The Murphy Method Blog

Casey Henry

This is the second in my series of tour blogs from the American Revival concerts. In order for you to make sense of them you’ll need to know this: The Dixie Bee-Liners are Brandi Hart (guitar, vocals), Buddy Woodward (mandolin), Rachel Johnson (fiddle), Jeremy Darrow (bass), Robin Davis (guitar), and myself Casey Henry on banjo.

Today started with a drive—around six hours from North Carolina to Maryland. There was a flurry as the three vans were leaving the hotel as we figured out whether we were going to caravan or drive separately. We decided to each make our own way and we got on the road a little after nine.

When we loaded the van I noticed that some of the other band members had cups and bags from Brueggers Bagels. The hotel didn’t have a complimentary breakfast, so I figured we’d stop at Starbucks or something. But Robin said they had actually gone to Brueggers. When we were all in the van I said, “You know what was really cool? When you told me and Rachel that you were going to Brueggers and we all went together and it was a great band bonding experience!” Jeremy was duly apologetic, but I won’t let him forget it…

Rachel had decided to ride with Clay Hess (guitar player with Sierra Hull) and his wife Samantha, who were driving their own car, so I had the whole rear seat of the van to myself. I took advantage of that by sleeping for most of the trip. I did wake up for our coffee stop in Richmond. We got off the interstate, heading toward a Starbucks, but every single attempt we made to find the store was thwarted. In driving fruitlessly around Virginia’s capitol we wasted more than half an hour, never found out Starbucks, and ended up patronizing a more local establishment.

Duly caffined up we got back on the interstate and I promptly went back to sleep.

The Dixie Bee-Liners at the Weinberg Center for the Arts, Frederick, MD

When we got to the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, we did the usual loading in and sound checking. Today our sound check was incredibly long because they were trying to sort out channels leading from our in-ear monitor rig to the house sound system, which took probably close to an hour. I took pictures and tweeted while they were doing that, since setting up sound is not part of my job. It is Jeremy’s job, and we all felt sorry for all the rigmarole he had to deal with. I’m sure we tried the sound man’s patience, but he was a good sport.

We opened the show tonight and our set felt a little smoother than yesterday. We’re still settling in. Tour management doesn’t want band members in the lobby at intermission, only after the show, so we get to hang out back stage, visit and snack, if we’re not up watching the show, until after our final group number.

I had a strange moment in the lobby of the theater. We’d been there for several hours, and I’d been in the lobby at least once. I was in the lobby again looking at a picture on the wall and suddenly I realized that I had been there before. The Maryland Banjo Academy, a camp sponsored by Banjo Newsletter, had one of their concerts here. I distinctly remember playing “Real Women Drive Trucks” on that show. It was startling to realize that I’d been in here for hours and not recognized the place.

The slam-bang finish...

Post-show we signed and visited in the lobby. Murphy Method student Susan Morrison came out to the show, as did our friends Archie and Priscilla Warnock. It means a lot to us when our friends and family come see us. It makes the whole show experience more fun.

After spending the night at a nearby hotel, we’re headed out to Hampton, VA this morning. Both Rachel and I have gotten up and worked out two mornings in a row, and we’re quite proud of ourselves. We’ll see if we can keep that up!!

Casey Henry

This is the first in my series of tour blogs from the American Revival concerts.  In order for you to make sense of them you’ll need to know this: The Dixie Bee-Liners are Brandi Hart (guitar, vocals), Buddy Woodward (mandolin), Rachel Johnson (fiddle), Jeremy Darrow (bass), Robin Davis (guitar), and myself Casey Henry on banjo.

The Dixie Bee-Liners van pulled out of Abingdon, VA dark and early (that is, before sunrise) on Thursday morning, headed for Raleigh, NC to play at the Stewart Theater at North Carolina State University. Jeremy (who drew the short straw) was behind the wheel, the rest of us were in an mostly-unconscious state as he drove through the fog, the dawn, and then into the blinding eastern sun.

Jeremy Darrow at the wheel.

The other two bands on the tour—Uncle Earl, and Sierra Hull and Highway 111—had flown into Raleigh the day before and they, in their rental vans, pulled into the venue shortly after we did. For the first time ever in our lives we had no fewer than five eager willing stage hands to help us unload all our equipment from the van. Awesome.

The dressing rooms back stage were divided by gender, so we Bee girls, the Earl girls, and Sierra plopped our stuff into the women’s side, while the balance of the band members inhabited the men’s quarters. It was a nice mixer right away, and although some of us hadn’t met each other, enough people from the three bands were friends that we were immediately at ease with each others. Ira, our tour manager, had allowed plenty of time for soundchecks, so we had lots of hanging out time in the dressing rooms.

Uncle Earl soundchecked first, so I worked on my computer, taking advantage of the free wireless at the theater. DBL soundchecked second, Sierra last, since she was opening the show. They fed us a nice lunch of soup and sandwiches, with plenty of vegetarian options, and they even remembered Brandi’s dairy-free sandwich.

There was still tons of time between the end of our soundcheck and supper time, so Jeremy and I got out and walked around campus, enjoying the fall colors. It felt good just to move around!

As showtime approached they set up a lovely supper of salad, chicken or salmon entrée, and some luscious desserts. Rachel, Brandi, and I ate with Ron Block, who is playing banjo and guitar with Sierra. With food as good as they’ve giving us, it will be really hard not to gain weight on this trip!

The stage was half-circle shaped, with the audience arced all the way around. It had a very cozy feel. But when we were on stage the lights were so bright that we couldn’t see anyone at all! No one had told us whether they were going to introduce us or had shared any details of our entrance at all, so when Sierra finished and the stagehands set up our stuff, we walked out and made our own adjustments and just kinda stood there when we were ready. They killed the lights, and then brought them back up, and we kicked in to the first tune, “Crooked Road.” Gotta work on that for tonight!

Our set went as smoothly as it could have for a first show. It was the first time we’d done at least two of the songs: “Truck Stop Baby,” from Susanville, and our new promo tune, “She Plays Like A Girl.” We closed with the latter, and except for me coming in singing the chorus in the wrong place and Brandi switching two verses around it went just fine.

DBL USB bracelet

We’re running a special text-in promotion to win a free download of that song. Brandi ordered these cool USB flashdrive bracelets, and we’ve loaded the track onto them. The first three audience members to text us during the show win one. And I’m a little jealous of them, actually, because she didn’t give them to us band members!

Uncle Earl played after intermission—a truly wonderful set that we ended with a big group encore number—and then we all headed to the lobby to sign CDs and chat. After the huge merchandise counting and repacking all the stuff in the van we headed to the hotel, where I fell gratefully into bed. I don’t think the first tour day could possibly have gone better, and it really pumped us up for the rest of the eighteen shows. Tonight: Frederick, Maryland.