south by southeast

By Robbie on November 12, 2009

Hey all, I'm out of here for a little while, till after Thanksgiving. But the good news is that there's a good chance I'm coming near where you live, if that's between 35 and 40 degrees latitude north and 73 and 89 longitudinal degrees west. Dates and places are on the tour page, but here are a few highlights, chronologically:

Newport KY (near Cincinnati), Southgate House, Friday Nov. 13. It's been too long. Smashed fingers and terminated pregnancies, zonked math teachers and ugly old strippers, free fancy bourbon and dope...so many wonderful Southgate memories. I'll be playing with an unusual band this night, featuring the lovely and not-altogether-untalented Nora O'Connor.

Nashville, Bluebird Cafe, Tuesday Nov. 17. Time was when I steered clear of this songwriter mecca with its fanatical policy of zero molecular vibration, but one learns to live without the balm of inflexible opinions on how every business ought to run itself. At a date there around 2004, the owner, Amy, was so hospitable to me that I decided it was time to let go of my mental baggage. The Stygian quiet and close quarters are still a little strange, but as Einstein said, you can't change the structure of the universe; and since the Bluebird is to music clubs what the carbon atom is to matter, best not to tinker or cavil. I don't get to N*#@ville much anymore, and there is a rumor that Big Al Anderson might come by and play -- two reasons to get yourself down there.

Johnson City, Down Home, Wednesday Nov. 18. The next night I am excited to return to this spectacular acoustic listening room in botanically ravishing and musically sophisticated east Tennessee. Why do I come every five years to this tiny town where I have no particular audience? This room and the people that run it are second to none. And the Blue Ridge mountains are where I would like to die. Not November 18, 2009.

Ashland VA (near Richmond), Ashland Coffee and Tea, Friday Nov. 20. Ditto!

Vienna VA (near DC), Jammin' Java, Saturday Nov. 21. This date and the two above will be with Robbie Gjersoe, my dynamic singing and flatpicking foil for...Jesus Christ, almost 20 years. He knows what I'm going to play just about when I do, and immediately frames it with something sympathetic that makes it sound cooler than it is. The sound guy at Jammin' Java (sounds less inane in the original Gaelic) has always been pretty good at miking guitars. Speaking of that, I can't wait to try out the bossy little Neumann KM184 I bought in Sweden -- it's a smooth superweapon with which I can tap out delicate harmonics or drown out Gjersoe as I please.

I plan on saying one hilarious thing at every one of these shows. Don't miss it!