The Great State of Iowa

Dave Thomas: philanthropist, restaurateur, orphan, and a passionate hater of Iowa. Today I woke up at a rest stop somewhere East of Des Moines. After a few minutes on the road, it was decided that Wendy's and Wendy's alone would satisfy our appetites. McDonalds? No thanks, Morgan Spurlock. Burger King? Not after that child molester in the King mask made all those commercials. Taco Bell? Yeah right...we need to make good time without stopping every 30 minutes. Therefore it must be the delicious 5 piece chicken nuggets, the original Frosty (I don't know what this new vanilla flavor is), and the square burgers. That's right, square burgers. While other fast food places may cut corners on their meat, Wendy's is committed to giving you the beef, the whole beef, and nothing but the beef.

However, every exit came and went without a single Wendy's advertised. Over 100 miles we traveled, our bellies begging for respite, before we happened upon Des Moines. It was there we saw the one and only Wendy's since leaving Illinois.

Now, why do you think there is a noticeable absence of this land's favorite fast food chain (in this case, good food quickly instead of reheated cardboard)? I have two theories, as usual.

1) Dave Thomas hates Iowa. He never warmed up to corn in his adult years after his foster parents were never able to afford it, instead propagandizing him with anti-corn sentiment. The soft, rolling hills slowly waving back and forth with the stalks made him nauseous. He suffered from motion sickness as an adolescent and he couldn't have any of his restaurants in any city in which he could not stand still without vomiting.

2) Small business owners in Iowa are terrified of Wendy's. They know as sure as the rapture in this Bible belt extension that Wendy's will knock the socks off any other in and out eatery. They have prayed and meditated over the issue. The answer, of course, is bribes. They have been putting members of the Chamber of Commerce into homes well beyond their means for years. Every additional bedroom, every 10 additional horsepower, every additional Italian cut suit these men have, the fewer and fewer commercial lots available for Wendy's.

The zoning committees will give in. They will. Burger King just ain't that good. Get ready Iowans. Dave Thomas has passed on and his minions will prevail.

Hawaiian Shirt Tuesday

Once again, it's Hawaiian Shirt Tuesday. Once again, I am without this dubious attire. Not to be left out again, I was treated to something special: a cheap Hawaiian lei. I was literally forced to wear it all night even though I was in the dark in deep stage left. Without it, I'm told, I'm nothing but a stage hand with special privileges. It's just a shame cameras are not allowed on stage, otherwise my adoring public would be graced with a photo of yours truly in full lei get up.

In other news, my hard work seems to be paying off. At the end of every night, I dutifully help load the trucks even though I'm not really supposed to. While they still don't call me by name Christian name, they know it. Instead, they refer to me by my MunckMusic given name: Opie. Either way, the crew seems to accept me now. Not as one their own, mind you, but instead as a semi-integral part of the show.

With only one show left (with most of the crew), it's about time. It's been a great trip so far and it can only end with favor. Thanks to the great folks of the Allman Brothers organization.

Iron & Wine - The Shepard's Dog

The newest offering from Sam Beam out September 25th on Sub Pop is going to surprise long time fans and win over new ones. The songs on this album are more orchestrated, more diverse, and more fun. His vocal stylings have hints once again of Elliot Smith's drawl and some of the longing made famous by Red House Painters and Sun Kill Moon singer Mark Kozelek. Most of the people familiar with Iron & Wine know the group for its inclusion in the Garden State soundtrack with his cover of Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" but I'm hoping that The Shepard's Dog will expand his fame and notoriety.

The first track "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" begins with a picked guitar, some sloppy (and wonderfully so) drums, and a choir of Sam Beam. The way it begins lends itself to morph into a track with over driven guitar and pounding drums. However, it never really picks up, but it's the type of track you never want to. It's great. My other favorite track is "The Devil Never Sleeps." The tenth track of the nearly 50 minute album is an early Elton John song through and through. Other tracks to check out: White Tooth Man, House by the Sea.

Rating: Get a hard copy.

(Disclaimer: my rating system is as follows: skip it, listen, borrow and burn, buy it, get a hard copy)

Minnesota

Our day's travels have placed us in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have already heard the phrase "don't ya know" and have only just reached the hotel. I knew it was going to happen, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. Along the road from Milwaukee today, I drifted in and out of consciousness. Every time I was awake, there was the local classic rock station coming in over the speakers in the bus. It made me realize something.

Middle America loves classic rock. Middle America's classic rock DJ's are feeding their listeners with more music than they can seemingly handle. Thankfully, it's all music they've heard before. They have heard each and every song hundreds of times. Each DJ, whether we are in Newark, NJ or on the University of Minnesota campus in the outskirts of Minneapolis tends to love the same songs. They play Bad Company, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynard (especially "Simple Man" and "Free Bird"), the Steve Miller Band, the Eagles, and Journey.
This is a crime. It is the equivalent of taxation without representation. These listeners have no choice in cheap entertainment on the way home from work. They are forced to hear the same 200 songs over and over. This sort of thing is the reason this great country declared independence in the first place, right? Once upon a time, I thought the yearly premium for satellite radio was too expensive to catch on. Now, I'm literally jumping at bit to enroll for my next long road trip if I hear one more hour's worth of music featuring "Jamie's Got a Gun," "Don't Stop Believing," and "Hotel California."

Tomorrow the Allman Brothers are playing the grandstand at the Minnesota State Fair. It almost makes me want to seek out a Blockbuster so I can rent a copy of That Thing You Do! to prepare. I bet the fairgrounds will be full of idiots humming Foreigner and Styx songs under their breath. I can only hope that the enthused weight guessers on the main strip can drown out their misquoted lyrics.

Sick...

I'm officially sick on tour. At Bonnaroo in June, I laughed in the face of a sinus infection claiming invincibility. Now when I'm expected to work and work hard until midnight (which is when it is normally at its worst), disaster has struck. I hate sinus infections and will give anyone who helps me $1500 to rip my sinuses out. In addition, I arrived a full 5 hours late to the venue which means I'm in the worst spot without room for all my cases. Today is about a 1 on the wow scale.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band

I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with the delicacy known as an Arnold Palmer but I assure you that it is one worth knowing. To create the delicious mixture, take 45% sweet tea (only moderately sweet tea), 45% lemonade, 10% ginger ale, and 10% love. I guarantee you will not believe your taste buds. Upon arriving at a venue I embark on a nearly religious journey for these ingredients. Today, bless my lucky stars, I was honored with three of the four ingredients—I had to supply the love myself (it’s all in the mixing). Therefore, I insist that you run, don’t walk, to the nearest grocery store to pick up these beverages. If you’re feeling short on love stop into the Hallmark Greeting Card aisle and write a love letter to yourself. It’s not narcissistic if it’s all true, right?

Tonight was the first night of the tour with Robert Randolph. What a showman. His band puts on a terrific show while giving him plenty of room to work his pedal steel all night. I'm not sure I'm love with his studio albums, but his collaboration with the North Mississippi All-Stars and John Medeski in the instrumental gospel jam album under the name The Word. I implore everyone I know to pick this up. It is one of my "must have" albums.

Tonight’s Allman Brothers set was the first 2 ½ hour set I have experienced. It went by very quickly most likely because I was able to sit for this show. Standing hunched over the board for 2 hours is not an entirely good time, as you may imagine. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.

Tonight’s set list:

Midnight Rider
Trouble No More
Firing Line
School Girl
Wasted Words (one of my personal favorites)
Statesboro Blues
Desdemona
Into the Mystic
No One to Run With
Melissa
Same Thing
JaBuMa
Jessica

Encore:
Love Light with Robert Randolph
One Way Out with Robert Randolph

Clarkston, MI

Today my station has moved from Stage Left to Stage Right. Tonight I bond with the light crew. The light guys are the stage equivalent of Delta House. They work hard, they play hard. My sides hurt already from laughing. They seem utterly obsessed with Borat and fitting his voice and accent into most sentences. Brian Farmer (Warren's guitar tech you might remember) enjoys the company of these guys too and loves to interject with his Cartman impressions. Though, to be honest, it's less Cartman and more Anne Ramsey in her Academy Award nominated performance in Throw Momma From the Train. Tonight I am also blessed with a new opening band: Robert Randolph & the Family Band. I'm very excited to see this spectacle again.

This morning during my hitched ride on the crew busses (which are extremely, extremely nice by the way) I learned something odd. It seems that 60 year-old Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks is hopelessly obsessed with the World of Warcraft. Two years ago, he had no email address, no computer, and no clue. Last night his computer crashed at midnight and he made an emergency call the production manager needing a computer tech to get him up and running again by this afternoon so he can continue his quest through the magical land of Warcraft. Mr. Trucks has a fever. Apparently the only prescription is to level up. I wonder if he takes offense to the charmingly satirical South Park episode addressing WoW as it's called by players.


Moving on, it is currently 83 just north of Detroit. In New Orleans, the heat index is hovering somewhere around 103. Suckers.

Michigan

I have officially arrived in Michigan. The ride today was extremely long but was met with a much needed hotel bar at the end...the first of the tour. Last night's show was a great set though I believe the limiter was set a little too hot (not that the previous sentence will make much sense to most of you). I would highly recommend getting last night's show--especially those of you who are either Ratdog or Allman Bros. historians. The set list was killer and most of Ratdog sat in with the Brothers for a wonderful rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" (a cover of the Hendrix version). Sadly, it was the first thing I have seen Ratdog do that I actually enjoyed. They ended the show last night with yet another awful rendition of "Come Together."

Tomorrow, I will be hitching a ride with the crew on their bus to the venue largely because my compadres are lazy and don't want to wake up before noon. I'm not sure how big the venue is but hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised with the Detroit area crowd's appetite for CD's of the show.

On the road today I read one book and started another. I wish I had the foresight to bring more reading material as I have but 150 pages left of my last book. I'll either have to stretch it out with cat naps during my days off or make a stop at a bookstore. I would strongly prefer the latter. While I'm on the subject, I highly suggest those of you looking for some light reading (by light I mean easy to digest in a single sitting, not Dean Koontz crap. I recommend either IV or Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs) to pick up any number of Chuck Klosterman's books. They are broken up into many short essays that he has written over the years and, to be honest, I strive to write like he does.

My favorite part of the tour so far is not the shows (since I have to spend them on pins and needles listening intently to the mix through headphones) but spending time with either the light and sound crew or just shooting the breeze in the bus with my traveling partners Damon and Brad (both at least 12 years my senior). I can always anticipate a smiling face greeting me from the crew in the mornings because that is when I hand out complimentary CD's from the previous night's show.

The smiling faces usually accompany a genuine appreciation for the discs but most always come with some sort of generic nickname for the youngest person on tour. To my fellow MunckMix mates, I am most often Opie or Skippy. On stage, I am Tiger, Sport, Brother/Man or just "Hey you." One day I'll lose my baby face, gain some seniority, and have a real name. Either that or I'll have to start wearing a name tag. Perhaps some flair will help people to remember me.

Set List from last night (Holmdel, NJ)

Les Brers in A Minor
Can't Lose What You Never Had
Statesboro Blues
The Weight
Dreams
Done Somebody Wrong w/ Jr. Mack and Bruce Katz
All Along the Watchtower w/ Ratdog
Jessica
JaBuMa

Encore:
Melissa
Whipping Post

Mother Nature hates the Yankees.

She does. George Steinbrenner sheds a single tear every time his field crew sprints across Yankee Stadium pulling an oversized blue tarp. Today Mother Nature rained herself upon the seemingly infinite Long Island from sun up to sun down. To use Forrest Gump parlance, it was prime example of “a tiny stinging rain” that drives into your shirt collar and sneaks up your pant legs. Due to the rain, the Hawaiian shirts were seemingly put on hold for drier and warmer attire much to my mounting dismay. As if the rain wasn’t bad enough, it is also about 55 degrees—a solid 50 degrees colder than it was in New Orleans the day before I left. Needless to say, I was cold both in body and spirit.

In addition, my station this evening was way off stage with a solid sheet of tarp blocking my line of sight. Therefore, for those of you that will hear the Jones Beach disc, I apologize if the track markers are off by a few seconds. It’s very hard to guess transitions when you can’t see the band.

Sadly, I was told that this venue was devoid of all the characters I wished for. This is the Long Island crowd: ambitious suburbanites who find acts like the Allman Brothers “smart” and “a great example of solid Americana this country can really get behind if only they would discard newer music made by computers and other devices lacking the soul of a true American like Gregg Allman.” In summation, it’s a good thing I was backstage and not in the crowd this evening. These people would probably abhor my Southern accent, my Boston Red Sox hat (specifically chosen for today though in retrospect it may have been a bad move as the stagehands didn’t pay me much attention except to ridicule my obviously superior headwear), and my desire to stay in the city of New Orleans.

My day did take a turn up when I arrived backstage after dinner. There, like a couple of high school girls milling around before senior prom, were all of the Allman Brothers crew in all their Hawaiian glory. After such a let down this morning, my eyes were met with vividly hellacious polyester and silk shirts draped eloquently over sweatshirts, ponchos, and one bare chest. I was disappointed to see only flowers and leis but thrilled and excited by the colors. O! the colors how they swam, chasing one another across these wearable canvasses. There were no NASCAR shirts, no band shirts, no other vegetation of any kind but it was a feast for my eyes anyway.

The set itself was very good. Great set list and many tracks I haven’t heard yet. Overall, quite a successful night.

Trouble No More
Ain’t Wasting Time No More
Statesboro Blues
Rocking Horse
Gambler’s Roll
Black Hearted Woman
Stone Me
Stand Back
Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad?
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
JaBuMa

Encore:
Don’t Want You No More
Southbound w/ John Hall (of one hit wonder band Orleans with their hit "Still The One" why they invited him to sit in is beyond me...he's now a congressman or something)

My First Day Off

Today marked my first day off. Some people would consider this a perfect time for a little “R & R” but it has been marked with boredom and procrastination (though certainly not on my part). I awoke at 10 this morning in a parking lot somewhere in New York state and began working on re-mastering the past three shows on a company laptop. A couple of hours later, my companions awoke and decided that it was perhaps time to get on the road seeing as we have a 6 hour drive ahead of us excluding traffic surrounding New York City.

Simple math would put us at our destination around 8pm, right? Wrong. It is now 8:30pm and I write as we speed down the interstate towards the Big Apple. Our estimated time of arrival: midnight. Our departure in earnest was delayed by a stop at Friendly’s, a chain mixed with Denny’s, Cracker Barrel, and Baskin Robbins, and a detailed hands-on lesson in a motorhome’s holding tank unsoiling, as it were. Both experiences were about the same if you catch my drift…

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Tuesdays among the Allman Brothers Band crew means Hawaiian shirt day (so if you want to go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and, uh, jeans). Rumor has it that the uglier the shirt the better. FOH assistant Michael Jackson reputedly got his Hawaiian shirt for $4.99 in a gas station in West Virginia. Therefore, I believe the prized Hawaiian shirt just may have a NASCAR theme. The reason this does not bode well for yours truly is that I do not own a Hawaiian shirt. Even if I did, I would never have found any reason to pack it among the jeans and t-shirts I did choose to bring along. I will apparently be very out of place and may very well receive ridicule tomorrow for it (how ironic).

I’ve spent years of my life distancing myself from this fashion faux pas and now I will be committing one without such an article. How embarrassing, though for whom I’m honestly not sure. If cameras were not viciously banned from the stage at all times, I would sneak as many photos as I could but alas, I will have to rely on the one thousand words instead.

Stay tuned for stories of Long Island, NY. Hopefully it is as funny to a Southern boy as I’ve dreamed. I’m praying for gold chains, slicked back or spiked up hair, muscle tees, huge sunglasses, and tans that would make George Hamilton seem pale. If that doesn’t happen, then I suppose I’ll tell stories of funny shirts from our nation’s youngest state.

O Captain, my Captain.

Tonight was the night folks. I am officially wearing the skipper hat now. First of all, it was a great show. They finally played Mountain Jam (at least since I've been with the tour) and it was killer. It was so nerve racking knowing that the real time changes I was making would make or break a recording for the 300 CDs we sold tonight (the most so far!). Needless to say, I didn't have a moment's rest during the two-hour set.

Being behind the board, it's so interesting to hear the interactions between guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks. They have such different soloing styles and can mimic one another very well. They trade off bars, entire solos, even single notes. I'll be doing my best to perfect the mix between them during the next show (Tuesday at Jones Beach, Long Island).

If any of you have any interest in getting a hand on CDs that I mixed, feel free to stop by abblive.com and scoop up a copy of a CD from 8-19 through 8-31. Or I suppose those of you that know me well, you can just wait long enough for me to make you a copy (or two or three). I'll definitely be putting together a best of compilation when I get back.

That said, I've got the day off tomorrow. That means sleep, it means a real shower, it means a bed that is not a couch the other 18 hours of the day. I'll be spending it fighting traffic in NYC. Of course, I would rather the traffic of New York than the Walgreens-less and nearly gas station-less town of Pembroke, NY that I experienced today. So drop me a line, leave a comment, give me a call. Goodnight all.

Here's the set-list from Darien Center:
Les Brers
Revival
Statesboro Blues
Midnight Rider
Don't Know Who to Believe
The Sky is Crying
Come and Go Blues
You Don't Love Me
Who's Been Talking
Every Hungry Woman
Mountain Jam

Encore:
One Way Out

Perks and Pitfalls

On the tour, there are many rules to follow, many rules to break, and benefits for both. One of the great benefits of the tour is catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner on show days. This is not your run of the mill sandwich meat and day old macaroni folks. Friday night the menu consisted of grilled pork chops, orange roughy, Thai curry vegetables and many side dishes.

Breakfast yesterday, I found out was ham and eggs, grits, bagels, crossaints, etc. Of course, I couldn’t find breakfast because it was located outside in a tent at this venue. Inside, I suffered stale donuts and the worst coffee ever made. Lunch was hamburgers, salad, veggies, fruit, chips, sandwiches, cookies, brownies, pretty much everything the body needs to carry on the most in your face classic rock jam show there has ever been.

Some of the pitfalls are being in the way at any point during set up and take down on stage. This can not only be dangerous to your person, but also to your self-esteem. Big Earl (monitor engineer) and Michael Jackson (FOH assistant) will not hesitate to send you off to recording world (basically anything on a stage is “x” world such as guitar world, monitor world, etc) with a tongue lashing over the loudspeakers. You can get around such a dismissal by volunteering to help which is both tiring and fun. The characters you meet, both local and traveling, are always entertaining.

After each show, you have a choice: either chug some Redbull and start driving behind the tour buses and equipment trucks and sleep when you get there (we arrived at the destination at 5:30am yesterday) or crash and wake up at 5am to arrive for the 9am load in every morning. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve only been with the group for 48 hours afterall. There’s plenty more to come.

Quite possibly the biggest pitfall will occur tonight. I am officially behind the wheel as it were in 7 hours. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

And, as promised, last night's set list:

Done Somebody Wrong
Southbound
Ain't Wastin' Time No More
Hot 'Lanta
Woman Across the River
Melissa
Nobody Left to Run With
Dreams
Stoned Me (with Steve Kimock)
Leave My Blues Alone plus JaBuMa
Jessica

Encore:
Don't Want You No More
One Way Out

Tour Stops

Hey all,

Just finished the second show. This one certainly ran much more smoothly though I may not have been as happy with the mix. Tomorrow I will be in charge of the mix the whole way through and I've got ideas boys and girls. Ideas. Warren Haynes (who is in charge of approving the mix) will not believe his ears come Monday. Anyway, it's 2am and we're just wrapping up before driving 6 or 7 hours to Buffalo, NY.

I figured someone would be interested in knowing where I'm going on this thing. Here's the stops:

Camden, NJ (Philly)
Bushkill, PA (middle of nowhere)
Darien Center, NY (Buffalo)
Wantagh, NY (Long Island)
Holmdel, NJ (more Garden State)
Clarkston, MI (between Flint and Detroit)
Petoskey, MI (upper "mitten")
Milwaukee, WI
St. Paul, MN
Chicago, IL
Council Bluffs, IA (Omaha)

On the tour...

Greetings from Bushkill, PA--home of no cell phone service...period. The tour has officially begun. Last night was the first show and went pretty smoothly. I arrived in rainy Philadelphia yesterday afternoon and took the slowest cab ride ever over the Ben Franklin Bridge to smoggy New Jersey, more facetiously known as the Garden State.

Upon arriving backstage, I realized that the road crew traveling with Allman Brothers Band is nothing but a bunch of big kids playing with some extremely expensive toys. Those of you who are familiar with Gov't Mule as well as the Allman Bros may know of Brian Farmer. He is Warren Haynes' look-a-like/guitar tech. This stout bearded man is the epitome of someone completely in love with his job.

After watching a little bit of Keller Williams and eating the fabulous catered dinner, it was time to head backstage to prepare for recording. Unfortunately, this meant sitting through the insufferable Bob Weir and Ratdog for nearly two hours. How these guys sells records and concert tickets is beyond me. I just don't understand.

Finally, they wrapped up their less than stellar set with a horrible cover of the Beatles' "Come Together" and it was time for the main attraction. The Allman Bros started strong and ended stronger. One of the best parts of my job is listening to the headphones and hearing the interactions between songs on stage. Even in the thick of it, everyone on stage is joking around, having a great time.

The recording was going very well up until the encore and disaster struck: the CD burner decided it no longer wanted to record. So, after a panicked rearrangement of hard drives, computers, and headphones, we had to remaster the second half of the show on the fly...in less than 10 minutes. All in all, the 225 customers that preordered CDs before the show had the discs in hand within 45 minutes of the last note. All's well that ends well I guess.

The perks of the tour are fantastic, but I will get into that later on along with the unfortunate bus ride times and conditions (though there has only been one thus far). I will do my best to post set lists for every show:

Don't Want You No More / Ain't My Cross to Bear
Statesboro Blues
Midnight Rider
The Weight
Black-Hearted Woman
Dreams
Franklin's Tour feat. Bob Weir
Into The Mystic
Don't Keep Me Wondering
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
JaBuMa (Drum solo named for Jaimoe, Butch, and Mark)

Encore:
Whipping Post

Until next time...

The rumors are true!

I spoke personally with John Fischbach, head engineer and manager of local New Orleans studio Piety Street and he confirmed the upcoming project: OK Go!'s Damian Kulash and My Morning Jacket's Jim James are coming to New Orleans to each work with Bonerama. Why is this important? Because I love My Morning Jacket and I love Bonerama (sorry to the members of OK Go!).

For those who have never seen or even heard of them, Bonerama consists of four trombones, a tuba, guitar, and an amazing drummer (currently). They flow seamlessly from straight ahead New Orleans funk to classic rock. For those not into the whole RealMedia thing, please check out their MySpace for music samples here: Bonerama Myspace and definitely give Bap Bap and the Ocean a listen. If you ever have a chance, go see them live. You won't regret it.

"How did this all come about?" you may be wondering. Well a few months ago the New Orleans non-profit Sweet Home New Orleans (please consider donating as they are really doing the city well) threw a shindig called Musicians Bringing Musicians Home. It featured major artists playing at world famous Tipitina's to raise money for SHNO so that they could, in turn, pass it along to the musicians needing a hand in getting back into the city and playing the music that makes it famous.

Among these artists were headliners Indigo Girls, Jim James, Damian Kulash, Bonerama, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, and a few others. It was a great night and as far as excitement goes, Bonerama stole the show. James and Kulash were apparently both blown away.

I'm assuming both these artists will be doing something for an upcoming solo record, but that remains to be seen. I'll certainly keep everyone posted.

New Music

Recently I've been even more ravenous for new music than normal. I have scoured the popular indie blogs (Pitchfork, My Old KY Blog, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan), read reviews in all the music magazines [Rolling Stone (don't bother), Spin (buy one in an airport), Paste (get a subscription at your earliest convenience)], and most disappointingly, in local alternative weeklies (Where Y'at, Offbeat, Gambit Weekly).

Doing so, I've found lots of new (and not so new) music. I wanted to share some of it with you folk. These artists range from the ordinary to the extraordinary, solo to orchestral, crooned to screamed. Check out a couple of them and let me know what you think. In the coming weeks I'll be doing in depth reviews of the newer albums (and some that are less well known).

Sanders Bohlke - Solo artist hailing from Oxford, MS. His first and only album (released 2005 on Ampere Records) features soulful songs for a rainy day. His voice carries the album and complements his minimalist accompaniment extremely well. The production is good on the album with the sounds of the Mississippi Hill Country throughout though it is mastered rather poorly and with very little dynamic range. Either way, I love it and my friends are tired of hearing me trying to evangelize about him. It touches on Christian values but I wouldn't call it Christian music. Great for fans of Damien Rice, Elliot Smith, and New Orleans' own Blair Gimma.



Jason Reischel - Another solo artist from NYC. His lyrics range from heartache to new love and are usually interesting though not always exactly educational. I first saw him in a small Irish pub in Jackson, MS and liked his live show very much. I recently got his album Brown Bridge & Green Bridge and am happy with the first half. The second half may take a second or third listen. Good for fans of acoustic folk rock pop.


St. Vincent - The brainchild of singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark, Dallas TX's St. Vincent is fantastic. The first album, Marry Me, was released on July 10th and it is a fantastic female driven pop album. Clark handles guitar, programming, keyboards, bass, percussion, nearly everything you hear. She handled lead guitar duties for both the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens before striking out on her own. It's a great road trip and early morning needing a pick me up CD. A little like Regina Spektor's new record but without the playful lyrics. Check out her track "Jesus Saves, I Spend."

Soon I will be posting a full review on the newest Iron & Wine record (due out next month). For fans of Sam Beam, be very excited. For those who are only familiar with his fantastic rendition of Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" from the Garden State soundtrack, prepare to have a new favorite CD.

Jazz Fest Live

I guess it my be helpful to explain how such a wonderful opportunity came about.

During my time at Loyola New Orleans, a professor approached me with a volunteer opportunity that was right up my alley: recording shows at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with a company out of metro Chicago: MunckMusic (dba Jazz Fest Live!). It entailed sitting side stage and recording tracks from the monitor board of artists that agreed to the terms associated with the recording.

From there, the recordings would be ushered to the mixing trailer where one of a diligently working group of staff members would mix feverishly in order to get those CDs to shelves the day.

Basically, festival attendees would be able to purchase CDs of shows they saw the day before. It worked fabulously well and I ended up working with the company each spring for the past three years.

At first I was but a worker ant, sitting in the sun behind the musicians making sure the recordings went smoothly, but this spring I moved into the mixing trailer. Apparently, the gentlemen from MunckMusic saw something in me during these sessions and led to the upcoming Allman Brothers stint.

Among some of the shows I've recording the past three years:
Ani Difranco
The Meters x2
New Orleans Social ClubCowboy Mouth
Papa Grows Funk
Rebirth Brass Band
Warren Haynes
The Radiators
Hot 8 Brass Band
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
Neville Brothers
Little Feat
Henry Butler

It's been wild. If the boys from Chicago come back this year (which I'm sure they will) I'll get to do it all again.

Welcome!

Welcome to my first blog. I'm starting this thing up for my friends and family to follow my journey more closely when it begins.
As many have heard, I've been extended the opportunity to travel with the Allman Brothers Band on tour for a few weeks (Aug 17-30th) later this month. I, of course, jumped on the chance and am now looking forward to departure for smoggy New Jersey (my first stop).
While trying to avoid the strictly technical terms, I'll, in essence, be sitting side stage for 10 shows whilst recording and mixing live. The end result will be CDs of the concert available for purchase about 15 minutes after the last note rings out. It will be hectic, it will be stressful, it will be a hell of a lot of fun.
I'll be traversing across the Northeast and into the Midwest in a 31' motorhome (piloted occasionally by yours truly) getting little sleep and even fewer showers. All this is made possible by the production company MunckMix out of the greater Chicago area.
If you will be in the areas of any of the shows on tour, feel free to give me a call. If I have time, I'd love to see you folks. There's more news to follow counting down to the big day (August 17th) so stay tuned.