Greetings From Nashville

Hey y'all :)

mostly good, somewhat weird times down here in Nashville for Americana Fest!

It was eventful from the get go!

Wednesday. I was at LAX sitting at the gate waiting for Ellie who REFUSES to get TSA Precheck and was trapped in a security line hell scape... perhaps she wants to comment on the particulars... when I spotted THE Martin Short walking up with an airport handler. I've met him twice before and I could tell he was a little uncomfortable waiting around a crowded gate, so I stood up and said hello and offered him the seat next to me to blend in. He remembered me and sat down and we had a nice little chat. I congratulated him on the Emmys and he was like "we lost" and I said "I mean congratulations on being there."

We had a little small talk after than - He was traveling to Nashville to do a show with Steve Martin and we talked about how that all works... I didn't want to drown him in small talk so I was grateful when he was called away to board. I was back in Comfort PLUS so would have to wait a few zones. Ellie was still in purgatory as I boarded and found I had been assigned a middle seat. Oh boy.

Ellie made it on the plane by the skin of her teeth and our big old airplane took off.

About an hour or so into the flight there was a medical emergency a few rows behind us! A man had passed out from low blood pressure I think. It was mildly exciting and was well handled by the crew and luckily it didn't involve making an emergency landing anywhere.  

Thursday began with me and Ellie hitting a radio station where we did 3 songs from the new record, just the two of us. It was a little harrowing as we hadn't had much time to rehearse and i'm prone to mixing up my lyrics, but we just jumped in and nailed them pretty much on the nose. We then were interviewed by a few NPR affiliate DJs and I was on my best behavior, charming singer songwriter mode, but it was nice to have Ellie there to chime in.

Later that night, we had our first Showcase (what a terrible word) at 3rd and Lindsay, a sorta, steakhouse, honky tonk where I was gonna play about 40 minutes, mixed in with some country western and cowboy folk singers... Our friend Sarah Potenza who did that ripping cover of "Trump Tower" offered to come down and sing that one with me. We took the stage to a few straggling fans, but mostly older folks having dinner. I opened with a joke: when I said hello and people kind of ignored me, I said "hey this is the south i thought you people were supposed to be polite!" that got their attention and a few laughs and Ellie and I launched into the tunes which were pretty well received, considering the crowd! Sarah came up towards the end and absolutely blew the roof off the place with her version of Trump Tower and it got a rousing reaction... I'm sure there were some Trump voters out there, but I guess Nashville is pretty blue. They seemed to like it enough that I ended things with Trump's Private Pilot and got the hell out of there.

(Ellie's Bass Case and our Nisson Centra rental car - not a good fit)

It was a weird way to kick things off. We headed over to Basement East where Ellie was playing with Waxa for a bit Ani Records anniversary show and a lot of friends would be there. I walked in and Christian Lee Hutson had just come off stage and we had a fond reunion. Maddy Diaz, who Jon Wurster and I goofed on when we went through the Brooklyn Vegan list of up and coming artists to watch a few years back was there playing - I knew she had found it hilarious at the time and we were formally introduced and had a nice chat. MJ Lenderman was backstage, playing on the bill and with Waxa and we - He's an easy guy to like and we hung out talking shop, comedy stuff, watching the Bob Dylan wrench video... It was great to see Katie and her band too, a little mini reunion from the tour a few weeks ago. Good old, Eric Slick was there and we talked about touring and opening for bands and The Monkees.

The headliner was Neko Case, who I don't know well, but I could tell from certain likes on social media over the years, that she liked our work, so I felt I should introduce myself and we had a nice little conversation where she told me how much she loved the episode Toes from Bedtimes Stories. ahah .

The night went late and I bowed out of a big old hang that looked like it was headed until dawn.

The next day we were set to play an afternoon show at a pretty cool joint: it was a record store/bar called The Vinyl Tap - it was curated by my new label Bloodshot - It was a totally different scene than the night before - pretty packed with friends and fans - MJ, Slick and producer Brad Cook came out to watch and we had a nice, sweaty packed room for our little set. It made all the difference as people really seemed to enjoy the heck out of it. Ellie and I were tight and loose at the same time and after I milled about shaking hands and taking pics with some very nice and appreciative fans.

But we couldn't hang around too long, we had to rush to another gig across town at the Hutton Hotel in a beautiful room called Analog, a nightclub, listening room kind of club, dark with good comfortable seating. We got there and SwampDogg was on the stage with his partner MoogStar and a big old pickup band. We went to the green room which overlooked the stage and waited our turn... time passed and SwampDogg would not leave the stage! He kept going, playing a long Otis Redding style soul closing number. Ugh - come on Swamp Dogg!

He eventually wrapped things up and we rushed to get up and sound check. Ellie and my manager Dan had a flight to catch so we were under the gun.

The crowd was a little closer to the 3rd and Lindsay vibe than the record store vibe and I was generally annoyed with being rushed and was happy to do a quick truncated set that seemed to land ok enough but didn't match the thrill of the record store.

Ellie headed to the airport and I took a little rest in my hotel room - I could have called it a night and watched a movie, but the night before Eric Slick and I had talked about getting together to try and record a pop smash hit that we could retire on through tik tok plays - It had just happened to Dr. Dog, where a random song from an old album had caught on and went viral on tik tok, being used a lot for Graduation and wedding videos I guess... so we wanted to try to write a very catchy and sentimental song about Graduation.

So I got a bite to eat and ubered over to Eric's house where he has a nice little studio set up and we had a great time working on the song... he's a fun guy to make music with! Needs more work to become a total pop smash, but the bones of it are there.

I have one more show tonight at the Franklin Theater about 30 minutes south of town. I don't know what to expect, but I'm getting to play with a house band which will be a nice change and should be good fun. Apparently it's getting recorded for NPR!

That's all for now! I'll see you all Thursday! should be a MAGICAL show...

tickets remain on sale for the big Slipping Away Tour coming in 2025! i know it feels far away, but NOW is the time to pick up your tix!

P&L, T