We packed up and set off on a cool, beautiful, rainy drive to Johnson City. Thelonius Monk provided a perfect soundtrack. We passed all sorts of crazy places in GW Forest, including Whiskey Creek on Thundering Herd Road in Churchville, VA and this unfortunate home near Dire Wolf Lane:
We rolled into J.C. a few hours early and had a lovely walk around town, stopping at a couple music stores, one of which had a decent uke selection. I got to play my beloved bass uke again and fell in love with a mango Kala baritone. It was so pleasing to play that it got me thinking I might try picking up guitar again, because baritone ukes are truly like little guitars- the sustain, the rich, warm tone, the body that hums against you as you play, it was awesome.
There was actually a 6pm band scheduled at The Acoustic Coffeehouse that day called The Mudbugs and I'm SO glad we got to see them! They played a very relaxed but lively set of old New Orleans-y pop tunes with killer harmonies, sax solos, super-slick drums, piano, bass, and charming between-songs-banter to boot! And they were as nice as they could be- total pros. We were very impressed.
We hung out with a few familiar faces, including Steve Strawberry and all his slick dance moves :) We feasted on an AMAZING reuben and bbq chicken burrito, sippin' chai tea, Fat Tire, Star Hill Amber Ale, and Gaelic Ale (which we ended the night with- I think it was my favorite!).
Feeling a little sluggish from all the good food, we had a great time rockin' out to Captain Ronzo. He played more new tunes, including I Need My Gun, Spirited Voyage, and I'm Not a Psychiatrist. Some folks weren't quite sure what to make of the punk-rock pirate at first, but he totally won them all over, including a dancing man wearing these crazy toe-shoes and a groovin' little girl who danced like the house was on fire. It was awesome.
We weren't lucky enough to have dancers for The Galt Line set, but we did have the trumpet player from Demon Waffle join us for a bunch of songs, which just rocked our world. We had such a blast jamming with him- he especially killed on Chopo and Chinatown Special. I'm so bummed to have no footage :( We also had the drummer from Existentia join us on hand drums for a tune or two- such a treat! We played loose and easy to an appreciative crowd that we thoroughly enjoyed.
The glory of Acoustic Coffeehouse is that we have just as much fun hanging out afterwards as we do playing tunes. We always meet so many wonderful and different types of people there. We hung out with a financial planner and an arborist right along with musicians and professors, as well as a super-sweet couple that just moved to TN and are working towards starting a goat farm! How cool is that?
We also met the awesome artist who drew this (while wasted! Totally amazing!), who was a joyous and charming interior designer with very nice friends :D:
We didn't leave the A.C. until after 4am and only because we absoluely forced ourselves to go- we just couldn't get enough of all the awesome people! But it's always like that at The Acoustic Coffeehouse. It's such a crossroads for all kinds of people from all walks of life and you can't help but love it.
We finally made our way to Morristown, TN as the sun came up, pitching our camp at Cherokee Park- a beautiful lakeside campground in the Land Between the Lakes region.
We saw a bit of the sunrise over the water as we collapsed in our tents...
...then were roasted into wakefulness about 5 hours later. We were under several huge trees but somehow still ended up in a fully-sunned oven.
Ah well, we were eager to get to Lexington and sleep is for chumps, anyway. The following drive was all neon sky and glowing green hills- breathtaking to say the least. And we were en route to some of our all-time favorite people in on of our all-time favorite places.
To be continued.... DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNN!!!
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