Traveling On and On

Winter fell upon me a few weeks ago.  I've had some time off from music.  A few short weeks anyway, and a few celebrations with family and friends for Christmas and New Years.  

Yesterday I left to head to Kentucky to get ready for the KPB's first outing.  While taking the 5 hour jaunt down 71 and 23 I had alot of time to reflect and think about this winter, this last year, and all those things that is fellow adults worry about constantly like bills and financial complications.  I felt burdened down with that gloomy winter fog that many of us so often times get.  You know, the kind of fog, where a 2 hour netflix and chill keeps you in sandals and socks, curled up with a blanket you absolutely can't stand. However, you know if you get up and get it that it might make you feel better, but you would, for some reason, feel much more comfortable with your self loathing and misery.  

I arrived at Kevin's, said goodbye to my wife Amanda and daughter Adeline, and spent a little time talking to Marvin Kevin's father, one of my favorite people to talk with.  I started to feel my spirits raising a little.  Then Kevin and I unloaded/loaded/organized the equipment trailer, and plugged in the bus to get some heat rolling for when the guys came in.  

As we worked I started to notice that winter brain fog starting to leave my body and spirit behind even more.  By the time we were finishing up, our friend Eb, a young talented fiddle player arrived and we all went over some music together that we've been working on.  

Of course, Kevin, Eb, and I told stories, and jokes, and laughed and picked on each other till about 11:30 pm.  We finished up and went to bed.  Dalton came in later, around 3pm from his job playing music in Tennessee, and Cody came in from his home around 5am.  I didn't recognize him in the dark when he walked past my bunk with his new hair cut.  I laugh now, but his hair has been long, and it's so short now and I hadn't a clue who was walking past me.  I just saw the faint white glow of his eyes, and sillouhette with short hair.  We laughed about it this morning.  

Fast forward a few hours, and we are all loaded up and on the road from Belcher Ky to Axton VA.  This will be myself and Codie's 1st year anniversary playing with KPB.  Our first year was huge, with two trips to Canada, a 19 day trip to California and back, the Station Inn, and a whole host of other venues.  Too many to count, and too many to name.  We even managed to fit in an 8 day cruise on the Carnival Liner Mardi Gras with Larry Efaw and other groups.  The talent at all of these events and festivals is always top notch and I am blessed to have met so many wonderful people over the last year.  

The first person I met last year was Steve Simpson.  I will be seeing him tomorrow again.  Seems like yesterday I was meeting him for the first time.  I have met so many people that I can't keep anyone straight, but kind people like Steve just leave a great impression on you.  

All in all, whatever may come, last year and this year, starting out, I feel confident and positive, knowing I'm in the right place at the right time.  That's hard to swallow sometimes because I am also a family man, and I know they feel my absence, as I definitely can feel theirs.  I love them and miss them all very much.  January and February runs this year are relatively short, so I'll be able to enjoy some more time with them as the weeks starting pushing past us.  I try to stay in the moment, and to stay aware as much as I can, and I find that the harder I try, the faster time slips by me.  This is probably the way of most of us, this collective experience we all share together.  And I am grateful for all of it.  

If I see you out on the road, come give me a hug.  Let's laugh together.  Let's talk together.  As an old friend of mine, Jimi Hammons would say, usually right before I would get up at a Larry Cadle Band show, when I played blues lead guitar and sang, and make no mistake, Jimi, he had the most to teach, but was always willing to learn something new.  And he delighted watching younger talent get up and put themselves out there, as I now do also, He would smile with a gleam in his eye and say, "Show me Something.". 

I'm newer to bluegrass as far as playing live than I would like to be, a baby compared to my bandmates, I barely know the names and stories that my band mates know about, and I hope to learn, and I hope to carry that same spirit along with me until I can no longer carry on.  I am just grateful to be here, to watch them share their talent, to hear their stories, and know in some way, that perhaps I've contributed in some small way, to a legacy of bluegrass that lead me around in my youth and spoke to me so deeply and strongly every time I would put on a record, 8track, cassette, or CD.  And now, heck, we just beam it through the air!!! Beam me up Scotty!   I'm home!