Life In Car Years
Greetings! I took last week off from writing this newsletter because I was busy with music life and then went up to Ohio for a quick weekend where we procured a new ‘old’ car from my parents. Welcome to the fold, ‘Blue Bonnet’ a 2007 Toyota Highlander. Mom and Dad kept it in great shape, and as we work on trading in both of our other cars for another newer car, we are deep in the car swapping fold, which definitely shakes things up in my world!
Maybe it’s a family thing, but I could feel Mom’s sadness as we pulled away in the vehicle that kept her safe for the last decade and a half. And as the days are numbered in my 2010 Pontiac Vibe, I share the same sentimentality. We spend hours upon hours in these vessels. They deliver us to our destinations and I get so bonded with my cars that they show up in dreams years later, sometimes missing parts or malfunctioning or even flying at times. Do you dream about flying in your current car or an old car? It might be an anxiety dream of some form, but I am usually safe upon landing.
New cars make me nervous. Will we get along? Can I trust them? What types of quirks will they have and will I be able to live with that? How quickly will it turn into a messy car, stacked with mementos that sort of just meld into it. As I write this, I am avoiding the ‘final clean’ of Le Vibe, nicknamed ‘Tim’ by my friend Jason Crosby, after fellow musician friend Tim Lefebvre (it basically sounds like LeVibe). That’s car humor for ya. It’s all a matter of putting trust into an inanimate object that hopefully was designed to keep us safe.
Otherwise, this month has been really fun because the band I’m in with Bob Lewis, ‘Slowforce’ has been busy playing a weekly residency. We’ve been having so much fun putting it together and showcasing special guests each week at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Madison TN. A weekly gig is work but it’s a dream doing it with a partner. Plus we have a rhythm section, which is such a luxury and a comfort, knowing that Erin Nelson on the drums and Larry Cook or Jonathan Beam on bass have our backs. Bob and I have been developing this band since the before times and it’s great to finally see some of our ‘slow’ work come to fruition. When we think about the blank spot of 2020 to about now - 3 years - where everything sort of stood still yet time kept on rolling - it’s difficult. It’s not like we didn’t play - we even did some gigs - but we sure didn’t try to tour. And now, touring seems to be so hard to determine. The old DIY days seem untenable. Maybe we’ve grown older and less tolerable of ‘crashing wherever’ or ‘hoping for the best’ financially but truly gone are the days of setting out on the road blindly. We’d love to go to Europe or Japan or Australia or California (hello, agents, just saying) but the logistics at this point in time seem so far fetched. And I am hearing that among other artists at our level when I put my ear to the ground. It’s not possible anymore to afford it. And how does one get their music out and heard by the masses? Does publicity provide much more than a spot in a local online news outlet that people may or may not read?
I’ve been deep diving into music from the late 90’s recently. It was a different time, when releases were anticipated and not leaked online. When everything ‘wasn’t free.’ Simpler times. There was internet, but there wasn’t Spotify. You had to work harder to hear music for free. I think we were burning CD’s around then, but even then, that took work, and to make a compilation for someone else was a big heartfelt gesture. It’s how I got to know some of my fav artists from that time - such as ‘Song’s: Ohia’ and ‘Magnolia Electric Company’ both products of the late Jason Molina. Shawn Colvin, Sleater Kinney, Courtney Love, Sheryl Crow, Destiny’s Child, Tori Amos, Alanis, Silver Jews, Beck, Jonatha Brooke — all of these artists came to me via a CD mix from boyfriends and girlfriends I had and I in turn made these mixes from mixes and shared my discovered loves. I guess that’s why I like playlists now, but it doesn’t give me the same rush as discovering a new song from a friend.
This morning I re-listened to Beck’s 1999 release ‘Midnite Vultures.’ Even though it was familiar enough to me, I felt like I was hearing it for the first time. Even ‘Debra’ showed me something new. I didn’t love every single song on there but the innovation on that record, which he made in his ‘home studio’ before home studios were a thing, is completely amazing. Talk about an artist way ahead of his time! His little audio book ‘Dear Life’ is a great and quick deep dive into his artistry and narrated by him, shows a side of him that is both humble and sweet. I was relieved to feel like he was the nerdy pal I hoped he’d be. And he still sounds surprised that the people actually determined that ‘Loser’ was gonna be a hit.
In the late 90’s, I played music but hadn’t figured out how to write a song yet. I was just getting started by playing in some local bands in Columbus and hadn’t yet learned that I could try for music as a lifeway, even though a part of me always dreamed of it. And now, over 20 years and about 3 cars later I still am dreaming of the possibilities.