Northern Roots

It’s been a short and mostly snowless winter, but I’ve had some great shows, nearly got a couple of Grammies with Omar Sosa and made a lot of progress on several upcoming CDs. We finally got some decent snow last night, but it isn’t nearly enough for a snow fort. I’m going South in May, but I’m guessing their freak snowstorms will be over by then and they’ll be on to volcanoes or something. Which reminds me that I have an outstanding traffic ticket in Iceland from the time Peter Irvine and I took advantage of a layover on the way to gigs in the UK to get a coffee in Reykjavik. We took a wrong turn and encountered a sign that read “Lava Flow!” Not being from a place, it’s hard to know what to make of a sign like that. Somebody obviously had time to put up the sign so the danger didn’t appear to be immediate, but they were still concerned enough to bother putting it up. We decided it was best to slowly flee.

I managed to miss the flooding in Los Angeles, although I unfortunately missed my gig there too because of a combined snowstorm and mechanics strike. I really hope to make it out there soon- thanks to everyone who would have been there! I did make it to San Francisco and Berkeley, and this time around didn’t even get stuck on the bay bridge, part of which collapsed about 18 hours after the last time I drove over it in October. It was great to see everyone. On the way out of California I made one of my favorite recent videos on the ocean and was reminded how ridiculously big their trees are out there.

I had a couple of great shows in Oregon, where Jessica Beer who was road managing the tour came up with the best catch phrase of the season- “you can eat your tacos on the way to the donut shop.” I surprised myself by declining a bacon donut after the Portland show, which made me wonder if I’d lost my sense of duty. Maybe I just don’t find food that funny anymore. In any case, I loved playing with the Brothers Young and Rachel Taylor Brown and have been listening to them both a lot recently. Rachel gets called “quirky,” but I don’t think that does justice to her inspired and unexpected music. Seattle was fun too- it was great to meet the Tallboys, one of the liveliest and most active string-bands out there.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been through O’Hare airport in recent months, but the shoeshine guys don’t even bother commenting on the state of my boots anymore. Second to last time there I was on my way to the Old Town School for a gig with the Wilders and Lost Bayou Ramblers that started with me singing unaccompanied and ended with the Ramblers bass player playing his upright while riding on the back of the Wilders bass player while walking between tables in the front row. It looks like I’ll be doing some shows with the Wilders’ Betse Ellis next fall in her new duo with KC Groves from Uncle Earl. Keep an eye out- should be a lot of fun.

In the past month I even got to do a couple of shows within driving distance for a change- had a great time at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA and the Lane Series up at UVM in Burlington. Hope to be back in both towns before long. My latest jaunt was a week-long residency at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Their Unit One is a very cool experimental program- thanks to Laura Haber and the whole crew out there! I had a great show, a chance to sing Sacred Harp and some very interesting workshops and conversations with students, professors and community members. One student even taught me how you’re supposed to hold a fiddle bow! I’ve since forgotten, but it was a nice thought. And now on to Dayton (hopefully via O’Hare).