2006-06-08 - 7:24 p.m.
We headed west to Nashville on our off day. When possible we try to spend multiple nights in one hotel. It helps foster the illusion that we actually live a semi normal life. John and Andy went over to the Sunday bluegrass jam at the famous Station Inn. I passed mostly because I had spent the day lying in the back of the van which usually results in me being groggy and lethargic. So after a good meal at a brew pub around the corner most of us headed back to the hotel to chill out. The next morning I found out that I had missed Joe Ely, a great singer/ songwriter from Texas. We were following him the very next night at the Exit Inn. Doh!
I have a bunch of old friends that live in Nashville who come out every time we come to town. My old friend Bruce Kunkel and his wife Helen came out to the in-store we did at Tower Records before the evening performance. It’s always great to see Bruce, one of the most talented people I know. He’s a great songwriter, wood carver and painter and makes some of the most beautiful guitars in the world, one of which is in the Smithsonian Institute. Victor Vallorani, who was the best man at my wedding, came to the show at the Exit Inn with a couple of his friends. My wife and I shared a house with Victor, his girlfriend and their infant daughter when we first got married. It seems like yesterday in another century. To add to the elongated feeling of the instantaneous life, Victor told me his daughter Leonesa was four months pregnant! I remember her as a little pink baby. Now she was going to have one of her own.
We seem to always have problems with the promoter at this gig. The folks that work at the club are great. There just always seems to be a scene with the promoter. This time was similar to the last time in that they had two, un-approved opening acts (amazingly we are to the point where we quite often approve the opener) that would set our start time back to 11 PM on a Monday night. We would lose some folks if we went on that late. Carey insisted that we be on no later than 9:30 PM. The crowd wasn’t too big, so we weren’t in a strong position to negotiate. Vanderbilt University which is just across the street from the venue, was on semester break so that didn’t help. It was feeling like it might be an off night. I was wrong! The first set ripped and the crowd was solidly into it. Then we were paid a visit from our buddy, Sam Bush! Sam showed up with his wife Lynn on the set break. Mr. Skehan had given him a ring. He came by after a session he was doing (what a shocker! Ha!). We had him sit in on Dandelion Wine and Little Rabbit and he just ripped it up as one would expect. I think the audience was having as good a time as we all were! Afterwards, back in the dressing room, Sam lived up to his reputation as a storyteller telling story after story, each one funnier than the next. With a light crowd and the usual Nashville promoter nonsense, I wasn’t so sure this was going to be that great a night. Thanks to Mr. Bush and a really enthusiastic crowd it turned out to be one of our best nights in a while!
