Sings & Strings Festival 2014...

On Sunday, Garyville hosted their first Sings & Strings festival.  Garyville was known as a cypress town during its lucrative years.  It was divided by a passenger train track where passengers would stop in for a bite to eat before continuing on.  Over the years, the town has become pretty abandoned, well at least the old town square and all the old commercial buildings.  

Last year when I played in the old bank I fell in love with this little town square and it was nice to share and  to see a little ripple in the culture.  Well this year Peyton Falgoust and the whole village started a festival to raise money for the old Timbermill Museum.  There were lots of guys and gals with guitars jamming all over and food and drinks everywhere.  When I drove up I couldn't believe all the cars.  As I expected, people are starved for culture.  

The bank ended up being a popular spot for all the musicians.  Everyone seemed to want to play in there but the place was loud and I couldn't hear myself think much less hear the music.  My good friend and photographer, Bryan Tornowski, suggested we move to the old barn just outside and it was a good call.  The sound was great in there and intimate.  I needed a place that was more focused and less party and more of a platform to raise an awareness of our deteriorated culture.  It felt right in there.  My cousin Todd was in there who gets me in all my depths because we've been through much loss together and always remind each other to live life. 

Me and Peyton Falgoust

Sip from the root oh bountiful bank...

New York 4/17-4/27

Went up to New York a couple of weeks ago and slipped right back into the scene like I never left thanks to all my dear friends who invited me back to play.  The above picture is the wall outside the old headgear studio.  I heard it was going to be a JCrew soon.  Things change.  I've come to accept that people change and things must just keep going.  

I played a solo set on Friday the 18th followed by a full band set with The Royal Vagabonds with special guest Aaron Dugan.  It was quite a time playing with these guys as we lost control over ourselves and just followed the music.  Dugan played with Josh during his years with Matusyahu, so he had a command over all the dub stuff we did.  We went seamlessly from Folk/Americana to dub to Rocking out and all the material worked well together.  Me, Josh and Dave had started playing some of my old record material last year and it seems to be a good fit.  The crowd was really nice and appreciative and purchased all my cds.  Thanks everyone especially Pauley Ethnic for putting this night together.

I spent another day at Adios Babylon studios with DJ Kiva and we banged out another song.  We started out just experimenting but almost have enough material for an EP.  I like making music with Kiva as he is an expert on all things recording in Apleton Live.  I also got a tour of the school he teaches at called Dub Spot.  It's crazy all the classrooms they have set up to learn music production.  Thanks Kiva for sharing your talents.

On Wednesday I played with Helio Parallax which is the dub duo Josh Werner and Takuya who both met playing in Coco Rosie's band.  Bianca from Coco Rosie and I sang on a few tracks and had a blast.  It was so hard when we were both in the basement waiting to go on to play cause the band sounded so good.  We both did our thing though once we got up there.  This night was for the Bill Laswell Residency.  It was so nice to be in John Zorn's club The Stone finally.  It feels a lot like the old Tonic scene where I got to play years ago.  There were pictures on the wall of all the great musicians from the down town scene over the years.  Feels good to be carrying a part of that torch.

On Thursday, Margo Valiente and Dave Burnett invited me to sing at Skinny Dennis, the old honky tonk bar.  We did a Neil Young song and Bob Dylan's "I Shall be Released" that was written for The Band.  It was nice to hear her sing, ripping through like 50 songs in one night.  

I had the good fortune of playing at artists JR and Prune's home for their monthly dinner party.  JR is well known for winning the Ted award and for speaking on Ted Talks and for changing the world through his art.  I was introduced to everyone before playing by friend Oliver Jeffers.  It was so nice to play for this crowd with Oliver and Mac Premo sitting right there.  The audience was so kind and there was a feeling of love and humility in the room.  This is the feeling I've been looking for for a long time. No record industry can deliver this kind of thing.  This is a real path, with like minded artist forging new paths with each other.

This is a group shot after my performance.  I was joined by dancer Lil Buck the legend and Jonathan Batiste on melodica.  Thanks again JR and Prune.  

Mardi Gras 2014....

It's a wrap......

One Sunday in January of 2011 I was having my morning coffee and Danny Blume came to mind and I searched for him and found him.  I listened to some of projects he'd been working on, including his own music and thought about my experience with him recording my first record with he and Chris.  It was a crazy experience for me as I had no idea what I was doing but had good ideas and a little money to make it happen.  I always loved the sound we got together and loved recording vocals with Danny at the board because he had good ears and a whole lot of patience.  

At this point in 2011 I hadn't stop writing or playing music but was very much hiding out and no one was looking for me.  I mustered up the courage to reach out to Danny and he replied and I started sending him some song ideas I had and he liked them so we decided that we'd do a record together.  The first song "Free" was done from separate cities as he is in Woodstock and I New Orleans.  I loved the outcome so I  then booked a ticket to NY so we could record a batch of songs.  

When I hit the road in the rental car towards Woodstock, I was so excited to work with Danny again knowing what I know now.  When I first started it was so frustrating not knowing how to articulate anything because I didn't have the musical vocabulary so I had to show pictures and draw diagrams and play samples of music to get sounds I wanted.  I was also humbled by my years in seclusion.  I was alone with my music with no manager or booking agents or anyone who really cared.  Well, my wife was there and those beautiful emails that would come out of nowhere every week from people looking for me and thanking me for my music.  

When I was on the road, it was getting dark and all these folks were on my mind.  It takes so much courage to keep going sometimes but I knew Amanda believed in me and Danny wasn't into wasting time so I knew he believed in me and I knew the songs I had in my head were something.

I had no idea what was about to take place or the musicians that would be involved that allowed the project to fly away from my grasp.  It is the best feeling to watch a song take off and become way more than you imagine it and to be in a room of equals with mutual respect for each other.  

My thank you's have to go all the way back to my dear friend John Ellis.  He was my mentor in the beginning of my song writing days and always took me serious, even when I didn't know what I was doing.  He had checked in with me to see how I was doing and asked if I was still writing music and I told him I was and he came down with a bass player, Madison and Dave Burnett on drums and we cut 5 songs at Axis studio with Misha.  This session started it all for me and eventually let Danny hear what I had been up to.  I did a few more sessions in New Orleans with Josh Werner and Dave Burnett who are my Royal Vagabonds brothers.  After these sessions, I knew I had something.  

Woodstock is known for being a haven for musicians from the city and I was amazed by the level of talent and taste living in those hills.  There's nothing like recording next to the wood burning stove and taking breaks to chop wood or to watch bears near the creek.  It was exciting when we started to bring in musicians up there.  David Baron(Lenny Kravitz, Peter Murphy, Michael Jackson), Jerry Marotta(Peter Gabriel), Zack Alford(David Bowie), and Nels Cline (Wilco, Nels Cline Singers).  Finally finished "Campo Santo".  All we have to do is master!

Of course during the course of all this music making, there is life in New Orleans.  Luca gets me out of the house and takes me on walks and gets me out to Holy Cross for some peace and quiet and nature so I don't drive his mommy crazy.  I still manage to do it though.



We're nearly finished the bottom bathroom renovation.  We hired Cody and his friends to do the major construction of moving the doorway to the hallway.  Jay and I cut the door in half and made some french doors. They are going to be so nice with some nice hammered glass put in both sides.













I got Mr. Nolan to help me renovate all the plumbing on the vintage barber sink.  This has been along time as it's been sitting in our living room for two years.  Finally will be put to use.



I polished the brass and it came out really nice.



This is Amanda at Dr. Craig's house where there's always costumes being passed around and nights on the town.  It's a great diversion from all the work and recording.  Now it's time to let the music out there.