Basement Shows
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Basement shows celebrating the release of “Wings”. The band was amazing: Paul Griffith, Tim Marks, John Deaderick, Lisa Oliver Gray. Guests included Tommy Womack, Irene Kelley, Sara Kelley and Michael “Crawdaddy” Crawley. We played the new album, plus songs from Daddy records and previous solo albums. It felt great all around. I loved gently ramping up from the new record’s folk and soul ambience into raveups like “Another Train” and “Nobody From Nowhere” and “You Made Your Bed”.
I can’t help it: music for me is a way of life, and there are great traditions to serve—country, folk, blues, gospel, reggae, rockabilly and the best of pop (see Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong—not that we’re in their league—but we can try). I am a musical optimist, for when people get together to play music for the sheer enjoyment of it, and some other people come to listen for the sheer pleasure of it, we can go take all the human emotions and make some harmony out of what can seem chaotic in life.
Then again, we can also just reflect on how good life is, even if it is chaotic. “Rock’n’roll won’t solve your problems. But it will let you sort of dance all over them.” -Pete Townshend And it does a body good to look out and see a room full of friends and also fans (who have become friends) who have traveled from, say, northern virginia and knoxville to come to the shows. So there you go. See you in Conroe, Texas and Mobile, Alabama next weekend.