Interworkings of My Brain
Hello internet.
My stats on tumblr say that I have 4 followers but when I looked to see who they were it only showed 2 so… My blog maybe going out to the mystical abyss that is the internet but I march on in my blogging conquest to become a better writer even if no one is reading it.
So, what’s new do you ask? Well, I played at the Coffee Party Convention in Louisville, KY with Amber Henson. We met so many amazing people. Jonny Five from the Flobots, a singer/songwriter from New Mexico, a film maker/singer/songwriter form Columbia, a singer/U of L student, from so many different places she could name them all, a rapper from DC, and so many others. The whole performance was recorded and can be watched online at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9798948 .
I played the Mary Breckenridge Festival with Amber Melton. We got to play a set before and after The Greatest Of These ( www.tgotband.com ), and we got to watch country music legend Bobby Bare and up-and-comers, The Jonathan Singleton Band. Both were amazing live. So in two weekends I crossed 200 miles and played in 2 cities (to borrow a line from The Greatest Of These’s ‘Two Cities, Two Nights, Two Hundred Miles Tour’ this weekend).
I have also been writing songs. The first one I wrote just before I went to the Coffee Party Convention. I was very inspired by the likes of Woody Guthrie (we sang this “This Land Is Your Land” as our encore) and Bob Dylan, so it was somewhat political. I had written the song a long time ago but never really liked it that much. I took a few of the lines that I liked the most and completely reworked the whole song; new chords, new melody, the works. The new incarnation is called, “Heart & Brain”. It’s about equality and close-mindedness. I’m also working on a song called, for now, “Passenger” inspired by people whole allow themselves to go along with whatever happens to them. My favorite line in it so far is, “Change is hard, but so is familiar”. I’m also working on a multi-part epic series of songs about a certain family member that causes a quite a bit of dysfunction in my life…apparently. It wasn’t planned; the verbal vomit just keeps spewing.
So what have I been listening to? My most recent CD purchase was Wilco (self-titled album). First of all the album art is fantastic (see it here http://wilcoworld.net/records/disco.php). Aside from that, I really love the opening track. It’s called “Wilco (The Song)”, and it’s like their theme song or something, very cute and catchy. I love their mix of folk and rock elements. My favorite song on the album is “You And I” a duet with Feist, which was the song I heard on Letterman or Craig Furgison, and the reason I bought the CD. I’ve also been listening to Ingrid Michaelson, as always, especially since I do a lot of Ingrid covers when I play with Amber Melton. Here are some others in list form:
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine featuring The Avett Bros., Josh Ritter, My Morning Jacket, Those Darlins, Old Crow Medicine Show…seriously amazing line up. Beautifully done.
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream - her voice is like warm honey, so sweet and smooth, it’s so incredibly beautiful
Alejandro Escovedo - Street Songs of Love - he’s like a road worn warrior of rock singer/songwriter with great wisdom of loves past
Lastly, I’m going to try to participate in a contest by Josh Ritter. It’s a continuously shot music video contest, http://vimeo.com/15435801 is the link to the details and the continuously shot video they made. Side note: I do believe that Tift Merritt makes a cameo appearance in the video. I bring this up because, I’ve met Tift when she played on WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour (where I work/volunteer) and she seemed like she was just a genuine and nice person. Anyway, I plan on participating in this one shot video thing. I think it will be really awesome. I just have to figure out how to do the audio part.
Wow, if you got this far internet, thank you so much for reading. I hope that the interworkings of my brain are enjoyable for you to read about. Until next time…love, live and let live.
Toni
