WDKN Radio - Dickson, TN Sat. Sept. 12th.

I had the pleasure of spending the hour with Diane Davis of WDKN Radio, on her Studio 1260 show last Saturday (9/12). It's a great station, newly re-opened, with a cool new music friendly owner(Michelle Reddon- Forte!)

Dickson,TN is a short 45 minutes down the road from Cub Creek Central. Saturday was a nice day to make my way out Hwy 70, through rural White Bluff, past Montgomery Bell Park and on into the historic downtown College street in Dickson, TN.
You can't miss the station. It has a big colorful hometown mural painted on nearly the entire side of the building.

I got in just in time to set-up and catch the last part of Diane's show called "Swap & Shop" and pretty cool, open line sell and trade forum for folks in the community. There were horses, old Jeeps, Nintendo’s, washing machines and a few things that were a mystery to me; being called in from all over the community - pretty fun to listen to.


Diane and I sat down for an entire hour, talked music, played a bunch of music from "Good Life" and earlier CD's as well as talking about our shared old haunts in the DC area! Diane and I didn’t know each other back in Washington, but as it turns out, we were in the footsteps of one another through adjacent high schools, piano bars, jazz rooms and the great Birchmere Music Club. It was fun to talk about the old days - for me it has been twenty years gone now!

The hour was a creative reminder of the power of radio for independent artists; especially radio so well rooted in their community.

A big thank you to Diane, Michelle and everyone at WDKN for having me on and continuing to play my music. If you'd like to hear the interview, go to the station's On-Demand listening page and follow the link to Studio 1260 for September 12th!

I plan to have the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain on the show coming up later in the fall – should be a scene with the 5 of us in there!!

Culley & Elliott at the Red Tree - 8/21

The duo played our favorite local coffeehouse called Red Tree Coffee. It's in old historic downtown Kingston Springs and is at the center of a live music resurgence in KS. We played the 8:30 slot, after Anchorage singer-songwriter Elenore Fye.

We had a great turn-out tonight (especially all the "Mud Chicks" from the local Mud Puddle Pottery Studio)
We did a 12 song set tonght, including my new one called "Searchin'" - got the crowd singing along, so it was good first outing for the song. We did our version of Bye Bye Baby Jane. My friend Cole was there tonight. His band Calico Trail cut the song for their upcoming project. They have some exciting things in the works, so I'm proud of that cut. You can check it out on their my space site.

Our buddy Chip Chipoletti joined us on percussion tonight - always appreciate his playing - helps round us two folkies out!

FolklahomaAppalachiGroovetrain Plays the Tomato Arts-Fest

The Groovetrain played this year's Tomato Arts-Fest held in the Five Corners district of East Nashville. Last year the festival attracted some 12,000 attendees over the weekend and this year appeared poised to do the same. The vibe was a great New Orleans style street fest, with a brass band parade, funk bands, jambalaya stands, pottery and anything tomato!

We played an early set at 10:30am. (for us, early is anything before 2pm.) It turned out to be a great slot, a lot of folks were out, trying to beat the heat that was due to hit later in the day. We've been doing a lot of club dates, so an outdoor fest was a fun change of pace for us. The crowd was great! They were up dancing, very receptive - which amazed me for 10:30 in the am! The Groovetrain got a little Kayaking in later in the day - all in all a good days work - living in a folk band!

FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain Recording Session 1

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain has been in the studio most of June and July. Here is a rough cut video-slideshow of the tune - Dulcimer Jelly!
http://www.myspace.com/folklahomaappalachigroovetrain

Culley and Elliott - Amelia Island, Florida Sun. 7/5/09

I just got back in from a great trip down to Florida with the duo show. We played a great venue run by our good friends Donna Paz and Mark Kauffman called " A Night of Story and Song". The whole Culley family made the trip. We all loaded up in Gary's Tundra truck, Gary and Alison, with the boys (Tommy and Billy) and headed out toward Savannah, GA and then down to the Amelia Island, just above Jacksonville! I don't know when in my life 11 hours became a quick trip, but somewhere in the log of miles it lays easy. It seemed we got there in no time. We grabbed our hotel rooms, met up with Gary's parents there and then met Donna and Mark a couple of blocks away at a great beach bar named Sliders. The beach, the sunset, the margaritas and the bar tender (not necessarily in that order) were all beautiful.

The next day we hit the waves at an old history filled stretch of sand called American Beach. It was founded by Abraham Lincoln Lewis (the first black millionaire). He started an insurance company and bought up enough of the beach properties to allow for a black community on the beach at a time when blacks had little to no access to public beaches. This beach has a famous Sand Dune, revered - called the great "Nana"! We began the day by getting the 2- wheel drive Tundra stuck in the sand. After getting pulled out we hit the waves on boogie boards and I commenced to frying my white Scottish ass in the sun! So much for sunscreen that is supposed to be water proof! There were a couple of guys on the beach with backpack props tethered to kite glider wings. I tried my best to weasel into a chance at flying one (didn't happen). Spent much of the day watching them, watch each other try and get airborne - which they finally did.
Pretty cool contraptions. We made a short appearance at a neighborhood picnic of the concert promoters. It was complete a kids bike parade, a dog parade, firetrucks and beer - Americana all the way! We sang a few songs and tried to drum up a few last minute ticket sales for the show. Later that night we cruised the downtown port district of Fernandina Beach with the whole Culley Clan and Donna and Mark. We watched the fireworks from the docks - pretty sweet. Sunday morning consisted of more boogie boarding and white Scottish ass frying (on my part. This time we were further up the beach at Sadler Beach - next to my favorite beach bar with my favorite beach bar tender! Gary and I had a blast throwing the kids into the waves and swimming out to where the Dolphins were diving in and out of the blue. Later, Alison took over beach duty while Gary and I headed to the venue for an early sound check at 1:30 pm. We were thrilled to have around 125 enthusiastic people at our show Sunday night. We played two -one hour sets, made new friends and sold a lot of music - a good night for indie troubadours! We can't thank Mark and Donna enough for all their support and great efforts to make this concert series such a success - they are a real Oasis in an ever expanding desert! Here's a few more pics from the trip!

June 2009 FolklahomaAppalachiGroovetrain in the studio

The Groovetrain has been in my studio, Cub Creek Sound for most of June working on initial recordings for a new press kit and the beginnings of a CD project. Our first tracking day had the whole band in starting about noon, getting Will McJ's drum parts down and basic rhythm instruments down to 4 songs, including two Dulcimer instrumentals, Kim's song North Carolina and Mark's new song "Tell You Goodbye" (done accapela with an upright bass)! We also worked on our version of "Bye Bye Baby Jane" and a co-write of mine and Kim's song, "Foothills."

. We had a blast together in the studio and we celebrated by getting a fire going in the pit in the backyard.


We cooked fajitas in a giant iron pot and finished up with smores on into the late night hours.


We're recording our projects old school, where vibe is everything and feel is more important than perfection. It feels like real music when we run the playbacks - that's a good sign! More to come!

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain
Mark Elliott -Vocals & Guitars

Kim McLean - Vocals, Guitars & Dulcimer

Devon O'Day - Vocals & Percussion

Will McJ - Drums & Percussion

Chris Herin - Electric & Upright Bass


Peace,

Mark

Thursday June 18th. - Norm's River Roadhouse -Nashville

Tonight we had a duo of duos down at Norm's River Roadhouse in Nashville. My old duo partner Gary Culley came in for the night as well as Tim and Myles Thompson. We billed the night as Kerrville meets Winfield! Gary and I won the New Folk Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival some years back and Tim Thompson was crowned finger-picking champ last year at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Tim brought out his 15 year old son Myles tonight. They have been touring as a duo in the last year or two. Myles not only has prodigious talent on the fiddle, but is a mature player in terms of his jamming abilities to boot!



We had a great crowd tonight. Nashville (especially on week nights) can be oh so challenging to get crowds out. We had about 30-35 out tonight. Family, friend (old and new) as well as some new fans and a some nice strangers, hung out and enthusiastically supported the music. That makes such a difference in how we perform!

It was fun mix between their virtuosic instrumentals and our old harmony sound and songs of the road. It was a lot of fun to jump in on each other music and make it feel like a big ole kitchen table jam!

Monday June 1st. - 12th. & Porter

Cirque du Chanson, a circus of song.
Only in Nashville......
Kim McLean and Devon O'Day dreamed this night of 12 performers, whom most met for the first time the day of the gig, learning nearly 40 songs for a writer's night jacked up!The plan was to turn this writer's night into an all out jam-style performance, with everyone lending their talents on songs where they felt it. To make things more fun, names were drawn out of a jar to randomize the order of performers and everyone stayed on stage at the same time were beautifully "winging it".

We all met Kim McLean's classroom at Trevecca around 11am. on Monday morning and traded of songs with one another and a backing band, for early 3 hours. It took that long to rehearse almost 40 songs. Load in to 12th. & Porter was a 6pm. You have to give the sound guys credit for not freaking out too bad, as a dozen different songwriters an players can be a bit of a trick. Sound check last almost an hour, but ultimately things sounded good!

We had about 40 people in the venue (not bad for a Monday night in Nashville)! The show went off without a hitch and everyone was really great, diverse and passionate about their art - another edge over most writer's nights. Aside from myself, Kim McLean and Devon O'Day, we had Robin English, Leilah, Mark Sloan, Beth Fox and Marysue Englund. Marysue's husband Dave covered lead electric duties in the band, along with Chris Herin on Bass and Rick Malkin on drums and percussion.

I loved the challenge of playing that much music without much rehearsal. I grew up learning how to play around a kitchen table with other musicians. For me, this just was just a big ole kitchen table.

Saturday Night May 30th. - The Fiddle & Pick - Pegram, TN

What a fun night playing with the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain at a very hip venue called the Fiddle & Pick. The Fiddle & Pick is a school, a performance hall and musical heritage institute - all rolled up into one. With it's spacious main room, with wood floors - it's great place to play and listen to music. Think of it as a big living room concert. To make it even more fun - it was my birthday tonight. It's been awhile since I've had a gig on my actual Birthday - pretty cool!
We met at the farm for a pre-show rehearsal around 4pm. We had several new songs and new arrangements worked up, so it was nice to solidify these just before the show. We arrived at the venue around 6pm. for load-in and sound-check. The show was produced by our friends Marilee and Chip Chipoletti of Chipstar Music. Chip ran sound tonight and made it easy for us.

We had a nice crowd, a great combination of my family, old friends and folks who had never seen us before. Everyone was enthusiastic and gave us the extra energy we needed to really crank up the show.

Half way through the show everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My folks brought in a bunch of cupcakes and Will McJ (our drummer)gave me my birthday present, "an electronic whoopee cushion" - that will come in quite handy on the road with this band!


We did a 90 minute show that seemed like it only lasted about 5 minutes. We ended with the big sing-along, "Stars in Their Eyes" and had the crowd sing it acapella back to us for the finale chorus - a perfect ending to the show.

We all met back at Kim & Devon's farm after the show for a few hours. Some of us made it back to the farm before others of us did - as others of us got pulled over by the Kingston Springs cops in their favorite little speed trap! No, as hard as it is to believe - it wasn't me this time!

All in all a great birthday, a great time with friends and family and always a ball playing music with the groovetrain.

Read Wendy V's Blg about the night

Saturday 5/23 - Hickman County Humane Soc. Benefit Concert

The FoklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain headed back down to Centerville, TN last Saturday to headline a benefit concert for the Hickman County Humane Society. The gig was held at a great local venue on the square called The Farmhouse Cellar Dinner Theater. Will and Mark headed down a little early to set up the drums and the stage. Our new friend Damon Wherry(a Centerville Musician) was slated to run sound and helped us pull things together.

The band sound checked about 6pm. and then headed upstairs to the restaurant for a nice pre-show dinner. The dining room was long and narrow, with high, wood ceilings, old wood floors and a great, old country store vibe to it.

The show kicked off just after 7pm. downstairs in the Cellar Dinner Theater. We had a strong turn-out. Everyone was enthusiastic about the music and the cause. The event was spearheaded by a wonderfully passionate supporter named Charlotte Staggs,but had a lot of volunteers were there to make it all happen. It was inspiring to be around folks who not only love and value animals, but put their money and their labor where their mouths are. Animal care and animal rights have been a principal charity for the band as well as all of us individually. It was quite meaningful for us to support a community's growing efforts at protect and care for the animals in their county. We were thrilled to raise nearly $3,000 that night!

Thanks to Charlotte Staggs, Damon Wherry and the Farmhouse Cellar Dinner Theater for making it all possible.

Thur. 5/20/09 - KIX-96 Radio - Centerville, TN

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain headed down to Centerville, TN to KIX-96 Radio to promote their upcoming Saturday night show benefitting the Humane Society of Hickman County.

Kix-96 is located just a few blocks off the city square, in a small 4 room building. They are known for their focus on traditional country music, as well as local sports and news. They are a great, independently run station with their own playlists and programming control. Those kinds of stations are very important to us indie artists, and so far have been very welcoming.

Mickey & Sheila Bunn were great hosts. Mickey interviewed us for about 20 minutes and played Kim’s new single. We finished off the show by playing “Bye Bye Baby Jane” and “Cracks in the Concrete” live.

One other important aspect of this station is the Saturday morning, live concert series they produce called the Grinder's Switch Hour. It is an Opry-type music show held in the Grinder’s Switch Center (hometown of Minnie Pearl), just down the road. The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain is slated to be the featured guests on that show on October 10th.

Thanks again to Mickey & Sheila for all their support!

Wed. 5/20 - Norm's River Roadhouse with Cary Stone & Aaron Till

Had a great little gig tonight, just a mile from the house at the famed Norm’s River Roadhouse. Norm’s has become quite the beacon for songwriters, bluegrass bands and roots music in Nashville. With it’s basement, stone walls and old time hootenanny feel – it’s a great room for performer and listener alike.

Tonight I put together a trio show with my friends Cary Stone and Aaron Till. They are both fabulous instrumentalists and songwriters and singers to boot. Cary and I met years ago writing for Alabama’s publishing company called Maypop Music Group. We’ve canoed Canadian waters, wrote songs and now doing some shows together. He plays guitar for Mark Chesnutt, but really shines on his own as a player, artist and writer. My friend Aaron Till is a virtuoso player on the fiddle and mandolin, having played for everyone under the sun. Tonight he also stepped out front and did some of his own songs, really adding to the night.

Most of my life as an artist has been a solo, road warrior – troubadour type. As much as I’ve enjoyed that life, the nights I get to play music in a band (whether it’s in my old duo Culley & Elliott, The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain or in this trio with Cary and Aaron) really brings me an energy and joy for the music that’s hard to feel after so many years travelling solo.

Many thanks to the crowd tonight. I always worry about drawing a crowd mid-week in Nashville (the hardest city to draw crowds) but it was a nice full night! We had the perfect combination of old friends, other musicians and new fans. Their energy helped us put on a real fun show (we were having a blast anyway) and I look forward to working with those guys again.

Check out Wendy V's blog about the night.

WRFN -Never Too Old with Wendy V: 5/17/09 In-studio guest Mark Elliott

I’m not usually up this early (6:30am) especially on Sundays, but I’m up and headed to do a radio show at WRFN, just outside Nashville. My friend Wendy V runs her “Never Too Old” show from 8-9am. on Sunday mornings and invited me on to talk about music and play a little bit.

Radio Free Nashville is a LP (low power) FM station located up in the hills of Pasquo, just west of Nashville. It’s a beautiful drive up McCrory Lane to get there – even passed a few dear on my way. The station runs several music programs plus a whole bunch good independent talk and issue programs (the lefty political fare that I love anyway)!

Wendy was already there when I arrived at 7:30am. She is more the professional morning person than I, but I was proud to have both eyes open and speaking intelligibly by the time I got there.

We spent most of the hour talking about the role music has played in my life and those that have influenced me along the way. It’s nice to be interviewed by someone who not only has done their homework about your music but someone so enthusiastic about music and musicians in general. Sometimes a radio show can be so dry and uncomfortable that it never seems to end and then other times like today, it seems to go by all too quickly.

I have had several radio show appearances in the last few months, both big and small, in country and out of country. My appearance at UVA-Radio in VA helped to fill the room I played in Charlottesville and the same was true of all the UK-BBC Radio I did. We had many people come up to us saying, “I heard you on the radio and now I’m here”. What a great reminder of how powerful radio can be and that it is not just for the major artists and focus grouped – playlists.

Here’s hoping all of you heard the show and will turn out to some gigs, especially my birthday gig with the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain May 30th. At the Fiddle and Pick in Pegram TN – 7:30pm.

Thanks so much to Wendy V for having me on the radio today. Here is an MP3 of the show if you didn’t hear it live. To read more about this show and many others produced by Wendy V, check out her blog site at the link below.


WFRN RADIO SHOW MP3 (128) - 5/17/09

FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO READ WENDY V'S BLOG ABOUT THIS SHOW: Never Too Old with Wendy V: 5/17/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest Mark Elliott

P and H Cafe - Memphis, TN

Hi All,

I'm still wrestling with the lung issue and the cough, but it is much better now. I'm Finally able to sing a whole show again.

Last night I was in Memphis,TN at a funky place on the East side, called the "P&H Cafe". It was a short 3 hour trip over to Memphis. I had made that trip hundreds of times when I was playing with the old "Culley & Elliott"duo (we were constantly headed to Texas to play), but it has been awhile since I have been in Memphis. I forgot how pretty the drive was, especially the first half with dozens of state parks and reserves. Being a big outdoor guy I'm always wide eyed for any wilderness area.

The P&H starts music real late - 10pm. Their regulars come in about 7 or 8 and leave and then return around 10pm - kinda' weird, but so goes different joints. It's a funky little place, half artsy coffeehouse and half old burger and beer joint. The front of the room has a lot of posters, pictures and art on the walls. The ceiling was made up of big 4x8 painted portraits - caricatures of people - one unique ceiling! The back of the place started with a long bar and darts and pool tables - the dividing line between coffeehouse and beer joint.

On a side note, across the street there was a large tour bus (made my Matrix "tour bus" seem ever smaller) pulled up to a big performance hall. I later found out that it was the Indigo Girls. I had hoped they would end before me and that I might pick up some of their audience, but it wasn't to be!

I was suppossed to share the night with a local singer named Jo Jo Jeffries, but somehow wires got crossed and she never showed. I waited around until about 10:45pm. and then decided to go ahead with my set.

I began the set by promptly launching a big glass of water off the stool as I stepped up to the mic with my guitar (a trick I would repeat one more time toward the end of the set with a whole new glass of water). Sometimes things happen early on at a gig, that you are sure are harbingers of things to come. Luckily, these were just random events of a cluts and nothing more.

The set went great. I met some folks there who were really into the music and sold enough CD's to calm both the financial and the fragile ego needs of a singer-songwriter. It was enjoyable as ever to make new friends and fans with my music and then hit the road late (midnight) for a 3 hour trip back to Nashville. All and all - a nice trip!

Thanks so much for following along with the UK blog and now my efforts back home - much appreciated!

Peace,

Mark Elliott

Sunday - in Newark, NJ!

Well, I'm officially back in the states (Newark, NJ - is in the states right?)! I left Basingstoke early this am for Heathrow. The check-in and security was actually pretty fast, so it was a hurry up and wait situation. Oddly enough at Heathrow, you have to take off your belt for screening but not your shoes. Now wasn't Heathrow the origin of the "shoe-bomber"? I'm just saying - weird!

The flight over was non-eventful. Continiental has these personal flight entertainment systems where you can pick from dozens of movies, tv shows, music and games right in your own seat monitor. That made the time "fly by" (no pun intended). It's also much easier on the body coming westbound - I feel pretty good. I practiced controlling my cough the whole way over so as to avoid any, "you're too sick to enter the contry" spiel!

I did however, get held up in customs once in NJ. It was partially over having commercial CD's on me (my own) and a nice big bottle of scotch. It all worked out in the end though and now i'm sitting waiting on an 8:30pm flight to Nashville.

I know it will take me a few days to digest the trip, but I will post my final thoughts about the UK adventure in a few days. I may also try to ammend some of the posts with some relevant pictures.

All in all, I met and played for incrdibley gracious and musically passionate people, got to see some beautiful countryside (wish I had more time in Scotland) and enjoyed travelling with Robert and Briana.

More later.

Thanks,

Peace,

Mark

Saturday Night - Last Gig - The Acoustic Routes - Cambridge

Tonight was our last night of the tour at a venue called the Acoustic Routes in Cambridge. Cambridge lies about 2.5 hrs down the road from our home base in Basingtoke – in the border between East and West Anglia.

We left early so we could go by Windsor Castle. Robert dropped me at the base of the castle and he and Briana met me there and hour later. I walked all around the Castle – it’s pretty damn huge! He told me that the “Royals” split their time between Buckingham Palace and the Windsor Castle.

I began my walk on a pedestrian only street that funneled over a stone bridge, across the River Thames. It then wound its way up hill and around small cobblestone streets to the base of the castle. It as an interesting confluence of modern western society outside of the walls and what looked to be still quite medieval in appearance (except the guards with ear pieces and machine guns) inside the walls. The streets were filled with tourists, quaint shops and McDonalds – a far cry from what it must have looked outside that castle “back in the day”. We also got to see the very exclusive boarding school called the “Eton School”. Evidently the princes attended along with other VIPS – looked like “Dead Poet’s Society” vibe to me.

We arrived at the venue and were able to sound check early. The Acoustic Routes was located in the basement of a Bistro – really reminded me of all the church basement folk clubs I’ve played with its big walls and assorted chairs and pews for seating.

After sound check Briana and Rob settled in for tea upstairs and I headed out to see the town center of Cambridge and to see if I could find the little river I went “punting on” (pole and boat - not football) some 25 years ago. I walked along some quaint side streets and across some beautiful gardens and playing fields to the town center. I never found the damn river but was told later that I was close, just at the point where I turned back for the venue.

The manager of the venue (The Acoustic Routes) name is Bernard Hoskins and was a really nice guy. These types of long running venues always require at least 1 (and most often more than 1) passionate music person to keep them going – and Bernard fits that bill. He is a good singer-songwriter in his own right and opened the night with 3 of his original songs. We also had another opening act named Rebecca (I’ll remember her last name) and she was also very good.

The night was sold out and included some standing room only. This was every passionate, listening folk audience I’ve eve played for and was a perfect way to end the tour. Although I’m feeling a little better, the cough and the throat kept me from singing as much as I wanted to. I was able to sing a few more tonight and beg for their help in singing along. It was a thrill to hear English accents singing back the chorus of “Stars In Their Eyes” to me. As my voiced waned on the song – they took over and it was pretty cool.

Briana remained in great voice for the whole tour and continued that tonight. We got an encore and a great reception afterward – had the best CD’s sales of the tour - again, a nice way to go out.

We got back to our Basingstoke base late tonight, about 3am and have an 8am call for Heathrow in the morning. I will write again from Newark, NJ.

Thanks again for following along.

Peace,

Mark

Friday Night - The Pelham Arms - Lewes

We played in Lewes tonight. It’s just inland of the coastal town of Brighton. We left early enough to tour around Brighton some. The day was overcast and somewhat cold. You could feel the ocean air chilling things down a bit. I got to see an old castle from the mid- 18th century. I don’t remember which king lived there for awhile, but one did.

What makes this castle unique is that it doesn’t really look like a castle. It’s called the Royal Pavilion and it is an odd configuration of eastern and middle- eastern architecture. It looked a bit out of place, like it belonged more in old Siam or something. Evidently this particular king loved the eastern and middle- eastern cultures and had this built to those specs. That’s what I was told in the bar tonight anyway, so take it as you will.

After touring around a little we headed just out of town to a sleepier berg named Lewes and the hotel-pub, the Pelham Arms. We had a full house tonight – a little loud like a bar crowd, but into it. We sold a handful of CD’s. I am still struggling greatly to sing without coughing up a lung, but the crowd appreciated me doing a few songs for them and then backing Briana’s album set. I have had several discussions (as you can imagine) about lung infections in the UK and evidently this is a virulent one going around that antibiotics don’t help much. Most people I’ve talked with that have had the similar run as me; have had to wait it out a month or more to kick it …. that’s lovely!

I did have a few folks come up to me that were familiar with my MySpace page and some of the songs – that was a nice little extra. We also had friend (Terry) come out to see us again. He was at the 2nd gig back in Maidstone.

We have found in general that venues here do a much better job of getting the word out than do venues in the states. Also, crowds seem to educate themselves on the artist, at least by visiting websites ahead of time. We did 2-45min sets with a break in the middle and then headed back two hours or so to our Basingstoke hub.

We head out to Cambridge tomorrow afternoon for the last stop on the tour – a venue called Acoustic Routes. We have been looking forward to this one as it is a high profile folk room. I don’t know what I’ll have in terms of a voice tomorrow (well I kind of do), but the plan will be to “leave it all on the field” as they say!

Thanks or your continued interest in my travels and music.

Peace,

Mark

Thursday Night-The Prom- Bristol

We played in the cool university town of Bristol tonight. We arrived in the late afternoon to do the drive time BBC network show. We did a 10min interview or so and then played the song, “People like Me” live. We were laughing afterward about being asked if any of our songs had offensive language in them or not (I guess the show was live and not bleeper friendly). We of course said “no” and then totally forgot about the prominent “hell” in every chorus of our song. To me cuss words had to have at least two syllables in them don’t they? - Unless of course, they have a “u” in them. Well, we didn’t fall through any trap doors and no one said anything about it so I guess it was ok!

We headed down to the venue for some early dinner and waited on sound check. The venue has been around, hosting music since 1980 and has a great reputation. It’s more of a bar/restaurant than a pub (more fitting of the downtown, urban environment it was in). It was two stories, with TV monitors all over the place that broadcast the performance – pretty cool. We sound checked around 7:30 or so with Martin Moss. He turned out to be a very good mixer. In fact, most of the sound people on this tour have been excellent. That has been one of the nice surprises of the trip. Martin is a musician himself (loves Bluegrass in particular) which made him better with the sound I think. Martin gave me a copy of his CD, “Hometown” – I look forward to hearing it once I’m back in my
hometown.

In typical fashion, the crowd didn’t really materialize until about show time. We had a good crowd however, 45 or so. They were enthusiastic but very much a listening audience (about what you want in an audience). We had a good show – did 2- 45 min sets. My voice seemed in the same shape as the previous few days, but I was able to eek out a few tunes of my own – enough to sell a handful of CD’s. We got several encores, (which was nice) but had they asked for 1 more it surely would have looked like a scene from the TB Sanitarium night club show. The later the night got tonight, the harder it was to control my cough.

We had a two hour drive back to Basingstoke tonight – getting in about 1:30am our time.
Tomorrow we head to Lewes (I think) to play a venue called “The Pelham Arms”.
I believe it is an old hotel.

Thanks for staying interested in the saga.

Peace,

Mark

Wednesday Night - The Cellars in Portsmouth

Tonight we were in the Southsea town of Portsmouth – on the South Coast of England. It is on the English Channel and directly across the channel would be Brittany, France. We got there a few hours early so I had some time to walk around a bit. The water reminds me of the Atlantic, but the beaches are mainly shell and stone.

Portsmouth is a big port town and was a significant player during WWII, due to it being a major naval base. Robert told us that it was almost constantly being bombed. You could see the remaining breastwork defense mounds just up from the beach as well as the many naval buildings now converted to condos (flats). The streets are narrow and the buildings old – very reminiscent of Annapolis, MD and the Naval Academy there.

We played a great pub called the Cellars. I am finding pub gigs to be my absolute favorite type venue so far (more on that later). The owner (Steve) was originally worried about turnout; given this was World Cup Soccer qualifying day (Robert was excited that England won). However, we ended up with a great crowd and they were very enthusiastic. It’s funny, the crowds here tend to show up just at show time and not much before, so they always leave you wondering.

We were headlining tonight and the opening acts (called support over here) were quite good and enthusiastic themselves. Got a few CD’s to listen to down the road. They were a mix of folk, acoustic and blues – which worked well in front of us.

We took the stage at around 10:15pm – a little later than normal around here. My voice is still non-existent and my cough still teetering on Bubonic Plague. However, the night felt great – all the guitar moves were working well and Briana was singing well. The audience gave so much back to us that I decided at the end of the night to go for it and sung, “Not All Who Wander Are Lost”. It was a little on the rough and growly side, but went over well – sold a handful of CD’s off the one song.

I needed a good night, even if only being able to sing one song, the audience lifted my spirits and sent us down the road with a good $ take (or should I say £ take)! We had a short hour or so drive back to Basingstoke. It’s now 2am over here (8pm for all back home – central time anyway).

We head to Bristol tomorrow (I think) playing a place called the Prom. The time I was at the Prom I had fun. Of course I was 18 and it was 198…….yeah!

Here’s one last note about the pub culture here as well as in Scotland. What great rooms they are! Each very unique but all with the same familiar laid back, comfortable, living room atmosphere. Most of the pubs have the main bar area and then around a corner or off to one side the room lengthens with nook and cranny seating on small 2 foot stools. Usually at the end of this room lies the stage – mostly well adorn, lit and with good sound systems.

There are plenty of pubs up and down random streets and easy to stagger between. Although for me, settling into a favorite warm, rich corner and staying there all night is the way o do it. Most pubs are rich in both community congregation and of course music. The crowds are generally fairly quite if you’re have a half-way decent performer (unlike the bar scene back home). I can’t help thinking that a pub culture would go over so well in America (and does probably in parts of Boston and the like) but they are very differently paced than bars. The only thing missing I think for an American audience is availability of food. In most pubs it’s hard to get any food to speak of. There may be a rack of crisps (our chips) or possibly and handful of meat pies – but that seems about it in most pubs. People are there to drink, congregate, drink, listen to music and well, drink! I do love the rooms though – most of them are really grand old rooms!

Although I was temporarily emboldened by managing to finally get a song out, I am struggling greatly with the cough and will undoubtedly continue to for the rest of the tour. I believe we’re hitting the roads earlier tomorrow playing a BBC radio show in Bristol. If I can get the web address for the show I’ll pass it along.

Thanks again for following along.

Peace,

Mark