Round Mountain notes

Santa Cruz 1/15

2011-01-19T01:05:00.001-07:00

Heading up the coast we enjoyed Camper Van Beethoven's "Telephone Free Landslide Victory" which, amazingly, was on iTunes. Perfect for heading toward Santa Cruz, where our entourage of the past two days (minus Jeff) was joined by a wonderful expressive singer named Amanda West and her beautiful musical sidekick Pete Solomon, who also happens to be an amazing soundguy. These guys ran the late and lamented venue "the Cayuga Vault" where we once were healed from the psychological wounds we'd sustained while trying to busk on the Boardwalk after another gig cancelled... They healed us again, this time with their songs. I got to play some djembe on Amanda's record, too. Pete lavished some single malt on us, which worked effortlessly well, and some French toast and Black tea the next morning to ease us on our way.
Below is a view from stage of the Abbey during soundcheck.
-R

Cambria 1/14

2011-01-19T00:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so my organizational system is a little flawed. It's not really by day so much as by theme... this entry is an ode to the great time we had with all our new ancient friends - Inga and Britta, their parents Meg and Don, Inga's wonderful husband Mladen, their soul brother Jeff, and his wife Jenna.
I mean these guys throw down in the music and in the spirit! Their voices, ideas, intonation, blend, space, presence. Even more, they have an amazing real positivity which never gets cloying. After great sold out shows at Steynberg Gallery in SLO and Painted Sky in Cambria (Inga's name is like gold around there), we got to stay at their farm, which was just lovely! We felt so blessed by these kindred souls. We're really hoping for more time with them, and to bring them to Santa Fe and welcome them into our clan.
This was one of those funny shots that was meant to be a still and came out a video, by virtue of an innocuous little slider that I never see 'til it's too late. This time it came out cooler in motion, a funny little look at how we were getting psyched up for the shutter.

SLO 1/13

2011-01-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

SLO was a wonderful time ... Besides some great gigs with Inga, her sister Britta, and their jaw-droppin' guitarist Jeff Miley, we had fun catching up with our friends David, who was out visiting, and Capri, who lives there and was one of the first to suggest we come out this way. Here they are walking out toward the sea from south of Morro Bay, what an incredible spot.
One of our favorite David moments this time was after a gig, when our little party was waylaid enroute to the burrito place by this guy who was more than a little sketchy. He was ranting about how amazingly much he loved "that stinky green stuff" and David, in his expansive way, affirmed: "That's kind of how I feel about burritos!" We got to eat shortly thereafter. Thank you, David!
-R

Cerritos, 1/12

2011-01-18T23:47:00.001-07:00

This is a shot of the stageside TV monitor, with our stuff on it, in the Sierra Cabaret room - WE LOVED THE CERRITOS CENTER!!! It was so beautiful to be treated so wonderfully and graciously by the entire crew, the sound was amazing, the lights and curtains, the hospitality... The show was sold out, the music felt great and natural, and we got a standing ovation. The sun was shining, the air was full of that California grassy smell. We absolutely could not have asked for more for this milestone show. It was one of those moments where we felt in our very roots how delicious it is to get to make music.

LA, 1/11

2011-01-18T23:45:00.001-07:00

I was feeling a bit lost in my foggy mind when we first landed at our cousin Luke's place in Venice, a little sad. Then Char found these crazy old bike horns which he started playing in the unsuspecting silence, in such a way as to permanently alter my mood. It kind of shocked me out of my melancholic state. We were thinking he could start a new kind of high-end music therapy involving bike horns and the like.
Here's a photo of Char that night at the Talking Stick, playing bagpipes on Danny Moynahan's version of "Silent Boatman", an amazing P-funk tune. That's Danny in the background, LA's resident green man and one of my favorite funny people in the cosmos. We all felt a terrific lift at the Talking Stick, got to play some percussion with Luke and Bruno Coon, an amazing musician we loved meeting, saw our friend Hassan, and connected with a bunch of wonderful peeps.
The next morning at Urth Cafe, Danny just about killed us dead with his funny Superfood story - ask me sometime to do my impression of it ... we'll see if I remember what you're talking about!

Santa Barbara 1/10

2011-01-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

This is our first real sighting of La Mer, which drove home the reality of our traveling and opened westward in a most fetching sort of way... er, not you, Dad! Eyes on the road.
Had a nice show at SOhO in gorgeous, tropical feeling SB (especially after 0 degrees at home!) and remembered just why Inga Swearingen is God. You should know too - www.ingaswearingen.com. Hung out with our cool friend Temmo and lingered with him over an obscenely good Cajun brekkie but miserably forgot to take a photo.
-R

Self Care

2011-01-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

takes many forms, many of them (for me) looking like this! It's been an absolutely uplifting tour we've had, our favorite yet, with incredible connections and experiences one after another to the point that I've been unable to keep you, dear reader, up to speed. I'll try to rectify that soon. In the meantime, I've got a leaf to drink.

NERFA really was amazing

2010-11-17T08:47:00.001-07:00

We're so grateful to have been a part of such a hair-raisingly cool event! The good people of the Northeastern folk world were welcoming to us, and we heard enough amazing music to leave our jaws rattling about on the floor. Some of our favorites were Jean Rohe, Frank Solivan, and Chris Kokesh. We felt the wisdom of the elders and the companionship of all, jamming with Stefan, Dan, Frank, Theo, Mike, and many others in the lobby. Kindred yet diverse musical spirits at every junction, and a call to recognize what is shared in these quarters as a universal human need. Here's Char at our showcase in the Folk Xing hotel room - thanks to Gordon Nash for the photo.

Ask the day for courage

2010-11-11T19:08:00.001-07:00

It was an exquisite fall day in Cambridge, where we tanked up on Burdick hot chocolate before heading up to Folk Central. Preparing to schmooze our poor hapless little butts off, in a good way. Wish us luck!

Kerhonkson, here we come!

2010-11-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

Outward bound through MDW Chicago airport toward the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance.

Brightest Colrain

2010-10-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

We finished off the tour with what must have been the most unlikely, and likely the funnest, gig of the lot (which is saying something on both counts!). Colrain, MA holds the amazing Round House under the loving wing of Rebekkah Tippens, a gifted visionary and storyteller. We loved playing for an unlikely assemblage of friends new and old in that lovely wooden circle of a house. People got up and danced, and we remembered a fundamental truth of music - this isn't about us! It's always SO much more fun that way.

Our friend Al Alcorn asked, "what brings you to Darkest Colrain?" 'though truth be told, it seemed pretty bright to me, though I felt the juicy darkness as well. Amazing stars at night!
Here's the view from the deck looking out. We're on our way back home now, almost to the Mississippi! Love to you, if you're reading.

Harvard square

2010-10-07T23:26:00.000-06:00

Apparently people are used to things like this here! I had to stop and gawk for a minute, and wonder how what we do relates to his thing.
Anyway, nice show at Passim - played a bunch of our new stuff and felt good love from the crowd. After going to the truck to get my shoes, I came back and saw hundreds of people lined up outside. Had a moment of heart leaping before I realized they were going to see the Facebook movie around the corner! But no matter.

Real Northeastern pumpkins

2010-10-05T22:02:00.000-06:00

That's what we thought as we drove up to this church. When we got out and had gone to look around, a guy came up and said, "Is that your truck with the NM plates?" "Yessir". "Well, you know where these pumpkins are from? Gallup, New Mexico!" Apparently pumpkins' ideal growing conditions are in our humble state. A nice humbly exalted kinda feeling!

Birthday begun

2010-10-05T00:53:00.000-06:00

All I can say is, the day before my birthday was an amazingly good day! We got to go out in Casco Bay on a motorboat with our man Pip, cousin, musician, and great guy. Great Chebeague Island is a haven of memories and looks just glorious in the long fall light. The chance to look firsthand into our common ancestry and the stories we inherit from the past, while choosing to be conscious about them, is one privilege of living in such a strange and vast feeling time. Thank you, Pip!

We had a good if somewhat frazzled feeling gig after so many nights on the road at the Red Door - a very nice and appreciative crowd there, and it was cool to see Angie Mattson and Tumble Down House, both of whom had also crossed the Mississippi to be there. We appreciated the evening as a study in the duo, and the different ways in which we all look for our big selves. Afterwards, Cresta who runs the place took great care of us. It's good to be alive and seeing another year!

Maine feeling

2010-10-04T01:08:00.000-06:00

Fall is bright in the air in good old ghostly ME. This graveyard view shows the way the light strikes on the beyond.
Portland tonight was welcoming. I'm really appreciating how nice it is to play music with my brother. At this point in the tour, when a sweet sounding room comes along, it's a special human lift, not unlike running through a meadow. You get to get to bring just the music you want to to the world! Char's trumpet sounded amazing in the Mayo St., and singing felt really easy yet intentional tonight. Looking forward to coming back and doing some festivals.

Lovely down

2010-10-03T07:35:00.000-06:00

by the pond, it was... This was shot at Aunt Marty and Uncle Reid's place in Boxford, MA where we first went out in a canoe as kids. A gorgeous aching-light fall kind of day after a strange fall storm. Now it's cooler and might start behaving more recognizably as a season.
Nice bunch of people at the volunteer-run Crossroads Coffeehouse in North Andover. I love the role of the Coffeehouse in New England communities as a way of bringing music to people and people to music. In many ways what we do is kind of like an instant recipe - just add people. It was a small crowd tonight, but they sounded big - they loved what we didn't make us feel small. Gratitude.

Mike and Ruthy, Brattleboro

2010-10-02T00:58:00.000-06:00

Great gig! On top of the warmth of the Brattleboro crowd, we had a blast hanging and playing with these guys. They are some terrific musicians and people. The story Mike told on stage lit my heart right up. When asked a few times at first how it was to be a father, and wondering what to say beyond "awesome", he came up with the following: "You know how looking into a bonfire is better than watching television? Well, gazing at your newborn baby is better than looking into a bonfire." I loved that. Thanks for the companionship and music, guys!

Burlington

2010-09-29T23:34:00.000-06:00

Outside North End Studio before we played. It was one of those great crowds that starts out small and then multiplies during the songs in sort of a ghostly way until the room felt warm and full. Certainly plenty of learning going on as we come into a new place away from the dissonance of city. It's a lot to anchor into each new situation enough to produce music, but it felt good to work through that disorientation and shifting yet again, arriving in a real place of connection with the great people here.
We've been thinking on what we're about. It's not the instrumental multi-tasking as much as people tend to think, but really what's in our songs, the content. Our instruments just serve to channel it into a form which sounds pretty big but is still playable within the psychic bubble of brotherhood.

Happy times

2010-09-28T10:02:00.000-06:00

Babies and mama's milk, dads and coffee. Happy times!

Nice to be in Brooklyn with our dear friends Gabe, Holly, and sweet Sadie Ella. We had a cool concert last night with some amazing other acts - Peter Gordon, Joy Askew, Christy and Emily, CerAmony - a wild and imaginative bill. Got to perform for Laurie Anderson which was a thrill. Looking forward to hearing her tonight at BAM for our day off, then on to Burlington mañana!

Lansdowne - Beach House Concerts

2010-09-26T23:33:00.001-06:00

The music sounded good in a whole different way here in Lansdowne. It was liberating to let the instruments be unamplified, just the vocals. Bob Beach played some great harp (the blown kind) on Lamps, and the small room really allowed for some headroom in volume and some intimacy - songs like Without Fear really shine when we don't have to play too hard. House concerts are their own humble, crisp brand of truth, with a finish that's like a lived-in living room floor - buffed smooth by feet and time. I like the piquant afterglow of revolution in the flavor: we know people will continue to need music, and houses too. The fact that house concerts cut out the middle man, and often do better for small artists than traditional venues, while also allowing music to expand and relax into its native social role, makes them genuinely radical stuff.

Here's my bro playin' music.

Philadelphia Society for Literature, Art, and Music

2010-09-26T09:14:00.001-06:00

Last night at the PSALM Salon, opening for Phil Roy (an amazing guy, song-maker and singer). The guy Jamey who runs the place is likewise a magic dude, plays mean blues bass (including with John Lee Hooker), builds gorgeous mic preamps, talks music and Sufism. Tom Waits loves Phil and said about him, "enjoy the Roy!" His guitarist Mark owns Philly's most beloved upscale Italian place. His trumpet player Chris is a monster and rocks out on steel drum. What a wild bunch!You can watch the night here, albeit not quite like being there:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-at-the-psalm-salonOur show went pretty well, minus the fact that I gave a bum steer to my brother about when to start the bagpipes. Phil's show was a gas to watch and sit in on for a couple tunes... It's worth noting how he takes on the world wide web as an entity and, against all odds, manages to find human connection there.

Harrisonburg, VA, new friends and the Steel Wheels

2010-09-26T08:54:00.000-06:00

We felt well welcomed by the whole community in Harrisonburg. Kirk, Kris, Abi, and Sofia (pictured here) made us some amazing pancakes. The Mennonite community is so great- Ted and Sue were great hosts, and the boys from Steel Wheels made us remember what we love about A) Original Americana, B) good heavy metal (thanks to Trent's awesome vocals and delivery, powered without the help of glam hair!), and C) being men. These guys are awesome dudes and great dads. They're just beloved in their hometown, and it's great to see a couple hundred people out and singing along, supporting them and drawing identity from their musical voice. Thank you, Steel Wheels.

St Louis

2010-09-22T15:51:00.000-06:00

Here we were of a hot fall night, yesterday - definitely not in Kansas anymore! The moon on its way up over the Mississippi, us crossing over and asking safe passage, forbearance, lightness even. Reflecting on our own new river-crossing song, even as the river itself reflected things strangely and seemed to be going in two directions. It's a big passage to make, and if we're toast, hopefully there will be a little of that smoky southern city flavor in there.

Lake City

2010-09-20T18:06:00.000-06:00

The Wine and Music Festival was a sweet thing - met some lovely people, loved the music of Moors & McCumber, Russ Chapman, Sweet Sunny South, and danced our little fannies off to Buckner Funk 'n Jazz (see Facebook)! It's always energizing and affirming to be with our people up in this sacred-yet-irreverent corner of the world.

What makes music feel welcome?

2010-09-20T17:58:00.000-06:00

It takes something on the supernatural axis to make a really good room for music, and Wildwood Sounds in Del Norte, CO has it. We had such fun bringing music there this Friday - the room sounds uncannily good. An auspicious start to our tour, connecting to the songline, the story, and the people...

Setting off with a reminder

2010-09-17T08:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I took my dear daughter to dance class - the type of big-girl class where parents aren't meant to be in the room. Out in the foyer the parents were yackin' it up, and I found myself in a conversation with two of the other dads which was growing political and heated. I felt myself pretty strongly on one side of the argument and we were all three hard-pressed to keep things civil. Just in the moment where things might have gotten ugly or ended abruptly in stony silence, the little girls came running out with such magic and excitement and ushered us in to see their ending dances. As each little girl crossed the floor blossoming in her own worldview, diverse as anything, and yet compatible, and as the sweet folky mixolydian guitar line intoned behind them, I was reminded of the power of music, of humans, and in a very humbling way what a big job this is, and how very little it has to do with me.

After that we dads agreed it was good to be opening a dialogue, and to be looking for compassion between us. Just needed some assistance from our children.

Here's Ida outside by the fountain with her magic. I'm heartbroken as ever to be going away from them, but invigorated and excited by the prospect of a chance to bring people something from home.

Mountain View

2010-08-28T02:50:00.001-06:00

This guy Aaron and Nick Chaput, the gods of Dana St. Roasters, took great care of us tonight - a really enjoyable show in a room that really is made for music. Standing and watching him roast beans and discuss their crackling journey was a lot like being in church. These guys are the real deal, including their quirkiness and community mindedness, and goodness to music. Go see them if your paths allow, and say hello from us.

We are famous!

2010-08-27T15:50:00.001-06:00

You could check out the Claremont Folk Music Center, Niki, the cool gal who interviewed us, and her videos/blog here: http://nikispeoplemap.blogspot.com .
It's nice to see people doing things like this!

Redwoods and Pete

2010-08-27T03:54:00.000-06:00

Here you are outside the lovely forest studio where we spent the day recording tracks with our lovely protagonist Pete Coates for some kora and guitar tunes for the new record, toasting our poor pea-brains with the effort! It was delightful.

The other night we had a good show at Steve Key's songwriters at play deal in SLO. It was a good showing, though people were shimmering with sweat from the heat. We were introduced to the wonderful Inga Swearingen and her singing, and we loved the musical community there. The coastal breeze has cooled things off in the meantime and we're pleased to be coming back the Bay Area tomorrow.

Claremont

2010-08-22T02:45:00.001-06:00

This is part of the backstage in one of the coolest buildings we've yet had the honor to play. I began to hyperventilate the moment we entered the Folk Music Center and saw the walls covered with glorious and strange instruments - Pipas, cornemuses, koras, about everything your imagination could handle. Char said the sensory overload was such that you could just be spacing out and realize that you were looking at some insanely beautiful, ornate work on a wildly unknown instrument. Our instruments felt themselves at long last united with their homeland!

We loved Frank Fairfield's set, he brought in the good medicine of this country's music from the era now called old-time, with such a refreshingly forward-seeing angle... Made me think of days at unm studying the ways people try to replicate historical performance practice, and thinking they were totally missing the fact that the performers of the time were actually looking forward!

We enjoyed a lovely connection to a sold out crowd in this shrine to the spirit and community, and can't wait to come back here.

I'd been looking for this...

2010-08-20T19:27:00.000-06:00

Turns out it was in Kingman all along!

Go West, Young Man

2010-08-19T22:53:00.000-06:00

LA bound. As the sun was leaving us in the dust today near El Malpais (West of Grants), we found a little moment of solace with the moon. The kind of solace you need as a human even if you don't know what hurts.
Char played the pipes by the empty roadside and I walked off a ways and had a sweet moment with the land. We're aching as always, leaving our beautiful children and wives, but otherwise in good spirits hoping to reach the end of land tomorrow.

The dawn comes

2010-08-03T11:26:00.000-06:00

I was feeling mildly guilty/furtive as I unloaded the gravel I raked out of my garden into an arroyo - too cheap to dump it, plus it just seemed wrong to cram a landfill with rocks! This sky was a gift for the dawn traveler on a surreptitious mission.

I'm feeling the pangs of gig-booking (how much anticipation we can place on little red numbers over application icons)! But all is well and we're looking forward to catching Po' Girl on the Plaza tonight.

Delicious Time

2010-05-30T11:23:00.001-06:00

It's good to be coming back to these verdant places with new songs -
we had a great house concert Thursday at Denise and Erik's in Seattle
(their friend Colleen set it up for their little girl Ilsa, who loves
our music. We were deeply honored by her dad's words: "for her, this
is like REM playing at her barbeque!"). Friday at Egan's went really
well, had a great crowd in spite of choosing the weekend of Folklife
for our first solo flight. Saturday at Alberta St. was awesome too, a
beautiful night with the amazing Blue Cranes, who play the coolest,
most deliciously expressive and primal, yet jawdroppingly sensitive
stuff. They listen. Makes me want to play music! We truly do love
Portland. We're on to Corvallis tonight, then home. Bringing music to
folks really is a magic line of work, every time you can peel away
some of the challenges and remember what's beneath.

On est arrivés

2010-05-27T12:47:00.001-06:00

The Calling - here we are at our own double-edged Mecca - Café Muse! It's a great way to commemorate the FOP (farthest out point) of our tour - North, green, summery and late-falling dusks. In the photo, you can imagine all our travels steering us here. Last night in Tacoma was a good warm up gig, the folks who were there at the Mandolin Cafe did their best to offset the cavernous feeling of a Quiet Night. We played 4 of the 8 new tunes we've got cooking, and felt pretty good about it. Nice connects with some of our kindred oddballs in a town that blithely deflects the reverence we send it as the home of Typhoon, Char's Toyota truck who bears its model name, and more poetically, as the point of origin of one of our favorite poets, Richard Brautigan.

We miss our kids and wives. I hear Phil Collins on the juxebox, singing "Take, take me home". The other day, it was a song we learned from Kenny Rogers: "It's good to touch the green, green grass of home". Grateful that we ourselves are not prisoners of anyone but the Muse.

Now on the email joy of booking. You know you need an agent when:
Your gig confirmation email comes in saying, "Consider yourselves boked." Anybody out there with the chops and nerves of steel it takes to wrangle a good gig in this biz and time, looking to bring happiness and share in the currency it raises, call us!

Love to you from these guys.

This can't possibly be happening!

2010-05-25T00:18:00.000-06:00

It's May 24, people! Maybe we should hire our services to local
governments in arid climates as some kind of weatherbringers. This is
Soldier Summit in Utah, which until lately maintained it's status as a
town with a police force of one. Apparently a lot of speeding tickets
were given! Luckily, none found us today, even though we risked a trip
to the same natural grocery (who shall remain nameless) where we were
pulled over on foot - see last October's Wendover Will entry. We are
presently in a budget motel in Boise, spending way too much time on
our smartphones under meager budget "blankets". Love ya!

Hades Ghost Ship

2010-05-24T22:17:00.004-06:00

It was like coming through some underworld (shades of Anais Mitchell's Hadestown) yesterday as we passed near Moab in the half-light of a roaring spring windstorm. Here you see a ghost ship looming out of the ... dust? Hang on, St. Christopher!

Night wakings

2010-05-11T21:44:00.001-06:00

When you wake up in the night,
you are gold and riven of stone.
Someone keeps remembering you into awakeness,
the breathing, the dark watermark.
Where hundreds of ships have gone, there is no trace of their passage.
Where you will run, the trees have already burst into bloom.

Funny little road ritual

2010-04-23T12:52:00.000-06:00

Ah, the unplanned ceremonies of our time, curious as much for their
particular flavors as they are for the fact that they still find ways
to exist today. One for us has been stopping in Walsenburg, CO on our
way up I -25 to get gas, and being surprised at how cold it always is.
Maybe we should put up a shrine by the pumps.

Grange Hall coffeehouse

2010-04-10T22:59:00.000-06:00

We loved playing for the fine people of Sandwich, MA - oldest town on
the Cape, and what a cool effect having water so near on both sides
has on the place. They were a good, warm, appreciative bunch - just
the kind of crowd we love to play for, and the music showed up for us
in a way that was not flawless, but still just right.

Here you see some of the amazing kinds of plant life that greeted us
when we arrived:

Eastbound

2010-04-10T10:56:00.000-06:00

It's gorgeous here now - the Northeast is in the sweet light of a
spring day which feeds the thirst a life of dry and windy New Mexico
has left in my pores. The people I've known who grew up here seem to
share some kind of internal woodscape, and it's nice to imagine their
springtimes all lit up like this, where you can still see the branches
and the dim bigger shapes through the leaves.
East to Cape Cod - Godfrey Daniels was a good start last night, and
Grange Hall tonight promises to be sweet.

Char's goodbye to Turquoise Trail Elementary

2010-04-03T08:29:00.003-06:00

Our best rock and roll audience to date - Char's goodbye to Turquoise Trail concert! Such great kids, and it was amazing to see how much Char meant to them. I felt a lot of kinship with them in that. Here's a little footage I shot going onstage. I tried filming while playing the cajon later but seem to have held the camera sideways... it's just a bookmark for a great memory, anyway.

LA and the Santa Monica Broad Stage

2010-03-08T12:03:00.002-07:00

Thus sang (minus the sideways bit) the amazing Moira Smiley and the new lineup of VOCO in the dressing room at the Broad Stage. Hearing that sound echoing down the stairwell was a reminder that we are on the right track, playing music. It was a special show, played for a lot of appreciative people and we got a standing ovation for our opening set. Mom flew out for the show, and It was a real gift to get to play for her - we always think of her and our maternal lineage on "cucurrucucu", the bagpipe intro of Don't Lie Down. The show had some new challenges for us, as well, trying to own it all, but we came away feeling blessed by the chance to be part of some incredible music with incredible people. As we drove out yesterday past Mt. San Jacinto and listened to Peter Gabriel's song of the same name, we felt reaffirmed in our journey, sharing music and the healing it brings

My imaginary religious movement

2010-03-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

This is what it would be: the New Cowboy Animists. This is what they
would say: "There's god in them thar' hills!"

Bone Dale

2010-03-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

You're looking at the bulk of our audience last night in Carbondale.
It's only a slight stretch to say the show was at and for Steve's
Guitars. Luckily, we love Steve's Guitars. They were singing along,
and thanks to spontaneous series of stops Char conducted during his
taqsim on Castle, on notes going down the strings (E, B, G, D, A) we
could hear their elusive chorus ringing out in the silence. We also
met some very cool and enthused non-guitars at the gig (I have a new
favorite adjective - "epic", as in "that was an epic set, bro"...
welcome words!). That coupled with some nice hang time with Steve made
for a sweet, if Monday, evening.

Iron Horse Concert Hall in El Dorado

2010-03-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

Our first-ever Kansas show. This wild and cool venue we played last
night has been presenting shows every Saturday for over 30 years. Our
man Don Koke is a railway engineer and musician, and he's seen two
generations grow and blossom there. It was probably the only gig in
living memory where my kora sat in front of a railroad crossing sign.
With that and other train things in abundance, like boxcar plates with
real hobo graffiti, we were in train heaven. As such, it unearthed my
long-dormant railbuff soul, and I remembered the parts of that that
share a border with my love of music. Lovely show, nice bunch... now
we've crossed over to the West and, although I've been thinking it all
along, it's finally safe to say, "we're not in Kansas anymore!"

A study in contrasts

2010-02-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

Walking around here at the Canebrake - the place is surreal in its
beauty and much like a dream. There are huge turkey vultures, deer
sleeping out on the grass, an incredible gourmet restaurant, and the
most beautiful Yoga Barn your dreams ever looked into.
This shot was taken in a wintry dusk looking North over Fort Gibson
Lake, the water-body I suspect of keeping somewhere a less prosaic name.

The Beale St. Flippers

2010-02-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

I don't have any software to take out the boring bits at the
beginning, so think of this urban ambiance as a sort of dull preamble
to the amazing study in human physicality that comes after it. Memphis
is alive!

Folk Alliance

2010-02-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

There's a lovely pile of people that descends on Memphis every
February, and this year it was our privilege to get to be in amongst
it all, and feel that there was a place in it for us. Here we are in
front of our booth, though the most belonging we felt was definitely
playing music. We heard some incredible words and voices, met some
lovely, spirited and generous new friends. Felt very pleased with how
it went, though certainly overwhelmed at points.

Anais Mitchell and KC Clifford, with our good friend David Broyles,
brought us quickly to tears. Po' Girl, Dom Clemens, the Chapmans, the
Sultans of String, Rockin' Acoustic Circus - it all rang out
beautifully... We met Tommy Ramone and liked what he was playing. He
liked Round Mountain too... I come away having no idea what folk music
is!

Memphis bound

2010-02-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

We're on the far end of a good sleep at Elk City, OK's Flamingo Inn,
where we realized previously unsuspected bargaining powers (we really
weren't meaning to stay there, but the kind proprietor ended up giving
us such a screaming deal that we couldn't say no. You should try this
technique sometime - but you can't fake it. You have to really not
want it!) Now we''ve been on it hard all day. This was taken just past
a beautiful rest stop in Western Arkansas, where the thunder of I-40
filled the trees with a strangely right-seeming voice.

We're excited to learn that Archie Fisher, one of our favorite
Scottish singers, will be at the Folk Alliance. Missing the various-
sized bundles of our sweet babies, kids, and wives, but glad to get to
come out here
and do this.

Bay Area

2010-01-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

One more example of how encouraged we feel by the community that extends beyond the horizon - good friends like Sonja and Shalom. Shalom is a great visual artist, and Sonja has a world-class Balkan and Middle Eastern group called Stellamara. Our brief time in the area was packed with good stuff like seeing them, gigging and collaborating with the amazing Brass Menazeri (the new song about coffee sounded so cool when the 9 of them came on stage and laid down Nazimov Cocek. We got to stay at Pete and Amanda's in Santa Cruz, and recorded a song which we hope to release soon to support relief efforts in Haiti. We're so glad to be on our way home, and delighted to have had such a fruitful and sweet time.

Ben's amazing sourdough pancake harbor

2010-01-27T10:44:00.001-07:00

This is the view from the house of Ben, Cristina, and Siana, the
amazing people we shared laughter and a lovely roof with Monday night
in Applegate, after a great time playing at the lodge there. We were
starting to get a bit frazzled around the edges, but their house and
Ben's amazing sourdough pancake harbor went a long way to right us mid-
tempest.

Fun in Eugene

2010-01-27T02:26:00.000-07:00

This was a fun show we did with the great Balkan band Kef - nothing
nicer to play music for than a circle of people in motion. Char played
some amazing taqsims with these guys, I got to chime in on cajon with
their rockin' tupan player Ken. Sweet people.

Round Mountain's stellar brekkie at Sanborn's

2010-01-24T16:30:00.001-07:00

Who says we're lightweights?

2010-01-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

Portland and Seattle

2010-01-24T16:26:00.001-07:00

It's been a really affirming trip so far. The (wildly) good graces of
our hosts, Keni and Esther in Seattle and Rebecca and Ji in Portland,
allow us to witness the great communities we perform for, and to feel
like a small part of them. That makes it all feel worth doing.
A sweet house concert Thursday at Eli West's near Ballard, with Eli
and Kahalen (sp?) playing some gorgeous rippling bluegrass to start,
then a good show with Kane Mathis at Cafe Solstice. Kane on kora, Sam
on bolon - an amazing bass-like harp that sounds and feels like dundun
- that music travels like wine to your extremities and warms you. Then
a great night with National Flower at Portland's venerable Alberta
Street Pub, the place was slammed and we saw our hero Andy Irvine's
photo on the wall. Mike's voice rang with the tones of one who's saved
many lives (he's a fireman), and the band stirred me with its pocket
and commitment. Our set went great and I'm so glad we've made many
friends here. This photo was snapped from the stage with an iPhone:
thank you to the Northwest for opening up the doors to nerds
everywhere. It's so much easier to be one now than it was in the 80's.

We were listening to Django on the car and feeling utterly blown away.
We looked him up online and found out that it was his hundred-year
birthday. We also want to proudly add that our mom's birthday is
January 23, as well as the San Ildefonso pueblo deer dance. Goodness
on all fronts.

But it makes me sad too

2010-01-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

The smell of slaughterhouses and Fox news playing in an empty lobby
makes me feel like the figure in this photo - lonely - in the face of
it all. Onward to the sea!

I love this country

2010-01-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Touring and the absurd

2010-01-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

This was the view out our motel door this morning. Fancy a little
jaunt to the farthest Northwest reaches of the country, anyone? I'm
not always quite in the mood, but today it just seems like a perfect
idea!

Things are looking up now, though, as the sun shines on clear roads
around Moab. We had a sweet sendoff with our dear families and friends
yesterday at the Nonviolence Summit in Las Vegas, and this is quite an
invigorating and wheel-gripping reentry into our work.

Lovely time at home

2010-01-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

We've had the greatest time at home we could imagine, such a great flipside to the hardship of being gone - REALLY BEING HOME. It's been great to see the kids with the closeness of the last two months, as well as the little bit of added perspective that being away can bring. Emmet, I'm glad to say, is totally rocking! The man loves sound, too, and I loved this dance he does enough to dust off my ol' blogging tools and share it with you. I have to say, it's not as pronounced a dance as he sometimes does, but it does document something that really speaks of his amazingness as a person. When was the last time one of us did this? It reminds me a little bit of Tom Robbins' crazy character "The Chink" in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, but definitely less contrived. You have to love the sounds around you! Happy 2010, everyone. More soon from the road, ever on and ever homeward -

High Point

2009-11-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

Our concert on Saturday with VOCO at the Scottish Rite was one of the
real high points of our musical lives. We felt truly loved and honored
to be there, and the music really showed up too. This was looking out
a little before showtime - the space is truly a magic one, the lights
you see above represent the moon and constellations. So many good
people and so much love in a space that's completely new, yet has been
there all along. It was a real manifestation of the magic of Char's
song - "this castle is your home". Thanks to everyone who came
together for this wonderful evening. We will remember it always.

All hallows'

2009-10-31T18:34:00.001-06:00

It's been a beautiful day heading through the rain of the coast back
inland - our first time taking Interstates East and South in a long
while. We had the acute joy and pain of seeing our kids in costume on
Skype from a coffeeshop in Eastern WA. Absolutely edible they were!
Our own subtle costumes: ghosts of our former selves?

It was terrific to feel the love of a great crowd last night, but
humbling, particularly after the incredible musicianship and
immaculate skill of Kane Mathis and Ryan Francesconi (little video
clip on our Facebook gives you a glimpse of what we mean). We had some
technical issues and felt a bit lost from ourselves at points during
the show. But the fact that people were able to receive our music with
such love and warmth in spite of our own personal unsureness of the
situation points away from the Beethoven model in which the composer/
maker's experience of the music is the quintessential one. A real
lesson - sometimes the music does its work with absolutely no
dependence upon our internal state.

It's been an amazing tour and we're really excited for the next one in
January, but for the moment just thrilled to be heading home.

Tacoma, Community, and the Digital Glare

2009-10-28T16:42:00.001-06:00

We were well looked after at the Mandolin Cafe last night - the new owners Creig and Marla were very appreciative, the crowd was thin but rich in their enjoyment. Someone was saying that they didn't feel excluded in the way that small audiences sometimes do - performers can sometimes withdraw when few are there to see. I recognize the temptation to do so, but it doesn't seem to be in our stars... this music is too personal to hide inside. So we end up feeling like we're in a living room, and it's a nice feeling. Calling out the tunes as they come to mind, sort of a genial and unfettered sensation. I'd actually like to work on extending that feeling to the shows where there are more people. One of my favorite moments was on Char's extemporizations on a theme in "Lamps" - he was showing people how to sing the round at the end, and he was really having to fight for it. Finally he sang, "if you're on Robby's side of the room, sing with him. If you're on my side, sing with me. And the people on the laptops..." - a pause as some blue-glazed faces turned up in surprise - "you don't have to do anything!". That's a goal of ours: busting up the anonymity that eats at people from within the digital world.

We forgot to take a photo there, but Char snapped this one outside Seattle's Caffe Ladro where we now are coming to terms with our own digital glares.

Portland Homeland

2009-10-28T16:33:00.000-06:00

We were so glad to be in Portland - our friends Ji and Rebecca are
some of the most inspiringly delightful, delicious, generous, RAD
people and musicians you'll know. This is one of their bands, the Blue
Cranes, with whom we had the pleasure of a cobill at the White Eagle
last weekend. People were deeply appreciative, and the busy bar
quieted to listening state in a really satisfying way for Unknowing.
Feeling the recognition of a second home, meeting the people at
Cravedog and Burnside who distribute our stuff, the actual humans in
the big machine. There's really a heart connection which is opening us
up to the world and which, beyond any measure, is a huge gift for us.
As we enjoy the end of this long fall and the chance to witness its
changing face playing music across the country, we'll bring that
gratitude home.

Alien Charm

2009-10-26T10:48:00.001-06:00

Isn't there something so, well, almost endearing about foreign
(perhaps alien) spam? Just when I'm feeling the unanswered email
blues, I get something like this. And I get to be somebody else. I
kind of like being a Doris! Not to mention the joy of being a god sent
to somebody. A little hard to live up to, but it's good to set the bar
high.

"Hello Dear Doris Kone,

I felt greatly impressed contacting you on this matter and I know that
you will be a God sent to me. Permit me to inform you about this
financial transfer,I have prayed over it and I know that God will use
you to help me and also go into business relationship with youI know
that God understands us more than we understand ourselves in every
condition Since we have not known or written before. " - Author unknown

Ridgefield, WA

2009-10-24T14:42:00.001-06:00

This guy Don Griswold is awesome. A master ninja of un-self-
absorption, he's also a poster child for the Don't-get-cowed-by-big-
business school of thought. He bought the Old Liberty Theater,
renovated it, and started producing quirky, soulful shows for which he
actually (get this) calls the artists back. He deserves a medal, and
though the crowd was small, the people were good to us and gave us
a standing ovation.

Amazingly, one woman who chanced to come actually grew up right near
our street in Casa Solana, and babysat the girl who would later be our
babysitter, the wonderful Julie Edwards. The world, it must be said,
is a small place, big echoing theaters notwithstanding.

Planet Applegate

2009-10-23T14:33:00.000-06:00

The Applegate - after a string of happenin' Bay Area shows, we were a
little anxious over how this one would be. Well, unlike the classic
story line of coming back to Earth after flying high, the Applegate
felt like we stumbled onto a whole other world. The show, though
thinly attended, gave us one of the wildest versions of Candle in
living memory, probably ever. This was thanks to the efforts of Brett,
the resident blind keyboard genius, and Duke, a stellar young player
of, at one point, two saxes at once! It was wonderful to see our
beautiful drummer friend Ben and daughter Siana, who left NM to farm
out here - amazing carrots, guys! Here is a shot of the Applegate
River and the leaves around it from the gorgeous wooden building's
back porch. We made a landing on an unknown shore and were rewarded
with a good, straight-outta-left-field kind of night.

Now it's raining steadily, and we're crossing into the darker, slower
songline of the Northwest. Good coffee lies ahead.

Big Sur

2009-10-20T14:56:00.000-06:00

It was quiet and calm hundreds of feet above the sea and we practiced
"Not You, Dad" there, a song of gratitude for our father, and a
reminder of the kind of people we're striving to be. I think a
recording is still up on our podcast on iTunes... We love you, Dad.

San Luis Obispo was really great, a welcome surprise on a Sunday. Our
friend Capri was really terrific and got a crowd out for us. The
Clubhouse at This Old House is, it's generally agreed, haunted. It was
really something how many of our songs invoke that kind of story, a
little shocking and pleasantly tingly-feeling. At one point, Char
leaned over and said, "what if all these people are ghosts?" And then,
inevitably, the thought had to come up: "what if we are, too?"
Halloween is coming, the veil's getting thin even here on the balmy
coast. We just wish we were going to be able to scoop up our kids in
their costumes, instead of having to miss that magic night.

Here's our man looking over the last light in the country. Love to all.

San Francisco

2009-10-18T16:12:00.000-06:00

We had such a lovely couple days in SF that we fully forgot to write.
A really nice gig in Mountain View, where we had an enthused and
happening crowd at the Dana St., with great coffee and people to boot.
This photo is of us with Jeff Kaliss, a great music writer and friend
with whom we had a great cuppa at Farley's on Potrero Hill. That, the
Dana St., and the Blue Bottle in particular created a new ceiling for
coffee ecstasy in our lives, a feeling in which the inside of your
head feels like a coffee bean. A good one at that.

Our cuz Adam was wonderful too, it's nice to return to a part of your
mind where you remember a bit what being a kid feels like. The Thai
place Thep Phanom was like that. Exquisite!

Oh, and we haven't told you about our gig at Amnesia - it was a
terrific Dionysian sort of night, great warm crowd, we haven't loved
live music like we loved Stellamara for a healthy while. All of them
were so amazing they brought tears and whirling.

Today we got to play live on KPIG, the guy John Sandidge and all the
folks there really seemed to get us, always a vast relief. Driving
thence South to SLO, we had the pleasure of some un-iPhone-clouded
music listening. The Watersons "country Life" rang true as ever,
"Soboninkun" performed by Mamady Keita, some great Ruchenitsas by Ivan
Varimezov, and what must be only the third album we've listened to all
the way through in months, disc one of Genesis "the Lamb Lies Down on
Broadway", a favorite October ritual. Now we're in SLO for a brief
pause, and glad of it.

Utah and Wendover Will

2009-10-14T10:40:00.000-06:00

Just because there's nothing on the calendar doesn't mean a band isn't
experiencing something... we got pulled over yesterday - on foot! - in
Salt Lake City for jaywalking as we tried in vain to get to Whole
Foods, lone bastion of New Mexico hippie culture. The officer who
checked our records was very nice and explained that they were trying
to educate people about not getting hit by the public transport train
whose tracks were there. Picture your Round Mountain protagonists
looking a bit scruffy as we sit on a little bench with Utah commuters
looking at us askance as they pass by.
The spooky thing is, as I blogged this, we got pulled over again, this
time on the highway. Well, we are trying to build notoriety, but...

This picture is of Wendover Will, the cowboy edifice, gesturing at the
Kingdom of God, as well as the Wendover Nugget. The latter, it must be
acknowledged, pales in comparison, though it did have a Starbucks.
Hate to go there if there's any local option, but this was the only
espresso for 1000 miles.

New season

2009-10-14T10:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we set out from Colorado toward the west coast, over roads
we've seen a hundred times. The land North of Lake City always used to
bum me out a bit as we descended from the high mountains, but seeing
it in winter's transformational light rendered all that moot. Light
dusting of snow, golds and reds and browns, black trunks, fog and the
poignant, almost sweet death of the year.
These places shine out madly when the overexposed summer passes, and
we love being there to see it.

Lake City hullabaloo

2009-10-13T17:02:00.000-06:00

The people of Lake City have long been one of our favorite tribes of
mountain folk. We got the rock and roll moment of recent memory last
night, playing as part of a surprise party for our wonderful friend
Amy Jo. Everybody thought the film of us they were seeing was part of
a birthday video, then the curtain we were behind came up as we
started playing live. It was so ridiculously fun, and we felt the love
big time. Funny to be behind a curtain with a big image of yourself
playing shining through the back. One of life's quirky moments of glory.

It was great to to see our beloved Mom and Dad there, in the midst of
their Lake City community, and also to reconnect with our Uncle
Michel, whose car trip out from Providence mirrored our own songline
of late.

At it again

2009-10-11T15:39:00.001-06:00

The pain of leaving the sweetness of our families was eased by the
great feeling of coming into the Northland, in its grey majesty. Raton
Pass was resplendently somber in fall red/brown under a scowling sky.
Winter came down quick and was in full force by the time we arrived in
Lyons. Nice gig at Oskar Blues - a little finding of our sea legs, a
lot of strong and alive feeling stuff too. My favorite moment was when
Char said, "we very literally would not be here to play for you
without our amazing wives at home with the kids." At that point, a lot
of women's voices were heard to shout and cheer. Sisters! Their salute
of love we are so proud to join and pass along.
We got some great love of our own from our bros David and Jules, who
drove up from Boulder. We stayed with Jules, who just has an
incredible ability to make you feel cared for. When we got home at 2am
after a long and stupifyingly cold load out, he had made Boeuf
Bourgognais which just warmed us to the heart. We'd both just seen
Julia and Julie and it was almost a weeping kind of gratitude that it
stirred in us. Here we are with Jules after a goat milk cappucino this
morning at our favorite Boulder cafe, the Laughing Goat.
Ft. Collins has been super welcoming, and should be a really nice show
at Avo's, thanks to the efforts of Diane Montgomery and the World in
Colorado, the presenter for this show. We're grateful. A little tired,
borderline sick, but bottom line grateful.

Moonlight in Vermont

2009-09-27T09:42:00.000-06:00

Besides the sense in which we've never been anywhere else, this was
the very beginning of the road back home. Breathing a sigh of relief
and gratitude.0

Langdon St. Cafe

2009-09-26T19:29:00.000-06:00

Char was getting his pipes on here- the Lovely Langdon St. In
Montpelier. Gorgeous day, on the heels of a wild ride up to Burlington
yesterday. VT is spectacular, my first time here and the most similar
feeling to NM state I've experienced. Don't trust Google maps' timing,
though. It took two hours longer than it said yesterday, and we were
pretty stressed. It was sort of liberating being so late we could only
grab 3 instruments and run on stage- like our farmer's market roots.
Burlington's a magic place and we were nicely taken care of by our new
friends Jeff and Ian.

Em and Revy

2009-09-23T23:10:00.002-06:00

It was a very dear time this weekend, with the music made more sweet
and my heart greatly lifted by the company of dear Em and Revy. They
came to be with us, meeting us in Shelburne Falls and seeing three of
our gigs in two days... After a really great free day together it was
time for them to go. We lit a candle together and promised to light it
and its twin when we most missed each other. I'm really missing you now, and Robby is really missing Brenna, Ida and Emmet.

The Mysterious East

2009-09-23T11:41:00.001-06:00

We spent a sweet night in Providence last night in the company of
Michel Roy, a very kind and dear member of the family from whom we
learned a lot. This has definitely been a theme for us: after growing
up (?) in New Mexico, reconnecting with family back In what our Uncle
Tom called "the Mysterious East." Yesterday we spent catching up with
people we could have spent weeks with, months, years- Peggy, Marty,
Gail - and still be learning about this amazing web of
interconnections, of life.
The picture here is something Michel gave us. I believe it may be a
Chinese instrument called a Pipa but I'm not sure. We have inherited
it, through Michel, from another uncle who we never met as far as I
know. His name was Christian Roy and he lived as a muralist in
Brooklyn until he recently died of a stroke. Sounded like an amazing
guy.... And the weaving of tales continues as we head south on I95 to
NYC. Love to all.

Club Passim Sunday

2009-09-21T13:31:00.009-06:00

Oh joy!

What a fantastic night. We played for an amazing full house at the Harvard Square institution, Club Passim. The sound was amazing, the music came down, and we really felt loved. Here we are in the dressing room beforehand. I'm afraid I rather embarassed myself with a particularly maladroit comment early on in the night (if you were there, you'll know!), but I'd gladly give up my cool for such a good show.

Dreamaway Lodge Saturday

2009-09-21T13:22:00.006-06:00

We adored this place, tucked away back in the mystical Berkshires,
funky/soulful/still very well-kept feeling, with some of the most
kickass food ever. This is the room where we got to play, and where we
saw our mate James from Sydney after 7 years, great bass player and
all around guy. His parents Peter and Mavis where there as well and
our jaws pretty much hit the floor when they walked in during a
bagpipe moment. Char held it together beautifully!

Yesterday, the day after that gig, I left my wallet there and as we
drove back, hoping it would be in evidence, Char was joking about the
promo photo of us in the car as being like these two kind of self-
sleuthing private eyes. Imagine the NY accent: "It looks like it's
gotta have been left somewhere between the car and the shed. But what
I just don't get is the motive!"

Shelburne Falls

2009-09-20T07:31:00.000-06:00

Brooklyn

2009-09-19T10:44:00.000-06:00

was so fun. It was really great to catch up with old Santa Fe friends
there - and Barbes was a lovely venue for us. The show went off well
and we had our own PA, which assures a certain amount of work, but
also of sanity. This is our good man Gabe, at whose flat (the view
from whose fire escape is pictured) we here honored to pass the night,
yakkin' and yarnin'. I'm beginning to rediscover what I call my
Country Cousin identity, after all that time in the Midwest.

Glastonbury was good, too. Met some good peeps and saw our old math
teacher / instigator Dane and his dear family. The forest and night
sounds are the real thing - we're really in the East now!

One Nation

2009-09-17T01:11:00.001-06:00

I don't know about you, but I always think about those future archaeologists studying our culture.... Robby has been noticing all the orange barrels that are the common symbol of our country, from sea to shining sea, and I'm thinking how all those future scientists will think we worshipped them.

Grand Rapids

2009-09-15T11:37:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful and much needed Good Gig in Grand Rapids last night
- felt like we finally found the target where the music, the soundguy,
and the audience come together.
The Hat Trick series is put on by WYCE, a real community radio station
completely inspiring in their dedication and relevance to the
community). It's a free concert series (though the artists are paid
well) in which a hat is passed around to benefit a charity - this
night it went to support Senior Sing-along, which made us think of all
the good times we had singing with Grandma and Grandpa back in the day.

The spirit of the night was generous and people were elevated by the
music, as were we. Communities like this are what we're here for, and
we look forward to coming back. Now we're on to the Mysterious East!

Niles and the howling

2009-09-14T07:51:00.001-06:00

Char said the structures around the stage reminded him of his dream
that "Castle" is about. That was the good part, and the beautiful
river Niles. We also liked the band Jypsi - real talented, fresh
sound, nice people.
The really sad part is that all that, as well as the quality of what
we played, was completely eclipsed by a soundguy who was either wasted
on pain meds, on alcohol, or both. The sound wasn't just
unsatisfactory or lame, and in eighteen years we've seen plenty of
that. The sound was horrendous. Staggeringly bad, with howling low end
from the monitors and only ever one of our instruments audible at a
time. Kind of took away the joy from it. But we made it through and
got to our hotel, and today we're bound for greener pastures, we hope,
in Grand Rapids, the gig that got us to this part of the world in the
first place. Au courage, les amis...

Benton Harbor / St. Joe

2009-09-13T10:17:00.001-06:00

Here the view toward one of the country's Top 10 beaches near the
hotel where they put us up in St. Joseph. It's something to see the
contrast between the wealth of this tourist getaway and the stark
reality of working-class Benton Harbor across the river (a reality
which was perhaps overemphasized by our arrival in town through a
completely torn up Main St. that looked like the moon without a soul
in sight). The economic reality of this country is much more evident
in MI than in NM, and it's a little chilling to see.
Of comfort, however, was the great microbrewery where we played - The
Livery. People get together and rally in this spunky, soulful haven.
We had a wonderful soundman and a small but appreciative crowd. Most
dear to us, the music came down, and wailed through Char over some
blazing trumpet heights... did our poor hearts some good, as did a
night of sleep!

Check our Facebook for more stuff - love to all.

Saginaw 2 nights ago

2009-09-13T09:50:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody!
The White Crow may be the only place in existence that's a coffeeshop,
recording studio, music hall, and church. I think we were still far
enough out of the normal to cause some mild consternation ("I thought
this was gonna be bluegrass!") but folks ended up really liking Round
Mountain in their own inscrutable Saginaw way.

Wrigley Wrothschildren

2009-09-11T21:54:00.004-06:00

It ended up working out well, but Uncommon Ground was one of those classic setups that makes you want to scream... The music room had a private party, so it was unavailable until half an hour before the set, not long in RM time. That turned into zero minutes and pushing back the showtime, and then into "the party wants music - how quick can you be set up?" But Sara and Jordi and our NM vaque turned out and the place came to life - delicious food and nice folks there too. Here we are afterwards outside Wrigley Stadium. Happy.

Crossing the Mississippi

2009-09-10T10:03:00.001-06:00

It's a great little spot and moment in time - Louisiana, MO (sharing
the Missouri trend of naming towns after other places). We got on the
road early today and set out across the water, asking for the land of
the East to let us in. I don't know that we fit in at the Atlas Cafe
where everyone looked up when we walked in, but the biscuits and gravy
were good and cheap, and the Obama sticker was still on Typhoon
(Char's Toyota Tacoma) when we left.

House of Galaxies

2009-08-27T21:48:00.002-06:00

Ida drew a picture today, just one of those innocent scraps of paper
your kids find around and enliven. I saw three sort of swirly shell
shapes and asked her, "What are those, honey, little shells?"
"No, Daddy, they're galaxies. This is their protected house, and
that's the Mama galaxy, and the baby, and there's the Dada." Turns out
the house was protected from some broken glass that was outside, and
the zigzag behind the roof was high mountains.

What a huge and bewildering step backward from that kind of
imagination to the kinds of adult boredom and bland stress that so
often inundates us. I'm gonna try to keep the house of galaxies in
mind from now on.

Songlines of today

2009-06-24T12:44:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful trip up to Colorado this weekend, got to play and share with some truly amazing musicians. A great travel affirmation... it was sad to be driving most of Fathers' Day, but there was a joy in spending it at least with the brother who's one of the best fathers I know. And one of the treats we got to do was to take a new road.

Rather than coming over Raton Pass back down into NM, we decided to miss the whole Trinidad SNAFU and get on some small roads. La Veta pass is a beautiful, gentle green pass where we're going to be playing in July as part of the Rio Grande Railroad's lineup. The stage is apparently set up in a remote meadow accessible only by train, and we get to ride up with the gear in a rail truck. Oh boy!

Anyway, coming over that hill and down into the San Luis valley, South on Hwy. 522 toward San Luis and Questa, we felt a reminder of the way that music can be understood and tasted in association with place and movement. We were listening to one of our old favorites, If I Should Fall from Grace with God by the Pogues, and it had been years. The new land and road were able to bypass the staleness that those memories, stored in the music, had accrued over the past few years. That listening really reconnected us to something at the heart of it - for example, the song "Lullaby of London" is a prayer that a child will sleep. I never heard that so fully! And "The Broad Majestic Shannon" is a flood of tears waiting to happen. Those lyrics are so bloody good.

Feeling these roads of song running through the land reminds me that it's true: some things, while constantly revitalizing themselves, never change.

Awakeness Boy, Hydrated Ear, Windward

2009-06-15T10:44:00.006-06:00

Ida has become fascinated with her little brother in a most curious way - when I come in carrying Emmet in the baby carrier, she says, "Daddy, is he being Awakeness Boy or Asleepness Boy?" The last few weeks have included a rather heavy dose of the former, especially in the small hours (they don't FEEL small these days), but I have to say that last night, Asleepness Boy prevailed... he seems to be learning how to let himself stay asleep, a challenge that can be daunting even for adults, and we're very pleased and hopeful. I don't know why I'm writing about it on the internet - that feels askew to my superstitious nature.

Yesterday we played a fun gig at Thirsty Ear Festival - which Miguel Castillo the sound wizard lovingly dubbed "Hydrated Ear". The land was absolutely exhaling its soul of medicinal plants and rain, the blue clouds glowered fiercely and yet somehow lovingly on everyone. What a treat to be in a place with a big group of people doing nothing but hanging out and listening to music. I hope we have the pleasure of playing more gigs like it. The music felt good, shaking off our Studio Stupor and trying on some of the tunes off the new album. And what an honor to play on the same stage as Bela Fleck and Toumani - we absolutely reveled in listening to these masters, completely at ease and grounded, touchingly humble, grace their way through music of seventy one generations of kora players, ancient and yet absolutely alive and current. After every song, during applause, Toumani would reach back and clasp Bela's hand. It was absolutely dear. Wonderful to meet them too, we hope to cross their paths again.

Finally, we have an album! Windward is in the can on our end - artwork and everything done, sent off to the factory. Now we just need to remember how to play it live! Jon was amazing in the engineering and mastering, and I'm definitely proud of what seems to me our best effort yet. It'll be officially released in October, for publicity purposes, but we'll have it at gigs before that. And we'll keep you apprised of CD release events in the fall. Huzzah!

On Noisemakers, Electronic Music Boxes, and Suchlike

2009-05-29T23:27:00.003-06:00

Over the last tumultuous couple of months in young Emmet's sleeping life, we've been using this sound machine my parents passed along to us with some different flavors - waves, white noise, heartbeat, and a babbling brook which we've settled on as Emmet's favorite. It's funny - for about three weeks it just sounded nice to me, like a stream in our room. Then at one point I decided to figure out if and when it was looping over and over. I tuned in and found a certain blip that I recognized repeating, then listened to the melody of higher and lower blips, thunks, and hisses comprising the total babble of the brook. Of course, and miserably for me, this turned into a musical exercise - it's a short enough cycle to almost compress into beats, but there's enough ambiguity and slop in it that you can kind of hear it either as a 2 bar 4/4 figure with some major push in the feel, or sort of a 15/8 thing that's not quite satisfyingly square either. But it's become the drone of the moment, the pattern against which time and nights unfold, the sound I'm hearing in the baby monitor right now. The fact that I hear it is a tentative assurance that all's well, but one that demands continued scrutiny. And it's really amazing to see how my ear will never get back that soothing background splash because of that mental desire to superimpose order onto it. By yielding to that temptation I have created an irreversible monster, turned noise into music - odd music, it must be said, rather devoid of variation and tending toward a trance aesthetic, only changing when the batteries die.

Sometimes I wonder how these drones of the everyday influence my musical output. I imagine they'll find their way out, but it's a scary proposition. One of Emmet's little swings from Graco has a 2-voice music button that his sister Ida loves to press - sort of contrapuntal renditions of good old classics, born anew in their perky strangeness. "Love Me Tender" sounds pretty odd, while "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" is downright darling. But when they really get interesting is when the batteries run low! As the tempo slows, the lower register begins to sag in pitch at a rate faster than the high, leaving a really interesting "expanded" tonal effect. A piano technician was telling me once how he like to brighten up octaves by widening them, but this is extreme! And if one day something Round Mountain does starts to sound like that, even if we think it's our idea, you'll know why. Kindly tell me, as our perpetually electricity-starved digital camera is fond of saying, "Change the battery pack."

Finding Songs and Silence

2009-05-18T09:00:00.004-06:00

Being as we are at this moment in the throes of MAKING an album and all the labor that involves (planning which instruments to record in which rooms at what times, editing the files, deciding what to add and what to take away, facing at every turn the complete and paralyzing editorial power to do anything), it's possible to get tricked into thinking that we're doing the making of music. Talking to a new friend last night and being part of a beautiful Algonquin ceremony for our son in which all the songs of the different nations and species are invoked through the burning of sticks, and listening to it, I remembered the bottom line importance of FINDING, not MAKING, songs. I feel this evidenced by my own need to be out in the land to write, not caught up in the abstraction of a city. True listening is needed, and for me, the emptiness of external quiet invites the mind to calm itself and the ear to awaken. It's wonderful to be in a part of the creative cycle in which we bring things out into the world. I am looking forward to some more silence, though.

The Phone continues to haunt me

2009-05-04T11:58:00.003-06:00

You may have read in a previous post about my lovely phone, whose display was shattered by some unruly keys. It's a particularly futile and absurd part of the human feeling to have to try to trick an electronic device. This phone is, obviously, useless without its display. For example, the reason for blissfully phone-less weekend (it hadn't been ringing for days) was that the sound was off, leading to the unnerving discovery hat I had 16 new voicemails. Sorry if you were one of them.

Another aspect of the thing is the handy-dandy voice activation mode. It seems to come on through some random combination of button pressing and incantations. The perky little voice intones, "Please say a command," usually at a random and awkward quiet moment. My usual curt response: "Shut up!" The sweetly patient reply, unfazed: "Calling - Stephanie". Walking around the neighborhood yesterday with Emmet strapped on, I was trying to call my best friend in Brooklyn to wish him happy birthday. I called many others but finally gave up after rounding a corner with my phone in my hand (too close to baby's head. Bad digital Dad!) as I was cussing the thing out, looking into the wide and accusatory eyes of a pretty, older, very calm seeming woman who looked like she'd never had to call Tech Support for any device and that her life was in perfect, terrifying order. By the time I remembered to call late from home, his birthday was over and he didn't want to talk. Bloody time-saving features. Next time I'll send him a flaming cake by Pony Express.

"Hey, it's a scraggly, pregnant male monster!" or "Problems With Keyboard Shortcuts"

2009-04-16T10:09:00.009-06:00

That's what I think some of the roofers are saying in Spanish as I walk past in the morning with 4-month old Emmet strapped on and bundled beneath blankets. "Plus, he's not at work!" Now that it's a little warmer, I can leave his head protruding, giving the effect of a single large breast. That really marks me as odd. I am a musician, and am privileged to have time in the mornings to walk our big boy around and help Brenna, who's been doing 24 hour shifts. So I try to own the strangeness with pride. Men, I ask you, when else can we find ourselves in such a perfect position to turn heads?

By the way, I read over yesterday's post, and let me just say, "I'm sorry, I'm fixing it now." You show a guy one keyboard command (command - V) and he loses it completely. This actually makes kind of a funny story that ties in to the previous post's topic: I have a gap-toothed laptop with a missing C-key (it came off when I was trying to play a song into Sibelius in real time and was reaching up to hit the space bar [shortcut for Stop] in a hurry -I missed, and the C went flying. This laptop has been stopped as suspicious at airport security checkpoints.) The way I've gotten around the $200+ fee it would cost to fix it is by copying a "c" onto my clipboard and hitting Cmmd-V every time I need a c. Well, turns out I had something else on the clipboard during that post, but didn't catch it during my laborious editing process, so you get to hear the echoes of that overzealous MIDI note entry all the way down here in the future.

We put up another song from the archives on the podcast - you can download it HERE. This is one of my favorite of Char's early works. You would do well to think of the early autumn at the end of a movie, with your old frumpy high school principal out trimming his hedge in the golden sunlight.

Ramblings of a Scattered Soul

2009-04-15T15:37:00.005-06:00

Keith Vizcarra, a wonderful luthier we use, after fixing the pickup on my kora, told me: "It looks pretty indestructible, but you musicians are so creative!" I must own my part - or entirety - in this. As I went to check my phone/clock to see what time it was, and if I'd have a moment to blog a little something, my phone gave me a surprise. Rather than displaying whatever cheesy factory default picture I've grown to accept as my own on the display, along with a clock which tells me the time when I squint at it, this time I saw a startling, yes, even STRIKING, image in black on white on the screen. Looked like art. After restarting, my dear phone showed exactly the same thing, at which point it came to my attention that one of the myriad of keys in my pocket had somehow gouged a very artistic shape into the screen of my cheap lil' phone. Such sadness! Not a lot to feel good about there. But it still works when you dial the numbers! I'll probably keep using it as long as it holds out.

On the other hand, as the wonderful Ben Yohai related to me, "our gift is where our wound is". I guess that's true for my arty phone. I've been reading "The Little Prince" in French, and the kind of things the Prince says make me feel better, even about my worsening vision: "the only true sight is with the heart". What a charming and innocent story. Nonetheless, I don't want to give up my mission for clarity without a fight. How to begin treating one's world as a metaphor for the sacred - that is, to take care of it? Is self-trust something that can be acquired, even enough to get an iPhone?

Blessing, curse

2009-04-02T09:20:00.002-06:00

Here's something I apparently said to a reporter from Arcata. I have no memory of it, but I must have been in a a clear mindspace, for once. It kind of says it all, in a way:

"About their reliance on many other musical traditions, Robby says, 'I feel the need for roots myself, but having grown up an Anglo in a primarily Hispanic school environment, I always felt like an outsider to the people around me, much as I love and have been deeply influenced by them. Not having a lot of ready roots to choose from, coming from a white culture in which every generation is expected to move out and start anew, I know a longing to belong, and maybe this is why I've fallen in love with so many different traditions... there is no one clear course prescribed for me, and I am both cursed and blessed to be free to look everywhere, but never to wholly belong anywhere.'"

Well, there you have it, folks.

Twelve-tone-rows and playing nice

2009-03-30T15:35:00.002-06:00

I've been sweating it trying to form my calcified young-parent mind around new ideas flying around in gradschool. Actually, they aren't really new, all come from within the last century, but to me they are slippery. All twelve notes are treated equally, and must all be stated before any are repeated. The sequence in which they unfold (beside of course the articulation, dynamics, orchestration, etc.), gives the group of notes its identity. Next to the folky, rootsy, homey quality of the most of the traditions I've studied, in which a certain pitch holds sway as a center of sorts, a drone, a point of return, I must admit that this sounds sonically like gibberish to me (a viewpoint many listeners have repeated, an old story). Ideologically, however, I must admit I found myself preaching it to my daughter without meaning to: after a remarkable display of bravery at the zoo in which she ascended the bouncy-house stairs away from the reach of her parents, proceeding then to cut in front of all the children waiting in line for the tire-swing thing, leading then to some intervening and a pretty tempestuous display on her part, I tried explaining how everybody has to wait in line, based only on when they get there, not on anything intrinsic to who they are, and waiting until everyone has gone before going again. Sound familiar? I guess it's a pretty good social model to get behind musically, even if it's a little against our base/bass/basic natures.

Geology Project

2009-03-24T23:19:00.003-06:00

Another episode in our podcast - see below to subscribe, or click the title to download the MP3 directly.

Damning evidence this, if ever any was needed, that I'm a nutter. I found this old tape of my final project from my undergrad Geology 101 course at the College of Santa Fe (required class, surprise!). But I actually loved the subject and the instructor was a very cool and mellow, dear sort of guy. (He must've been, since I got an A on this.) Here's a little wistful lament for the old days at a school that looks like it will be no more. I came back there from New England Conservatory because for all CSF's funkiness, the soul quotient at Big Name Music School just didn't measure up.

This is part of our podcast, click here to subscribe and get more proof of madness every few weeks when we put something up.

Big Blast

2009-03-24T23:07:00.002-06:00

We had ¡BigBlast! playing with the bad dudes of Boulder Acoustic Society - seems that our neighboring state to the North has a beating heart around music right now, and it's compelling. Great rhythm section, the accordion was brilliant, the fiddle jaw dropping, and the vibe was good. We were so glad to bring these guys down and expose them to our Santa Fe clan, (sounds kind of like when you bring your kid over to get chicken pox, I didn't mean that!), and folks really turned out, so we were grateful. We're also completely jazzed that it sounds like Toumani Diabate and Bela Fleck are coming to Thirsty Ear this year - zounds!