It was raining on the evening of June 27, 2014, which was a problem. The plan was to camp after the coffeehouse gig, but we stayed late to talk to a really nice mother and son who’d been at the show, and before we knew it, it was dark and wet. We were tired and had little interest in setting up a tent.
The day had been a dream. Jimbo, Katie and I woke up at Jay and Kim’s in Jackson Hole and headed northwest. We missed a turn and had to backtrack for about twenty minutes, but Grand Teton National Park is a fine place to get lost. Into Yellowstone we drove, making terrible comedy clips on a GoPro and listening to an early Tom Waits album. We stopped at Old Faithful, took the tourist photos that everybody takes, and my jeans got soaked by the rain even though I was sharing an umbrella. We saw a bison. A week later, we heard that some of the roads in Yellowstone had melted, and while I was grateful that we’d avoided such an obstacle, I couldn’t help but lament missing out on such a great tour story.
Our arrival in Bozeman came later than we’d planned. (My fault—I’d insisted we stay to watch a full eruption in addition to the tail end of the one we saw when we parked at the geyser.) Jim and I were playing Wild Joe’s Coffeehouse, which was a lovely downtown shop with a fantastic PA that could be controlled remotely from an iPad. (These are the things you remember on tour.) A few stayed the whole show, others came and went. Katie took video and sold some of our CDs. It certainly wasn’t the best or biggest show on the tour, but it was a lot of fun.
But then it was raining. Jimbo had an in at a dive bar a few exits down the highway to maybe play a few songs late-night. (The mother of a guy he met in Flagstaff was head of security, and when we met her, she was exactly the kind of person you’d expect to meet when you hear “my mom is the head of security at a dive bar in Montana.”) I was down to check it out, but having a place to lay my head was a priority. As I searched my iPhone for the cheapest hotel not directly adjacent to a strip club (an important consideration I’d learned on a prior tour), one of the baristas at Wild Joe’s chimed in, “You guys can crash at my place.” Oh, young barista named Matt, how you saved the day.
We got his address, then headed out to the bar. Security Mom was all for Jimbo taking the stage, but the house band wasn’t having it. “You gotta ask the drummer,” said the singer. “Ask the guitarist,” said the drummer. We took the hint.
We stopped at a grocery store to pick up frozen pizzas and a case of good beer. Matt was 20 years old and we all know what currency folks of that age trade in. We had a nice chat, and Matt was, as expected, a pretty awesome dude. We discovered, however, that he was an awesome dude who had never seen What About Bob? Jimbo took the couch, Katie and I took the futon, and we fell asleep to Bill Murray screaming for Dr. Marvin.
June 27th wasn’t necessarily the best day of 2014. That might have been January 20th or February 10th or March 10th or April 19th or August 22nd or October 3rd or maybe it’ll be tomorrow. But June 27th is my 2014 in a nutshell. Started it with old friends, drove a lot, got a little lost (but didn’t mind), saw something I’d never seen before, made some music, was humbled by a “no,” made a new friend who was willing to lend a hand, and ended it next to the person I love. I know every day can’t be like that, but if that sums up every year for the rest of my life, I’ll be the luckiest man alive.
Thanks are due to many. I played 100 gigs this year (no really, go look!), and that couldn’t possibly have happened if there weren’t people who came to listen, so thank you. Many of those gigs were at venues that have been wonderfully supportive, so thank you to Stevenot and Newsome-Harlow and Songwriters at Play and Soho and many more. I promoted those shows with the help of media created by Mike Dawson, Angel Cupp, Alexis Anderson, Cole Przybyla, and Anthony Frazier. I played many of those gigs with fine artists like Jimbo Scott, Hart & Hare, Pete Ahonen, Spencer Saylor & Chris Jamison, Mt. Thelonious, Steve Key, Bobcat Rob Armenti, Willie Tea Taylor, Miner, and countless other artists of whom I consider myself a fan. I spent the year playing music with four immensely talented musicians: Kevin Bernido, Eddie Castro, Chris Stevens, & Josh Certo. I released music that featured amazing performances by Aaron Bishop, Bob Matthews, Rick Moore, Kiel Williams, Jimbo, Pete, The Experimentalist, & Mike Stephens. Those songs were played by KALX in Berkeley, KJEE in Santa Barbara, & KKBN in Sonora. Websites run by folks I’ve never met, like Vickye Fisher, Stephen Carradini, Josh Hamm, & Ben Nanke reviewed and promoted my music. My family helped me celebrate highs and urged me on thorough lows, and my coworkers put up with my frequent early departures. I travelled most of the country with my sister Hattie, then saw even more with Jimbo and Katie, and many wonderful people opened their homes to us. People in cities I’d never been to before drove hours to see a show, and the exhilaration from that knowledge sustained me all year long. I also lost someone this year, my dear Grammy, but I owe her thanks for so much, like the song she helped inspire, and the gift she left on my voicemail telling me how excited she was to see my picture in the San Francisco Chronicle. I’ll cherish it forever. And those who’ve never been able to make a show but still listen, check in, share the songs with their friends, family, & followers…thank you.
It’s going to be hard to top 2014, but I’m really excited to try.