in the same contest!! Every song I heard was exceptional, particularly Larry Mangum’s “tale of Dale Crider and Gamble Rogers.” I was honored to be included in this group of terrific writers and songs.

Now with all of my work for the weekend done I went and got rid of my guitar, grabbed a little flask of refreshment that Lis Williamson had returned to me earlier and headed back to the Azalea Stage to hear a terrific line-up there of some of my favorites. Ron Johnson & Mary Matthews came right after the song contest presentation and did an excellent set of tunes – one of their best shows I’ve heard. Excellent driving tunes with Art Crummer on Dobro and solid vocals from both Ron & Mary. Great set guys.

I only heard part of Jerry Mincey’s set (that’s when I went to dump my guitar, etc), but what I heard was outstanding. Jerry was followed by my good friends, The Roadside Revue. It was kind of tight on that small stage for the full band, including Daffy Dawn DeWitt’s stand up bass, Bitty Bari’s banjo and mandolin, Captain Ron and his guitar, plus their guest fiddler, the amazing Wayne Martin. But, I’ve never seen folks have more fun playing music, nor a crowd have more fun listening to it. Their spirit, energy and wit are irresistible.

Next up, James Hawkins with Steve and Leigh Humes, plus a dobro player that I’m sorry to say I didn’t get the name of. Sound troubles delayed the start a bit, but James made up quickly for lost time. This group has got a terrific, very tight sound. Just when I think they’ve hit their stride they get even better yet.

The last set I saw on that stage was Hannah’s Whirl, my friends Paul and Tammy from Tampa. Excellent set guys!! Their rendition of Steve Blackwell’s Mystery Tree is very stirring and Paul’s Tarzan Pants had everybody rolling in the aisles.

Carrie Hamby was up next and I hated to go, but the storm clouds were forming and the word was that a major blow with up to 50 mph winds and heavy rain was headed our way – yikes!! I went back to the camper, pulled everything in and battened down the hatches before cooking dinner for Judy and I as the rain started to fall. Now our plan had been to eat, clean up and get back over to the Magnolia Stage to hear Mindy Simmons, Amy Carol-Webb and Lis Williamson’s shows. However, the rain persisted and while we could have gotten to the stage easy enough with umbrella’s, etc., I was concerned about the forecast of high winds and making sure the camper was ok. So, we never made it to the stage. As usual, the weather report never materialized and though the rain kept a low steady pace, the wind never appeared (thank goodness).

Well, 11 p.m. and still raining – no campfiring for me tonight. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . . .

Sunday, April 5th
Well, another VERY good night’s sleep. I’d love to stick around for the music today, but Judy and I both have busy weeks coming up so we’ll try to pull out by noon at the latest. A few notes before we get under way.

The report from all was that all three of my intended shows last night, Mindy, Amy and Lis, were outstanding and played to a huge crowd that did not wimp out in the face of bad weather predictions like I did – HATE that I missed it!! Not only that, but apparently the true stalwarts among us took advantage when the rain stopped at around 1 a.m. and got the fires going. Some played all the way until 6 a.m. – now THAT’s FOLK MUSIC!!!

We spent a while saying our goodbyes to all the folks around us and the many more that filtered by as we got the camper ready to go. Our review of the new location is all thumbs up. Though the old location at Sertoma near Dade City is very intimate and familiar, The Withlacoochee campground is larger, heavily shaded and has the great advantage of the frontage on the river. The stages all worked out well, particularly for a first time effort in a new location. Many, many thanks to Margaret Longhill and all of her crew for putting on yet another (the 19th!!!) amazing Willfest. Can’t wait until next year.

Notes from the Road – Suwannee Springfest – Saturday, March 29th

Never seen better festival weather, absolutely gorgeous! Much the same routine this morning though Judy and I rose at about the same time – right at the crack of 8 a.m. Made coffee, built a fire and chatted across the path with a neighbor who had been deep into the tequila and other reality altering refreshments yesterday. He declared that he was sure there had been two moons last night and then hopped into his rented golf cart which backed (much too fast past one tree ripping the windshield from its mounts and then slammed into a tree behind him badly denting the rear cargo grate. I don’t think the moons have set just yet!!!

Seems good things happen when I’m out relaxing like this. Yesterday a news interview and today a new songwriting award. My friend Jan Seides in Austin emailed me to congratulate me on winning an honors award in the Great American Song Contest. “Break Some Stones” finished in the top 20 in the Folk / Acoustic category out of approximately 2000 entries. Cool!

Our daughter Jessi, who is a Junior at FSU, came over this morning to join us for today and tomorrow. Her boyfriend drove her and dropped her off. One criticism I have for the fest is the difficulty you go through trying to get through security just to get to where you pay to get in. Despite explanations, she could not get past the front gate (the one out on the highway) to get down to the ticket area without me coming out to get her. Even beyond the front gate there were two more security check points (this because I already had a sticker on my car showing I had entered earlier and was, therefore, suspicious entering again), not to look for contraband of course, but to be sure someone wasn’t smuggling in “festival illegals” without paying the required fees - still before you even get to ticketing. This is poor commentary on the perceived character of the crowd attending the fest. OK, rant concluded.

I haven’t caught up to a lot of the folks I know that are here – Clyde Walker, Marie Nofsinger, etc. But I have bumped into many friends including the stellar Larry Mangum from Jacksonville and Ray Lewis who does such a great job promoting music in and around the Jacksonville area. Larry came over Thursday night to root for Chelsea Saddler in the songwriter finals. I tried to convince him to stick around and swap some tunes, but he had to get on to the drive back to Jax. Ray, however, is here for the whole program and I’ve bumped into him several times. And, I met Patti Petow, my MySpace friend and music promoter from St. Pete, who I’d never seen face to face before. Check out Patti’s MySpace page. She has an interesting internet video hosting business for musicians and others that is quite unique. I also got a chance to talk a while with Gloria Holloway. It was really different because Gloria was standing on an earthen ledge in the amphitheater so that she was up almost on eye level with me. Not used to talking eye to eye with her – never above a “short” joke, am I?

My listening schedule today was all at the Amphitheatre Stage. At 3 p.m. was Guy Clark who was, as always, personal, engaging and relaxed. He was backed by Verlon Thompson on guitar, a great songwriter in his own right. Based on shouts from the crowd, Guy played one old favorite after another. Only one new tune came during the one hour set – kind of a sequel to LA Freeway. Good song. I’m always a little disappointed when you have the opportunity to hear a great songwriter like Guy Clark who you can be certain always has a sack of new songs he’s carrying around and yet all the crowd wants to hear are the ones they have at home on the CD which they’ve played a gazillion times. I’m waiting for one of my idols like Guy to step out for a one hour set and announce that at least half of it is going to be songs you’ve never heard before. Guess that doesn’t necessarily sell CD’s unless they’re on a new one you’ve just released. Nevertheless . . .

Jim Lauderdale was next – last year’s Grammy winner for best bluegrass album. At various points in the show he was joined by Josh Pinkham and the Pinkham family and the Infamous Stringdusters. Great set, though the sound mix for them was difficult given the number of instruments and folks coming and going. So, the sound turned out a little “muddy” for much of his set. Nevertheless, very enjoyable.
Now, Claire Lynch was next and since I had seen them on Friday I considered going to get something to eat, etc. while they did their show. But, I enjoy Jason’s work so much I decided to stick with them. Boy, am I glad I did! They put on one helluva set including a tremendous swing tune written by the group’s guitar player which featured Jason on the mandolin. To my delight, they covered a song by our good friend Don Oja-Dunaway, one of favorites of his, Kennesaw Line. Then they concluded the show with a rousing version of Wabash Cannonball that included a solo by the bass player bowing the standup bass in a bluegrass tune – I know, you’ll have to take my word for it. Just an outstanding set.

Last for my listening pleasure and amazement was David Grisman and his quintet. Calling what he does “Dawg Music”, I didn’t realize that his nickname, Dawg, was given to him by his close friend Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. "Dawg Music" is his mixture of bluegrass and Django Reinhardt-Stéphane Grappelli-influenced jazz, as highlighted on his 1977 album "Hot Dawg". It was Grisman's combination of Reinhardt-era Jazz, bluegrass, folk, Old World Mediterranean string band music, as well as modern Jazz fusion that came to embody "Dawg" music. Grisman, along with New Grass Revival are generally considered the modern day interpreters of the new bluegrass-influenced fusion sound, sometimes called newgrass. (quoted from Wikipedia). Man, what a show. Such a combination of astounding musicians and masterful arrangement. It was so high energy and intense that at the end of their one-hour set, plus encore, I was pooped! Grisman says that if you go to his Acoustic Disc website every day there is a different tune of his you can download for free – I have a new addition to my daily ritual. Though I’ve got a couple of his CD’s already he is very prolific with about 20 CD’s still in print. He says that if you go to the site every day for ten months you’ll have them all!

After Grisman’s show I came back to the camper, built a fire, chatted with Judy and Jessi, played tunes per their request, chatted with passing neighbors and sipped wine until near midnight. Don’t know if I’ll see any shows tomorrow since my plan is to get the camper loaded and drop it somewhere in Dunnellon near the campground for Willfest next weekend. I’m primed and ready to play.

This has been a great weekend. Very relaxing, great music, friends and weather. But, Monday is bearing down and time to start looking towards the next adventure. Stay tuned.

What a gorgeous day. This was one of those days so perfect that you instinctively know to be thankful. I started relatively early, around 7 a.m. I’d been awake for about an hour laying here in the camper dozing and thinking. That’s usually when song ideas, rewrites, etc. start to percolate and that’s what happened today. So, I got up, put some coffee on and went out to build a fire. It was very cool, 50’s, quiet and beautiful. My fire was one of the first going. I eased back inside (careful to leave the queen in slumber), got coffee, my old Martin 000-18 and a long sleeve shirt (hey, I said it was chilly) and parked out by the fire. You know, I could get used to this.

The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is just a great facility. There is so much going on here all the time, even when there’s no festival. Right on the Suwannee so there’s canoeing, a large crafts village (retail area), a well stocked country store for supplies, a nice restaurant, horse stables and riding trails, you name it. If you’re looking to get away for the weekend of camping this is the place to come. Campsites are almost all shaded and there’s lots of area for both full hook-ups, primitive camping and everything in between, including rental cabins. It’s really first rate.

Once Judy roused an hour or so later, I got the computer out so I could send out my “Notes” posts, answer email, etc. I’ve discovered that there is wireless here in the park, but reception is spotty so I got my cell phone out to connect up (it’s set up to work as a wireless, hi-speed connection). I had a missed call and a message which turned out to be from the Ocala Star Banner wanting to interview me for a piece on the upcoming Will McLean Festival. So, I returned the call and spent a half hour or so on the line with ace reporter (I hope) Tony Violanti. Hopefully I didn’t say anything too stupid. Then I logged on and did my internet thing.

You know, sometimes you’re just too comfortable where you’re at to actually get going and go hear some music (I know, I know, I’ll rot in . . . etc., etc.,). I wrote, practiced, sent emails, ate lunch, wrote more, napped – wonderful. So, the first act I saw was Josh Pinkham and the Pinkham Family at 3:40 p.m. To say that Josh is a hot mandolin player is like saying a nuke is just a big firecracker – wow! And you know what, daddy Pinkham’s a damned fine guitar / banjo player his own self. Plus, mom is a great soulful, bluesy vocalist. Wouldn’t want to challenge those folks to a family talent contest!

Next, The Claire Lynch Band with my friend Jason Thomas on fiddle and mandolin. Of course, many of you know him from his work with Valla, Turner, Williamson, his appearances in Winter Garden at The Attic Door, etc. The CLB was terrific. Claire has such a tremendous bluegrass voice and the band is exceptionally tight. Jason is without a doubt one of the cleanest (if not the cleanest) fiddle and mando players out there. This gig with Claire Lynch has been his biggest break yet (I would think) and so well deserved – man what a talent.

After that I got a chance to chat a bit with Lis Williamson and then head back to the camper for supplies before getting a bite to eat and watching Gatorbone over on the Florida Stage. While I was ambling about I bumped into John William Davis who regaled me with his story of driving from his home in Georgia out to Swallow Hill in Denver in his old beat up Volvo to play a gig with Jack Williams. Sounded like the pouring rain and threats of flooding in the Midwest were quite harrowing as he traveled through. Glad he got there and back without incident.

The vendor area for this event is huge. There is a lot more variety for food than is usually the case at most festivals (except, of course, the Florida Folk Fest, which has the advantage of the Nelly Bly’s area). So I had a fried gator tail burrito (see what I mean) and headed over to the Old Florida Stage.

Gatorbone was superb. Their sound is just one of my favorites. Lis has one of the best voices out there and I’m so jealous of her right hand technique on the guitar – gotta get her to give me a lesson or two (or 12). I am also always impressed with Lon’s vocals, particularly on his own material. Since Jason was here with Claire Lynch he got to rejoin Lis & Lon for this set. However Gabe Valla couldn’t make the trip, so Mickey Abraham from the Aaron O’Rourke trio sat in on Mando and Guitar. This guy’s another hot, hot player. He and Jason got into a little “deliverance-esque” challenge and respond on mando and fiddle. Jason topped him, breaking into a little “Andy Griffith” melody right in tempo. But, it was ruled a low blow and the duel was a draw – too funny.

Next on my list was the Wayback’s on the Amphitheatre Stage. I became an instant fan two years ago when they just blew me away at Gamble Rogers. They have such energy and presence with tremendous instrumental and vocal technique. However, they are one member short for this fest. The older (notice I did not say old) member who plays acoustic guitar and leads most of the banter is, for some reason, absent. He really seemed to be the center of the group and without him, though they were still great, I was a little disappointed – didn’t have the same synergy on stage.

So, then back to the camper around 10 or so, built a campfire and played tunes, drank wine and wooed Judy for a couple of hours before turning in. A great part of the entertainment each day is watching the antics of the hordes around us in the campground. This is a partying bunch – not necessarily loud and raucous, in fact quite polite and accommodating. However, far from sober and very amusing to watch. Lots of kids too just having a grand time getting to stay up late and dash about unencumbered. All in all, quite an interesting gathering.

More tomorrow – stay tuned!!