John Glenn Columbus International Airport and then

May 22, 2024

As always, scroll down to see my upcoming dates and gig info. Get the info from the links below, check my website, or follow my Bandsintown for even more.

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8:45 AM EST, waiting for a flight back to Austin. No gigs, just return some gear to storage and a writing session with the inimitable Gabriel Rhodes before I fly back to home behind the maple curtain. 5 days of flying in 24 days of touring with a grand total of 11 flights (if you count all the connectors). This tour has had 2 rental cars and performances in 7 states (one day I actually drove through 6 states from Ohio to North Carolina — the highways on that route are tangled, interlaced, and twisted to say the least). One amazing thing from this tour is that I only played one house concert! Most of you know I love that particular style of gig, and you can read about why in previous posts here. It was a bit of a surprise to be playing predominantly clubs, theaters, and listening rooms. I was a little disappointed but ah, the price of success (sic). At least the house concert I did play was “Music In The Gazebo” in Ferndale, MI; truly one of my favorites. Hi, Al and Shannon thank you again! Barb and Bob too. That series has a lot of contributors. Oh, and Shannon that dinner was just delicious. So nice to get real food and not “food substitutes” when on the road.

Since my last post, I played 5 gigs. The first was a “gift” from my old pal Ben Blamer who now lives in Asheville, NC. Asheville Guitar Bar is my new favorite venue there and Ben was brilliant as ever. We swapped songs and accompanied each other like old times, and I had good friends in the audience and made a ton of new ones.

Then it was on to Dayton, OH and a stellar “new to me” venue called The Brightside. Amber Heart opened the show beautifully and we had a time, I was put up in an absolutely gorgeous airbnb, and I even got to have a quite stellar breakfast with my old pal Jon Austin before I left town.

*Jon, where was this downtown heavenly breakfast spot?*

Next was the aforementioned “Music In The Gazebo” house concert in Ferndale. Again, truly one of the best house concerts around!

From there it was on to Louisville, KY. No one told me while I was there (maybe they were just being kind to the gringo) but it is not pronounced “LOO-ee-vil.” The correct is “LOO-uh-vul,” and I realize now just how many sympathetic and understanding “you’re not from around here” looks I received.

I made a ton of friends last year at both the Yellowstone and Whitefish Songwriter Festivals. In fact, I made so many that I have corresponded with, co-written with since then, and played on their records that I cannot wait to go back and play more songwriter festivals (hello bookers). One new friend in particular is Aaron Bibelhauser. We met on the street in front of a song swap we were about to have and his big dog Hartford (named after John Hartford by his partner Kelsey) quickly let Aaron know that I was “OK.” Aaron is predominantly a bluegrass picker, singer, and writer and we fell into stories quickly about my short stint in Nashville as a bluegrass Dobro player. Well, Aaron and I have kept in touch and I finally got to come through Louisville (say it right, please) and it’s all because of him.

*Hartford helping my change my strings. I don’t like it either man. Old strings sound better.*

*Backstage at The Monarch with Aaron Bibelhauser*

Aaron and his twin brother front the bluegrass dynamo group, “The Bibelhauser Brothers” and he also has solo work (this your cue to head to your streaming service of choice — don’t forget to always save, heart, like, and put songs on playlists!). Aaron put together a little duo song swap for us at The Monarch Theater there, an incredible co-operative venue, complete with an artist-friendly rehearsal space upstairs and a backyard wonder-world that looks a little like it may be out of the shire and a little out of a putt-putt course. Mark, the proprietor with the vision, gave us a shot opening for Chicago Farmer, who turned out to be a very cool cat, reminiscent of a Todd Snyder with his storytelling wrapped up into his songs. The whole experience was a blast and what an incredible community Aaron, Mark, The Monarch, and all those involved have created.

Finally, I was on to Mountain Stage. I have been looking forward to this for quite some time. It’s a variety music show at a beautiful theater in downtown Charleston, WV. For about 30 years or so Larry Groce was the host and put together the lineups. I have had the pleasure of playing this exceptional show a number of times as a side-person in the past. Joe Ely, Jimmy LaFave and the “Ribbon Of Highway Endless Skyway” tour, and pretty sure both Eliza Gilkyson and Slaid Cleaves. Not only do they livestream online during the performances, but the audio also goes out to about 270 NPR stations and is released in podcast format and forever archived (I believe you can tune in or find the performances from the show I was on around June 14th or so…). This would be the very first time I got to play this stellar show under my own name.

Kathy Mattea, country star and hometown hero of Charleston has taken over for Larry Groce, and has been doing a stellar job. She was so gracious and easy to work with and every member of the crew was helpful and really top notch.

I was a little nervous all week. I mean it. I really wanted to do a great job. I had an 18-minute segment and being the “new act” who had never been there at 51 years young was kind of a fun challenge. I was given the option to play my songs solo or to use their house band and I opted gladly for the latter, knowing full well how top notch the musicians were. They exceeded my already high expectations, adding just enough with the large band to accentuate without overtaking the arrangements.

When I’m performing, and it’s feeling great and I’m in “the zone” so-to-speak, I sometimes reach a state known in Japan as satori. It’s sort of a heightened state, where you are on auto-pilot. You are in the moment. Time kinda ebbs and flows. Think of a batter at the plate watching a pitch come in slow-motion before they knock it into the stratosphere. Everything slows down and you make decisions on instinct or muscle-memory rather than analysis and thought. I couldn’t tell you whether it was good or bad, but it felt really good.

2 hours later at the end of the show, after watching and listening to a wonderful and diverse array of musicians, the stage was clustered with all the bands for a rousing rendition of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River.” I was asked earlier to sing a verse and take a slide solo. Felt pretty great too. Those end-of-show party-on-stage mashups can be tricky, and sometimes gratuitous. This one was a ton of fun.

Oh, I was able to squeeze in one last thing before I headed back to Columbus, OH to visit family and fly to Texas; I was invited by the house band’s longtime guitarist extraordinaire Michael Lipton to visit The West Virginia Music Hall Of Fame and got the five-star tour and treatment. So many things I learned on that little jaunt. I am really hoping to play more with Michael, he feels like a kindred spirit for sure.

*back in Austin, for a moment - see you in June!*

Alright, that’s my story. I’m going to go write some with Gabriel tomorrow, then head back to home in beautiful BC on Thursday. I’ll have a brand new song on my Patreon page premier on the first of June. Then after some well-needed time with Donyne and Alice and my Canadian fam, I’ll be back out doing it all over again.

Thank you to all of you as always for being the reason I get to have this wonderful career.

Lookout PNW and TX - here I come,

Plank

THE TOUR DATES