Tag Archives: dixie bee-liners

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Last night the Dixie Bee-Liners played at the beautiful Mast Farm Inn in northwestern North Carolina. The drive through the mountains after you get off the interstate at Johnson City, Tenn., is one of my absolute favorites (route 321). Winding, but not dangerously so, there are lakes, rivers, and river valleys that reveal themselves around every turn of the two-lane road. As I crossed the North Carolina line I couldn’t help but think (especially since I had Diana Gabaldon’s An Echo In The Bone in my car CD player), “This is near where Jamie and Claire’s cabin on Fraser Ridge must have been!” (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it, but you really should read Outlander and the books that follow it.)

The Inn is idyllic and since I forgot to take pictures yesterday, and it’s raining this morning, I’ll just link to their website. My room last night was the Blacksmith’s Shop, which is a lot more luxurious than the name might suggest. Take a look at these pictures. See that chair? I’m sitting there right now.

Henri Deschamps and his family own and run the Inn and are kind enough to occasionally host all-acoustic shows for about 25 people (that’s a sell-out!). Henri also runs the Bluegrass Legacy Facebook page, which has amassed a following of over thirteen thousand fans. This was the first time the Bee-Liners had played here and we (along with every other band who does this gig) now want to move and become the house band.

They moved all the tables out of one of their dining rooms, moved in rows of chairs, and we stood in front of our very attentive, very appreciative crowd and played two sets. That was after they fed us a stunningly good supper of Fire-Roasted Chunky Tomato Soup, Caesar Salad, fancy Corn Bread, white bread, and herbed butter. They brought Brandi some of their own honey to put in her coffee and it was wonderful—light and flowery tasting.

Playing for such a small, close crowd is fun, and we were able to get a nice rapport going. Jason Burleson (banjo player for Blue Highway) and his wife and son came to watch and were sitting on the front row. Every mistake I made I thought, “Jason’ll hear that” even though I knew no one else would be able to tell. It was a bit disconcerting.

Our bass player Sav, who is a powerful singer, sang, “Walls of Time” in the second set and just killed it. He actually got a standing ovation. When he was done Brandi turned to me and said, “Why don’t you sing one?” I answered, loud enough for the crowd to hear, “Seriously? You’re going to make me follow THAT!?” It got a laugh.

Soon there will be YouTube clips of our performance up, and I’ll try to link to them when they appear. The Mast Farm Inn truly treated us like royalty, and this is definitely a gig we’ll jump at the chance to do again. I just hope they

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Last weekend The Dixie Bee-Liners had the great pleasure of playing at two wonderful festivals: Knoxville’s Rhythm n’ Blooms and the Bear on the Square festival in Dahlonega, Ga. I’ve been wanting to make it to Bear on the Square for several years now. The promoter, Glenda Pender, knows Murphy from way back and remembers seeing me when I was just a little baby.

The Bee-Liners closed the show on Sunday. The weather could not have been more beautiful. Sunny and warm, but not hot. We arrived in Dahlonega several hours before our set so that Buddy and Brandi could do a songwriting workshop. That gave me time to walk around and look at the wonderful arts and crafts vendors who were set up on the square. I was instantly smitten with these two wooden tables, made by Skip Staab, and consequently spent a good portion of my paycheck before even being paid for the gig!

woodentables

My Aunt Argen and Uncle Mike came out to see the show, as well as my cousin Elaine. I sat with them to listen to Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz’s set. I had been looking forward to hearing them for months – ever since I saw the festival schedule. I absolutely love Ginny Hawker. She sings with an intensity that cuts straight to your heart. She sings with every fiber of her being. Our paths rarely cross, so I savor the times when they do.

Before her set I ran into Ginny at the backstage refreshment table and I said hello, reintroducing myself since it had been years since we’d met. I was flattered when she said she remembered reading in Bluegrass Unlimited that I’d joined the Bee-Liners. She said she’d never heard the band before and I told her I was really looking forward to hearing her sing.

Later, when we took the stage for our own set I noticed to my delight and dismay that both Ginny and Tracy were in the audience! Playing on the same show as your heros is one thing, knowing that they might be somewhere in the area and might hear you when you’re on stage. But playing when they’re right there in the audience watching the show is quite another. It says a lot about a person when they’ll actually sit down to listen to younger, up-and-coming bands.

I only sing one song on the set, but it was no easy thing to sing my number with Ginny looking on. Thankfully I made it through without forgetting any words or developing any frogs in my throat. When I was done Ginny, as well as the rest of the audience, clapped heartily, which made me feel awesome.

After our show the festival fed us at the Smith House and we got to see the old gold mine that is underneath the building, re-discovered in 2006. Then I headed home, a 4 ½-hour drive back to Tennessee accompanied by Chris Brashear in my CD player, dark chocolate fudge from the Fudge Factory, and the satisfying feeling of a job well done.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

The day before we Dixie Bee-Liners left for our trip to Arkansas and Oklahoma last week, we paused in Nashville to visit with Ned Luberecki at the Sirius/XM studios. The studio is in the tower attached to the arena in downtown Nashville (which used to be the Gaylord Entertainment Center, and then the Sommet Center, and now is the Bridgestone Arena) and the windows look down over lower Broadway. You can see the Ryman and all the tourists visiting Tootsie's, Robert's Western Wear, and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. It's pretty cool.

Rachel Johnson, Casey Henry, Ned Luberecki, Brandi Hart, Buddy Woodward, and Sav Sankaran at the Sirius/XM studio in Nashville.

Rachel Johnson, Casey Henry, Ned Luberecki, Brandi Hart, Buddy Woodward, and Sav Sankaran at the Sirius/XM studio in Nashville.

We taped Ned's "Derailed" show, which is the newgrass show that airs on Saturday nights. (...that was last Saturday, so don't be tuning in this weekend expecting to hear us. That ship has sailed...) We just talked on this visit, no playing, though Ned did play a bunch of tracks from the new "Susanville" CD.

There was much hilarity as we told the stories behind the songs on the album. Apparently the song "Trixie's Diesel Stop Cafe" was inspired by a truck stop in Madison, TN, which is where I live. I need to get them to tell me which one it is so I can point it out to people!

Radio these days is all done by computer. For Ned's show, and the rest of the shows on satellite radio, he just records the talking bits, which are then assembled in order between the songs before it goes out to listeners. So recording a show takes much less than real-time.

In our second radio experience of the weekend, which was on 105.1 The Wolf in Little Rock, AR, we played some tunes live in the studio. But they weren't quite broadcast live. We were actually recording the music, and it went out over the air a few minutes later. So we played the first song, which was "Down on the Crooked Road," and then switched instruments and were tuning up for the next number when we heard ourselves start playing "Crooked Road" on the monitor speakers, which was what the radio listeners were hearing at that moment. It was pretty neat, actually.

When we got done playing our three songs and had loaded up in the van to drive to the evening venue, we heard ourselves as we were driving out of the parking lot playing "Heavy" on the air. With the tape delay, the DJ could even edit the track before it was broadcast, so when he mispronounced one our our names, he just clipped it out and it sounded like he said it perfectly the first time. Amazing.

We expect to do more radio appearances in the coming months, like before our April 17th Knoxville gig, so I'll let you know when you can tune us in!

We just couldn't hold it in any longer. We had to let our true selves show!

We just couldn't hold it in any longer. We had to let our true selves show!

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

I write this from the back seat of our 15-passenger van in Hope, Arkansas (birthplace of Bill Clinton, I learned from the binder in my hotel room). We played in Little Rock last night and drove a couple hours after the gig, getting to bed around two a.m. The Mexican restaurant and bar we played at was called Juanita's and they had absolutely wonderful food and drink (though the margaritas could have used more tequilla...).

We were particularly glad to have a good experience by that point in the day, because our morning had been epically bad. We left from my house in Nashville, where it had started raining during the night. To avoid having to carry all our gear thirty yards through the rain, we had pulled the van up to the back door to load. We were, for once, running early and were all in the van, ready to pull out ten minutes before our eight a.m. departure.

Buddy, our mandolin player, stepped on the gas and the wheels moved, but we didn't. Stuck. We all got out and pushed (in the rain remember) and managed to move the van about a foot while digging a couple four-inch deep wheel holes in my grass. We called AAA, but while we waited we tried one more thing: unloading all our stuff to make the van lighter and trying again to move it. No luck.

We loaded all our stuff back in and threw some of our clothes in the dryer while waiting an hour for the tow truck. When he finally arrived, the driver was kind of a jerk, and was so bad at his job that the first time he pulled the van, it didn't make it out of the yard - it just got stuck again closer to the driveway. By the time he finally got the van all the way onto the driveway, it was an hour and a half after our scheduled departure. We had built in some extra time, but not that much. We missed our first radio interview in Little Rock, but made it for the second one. The joys of life on the road.

And to top it all off, I am hugely sore from all the pushing we did yesterday! Maybe I'll be able to get out and walk some at the Hugo, OK, Early Bird Bluegrass Festival, which is where we're headed right now!

-Casey

Here are some pictures, courtesy of Murphy's friend Jane, of The Dixie Bee-Liners' gig Friday night at Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Mass.

dbl_bullrun4

Casey Henry, tuning.

Casey Henry, tuning.

Casey Henry, Buddy Woodward, Brandi Hart, Rachel Johnson, and Sav Sankaran.

Casey Henry, Buddy Woodward, Brandi Hart, Rachel Johnson, and Sav Sankaran.

The Dixie Bee-Liners in action.

The Dixie Bee-Liners in action.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

The Dixie Bee-Liners are in the northeast this weekend and we have totally lucked out on the weather. We played in Cambridge, MA, Friday night, Shirley, MA, Saturday night, and are headed to Harrisburg, PA, today, and it's supposed to be 46 degrees. How awesome is that!

In Cambridge we played at Club Passim, which is a prestigious folk club that has been there for 52 years. I had actually never heard of it, but it turned out to be a really cool place. They have a restaurant adjacent to the club called the Veggie Cafe. They served wonderful food. I had roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, and goat cheese over coconut rice. Scrumptions. A good meal like that before you play makes a huge difference.

We opened for a band called Christabel and the Jons. As it turned out, they are from Tennessee, too, (Knoxville) and play original swingy country/jazz songs. Very cool. I traded for their CD, which we're going to listen to in the van on the way to the gig today.

Last night we played at the Bull Run Restaurant. This place, which reminded me strongly of Penn Alps in Maryland, had crazy good food. I ate so much. Salad with greens, apples, roasted butternut squash, and a maple balsamic vinegarette. Ravioli stuffed with cheese and peppers over a butternut squash puree. (Butternut squash seems to be a running theme this weekend. Hmmm.) I was still full five hours afterwards. The building was built in 1740, which makes it one of the oldest places I've ever played, and the crowd was wonderful. One of my mom's old school mates from Clarkesville came, Jane Thompson. And I sold two whole CDs. I love it when that happens.

A couple of times this weekend I've had a sweaty-finger problem. I'll be playing a song, usually my banjo tune in the set, "Leroy and Liza," and I realize that my thumbpick is working its way down my thumb. I'm playing my last break thinking, "Please don't come off before the last note, please don't come off before the last note!" Luck was with me and it stayed on, but it was nerve wracking.

Well, gotta dash. We're loading the van to head to Harrisburg to play at the Stage on Herr tonight. See you there!

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Yesterday: last show of the tour. Cool old Vaudeville theater with a surprising amount of space in the dressing rooms. I had the BEST surprise. I knew that my cousin who lives here in Pittsburgh and her boyfriend were coming to the show. She came when we were soundchecking and we went to eat Greek food (the owner of the restaurant was Jackie O’s personal chef on her yacht). I knew that my cousin and his girlfriend who live about an hour away were coming. But when I walked into the lobby at intermission and saw two of my mom’s cousins who live in Georgia, I was bowled over. Butch Martin had already seen the show once in Atlanta and still wanted to see it again (that’s a good sign, right?).

It was a really good show and really good crowd last night. For the first time on the entire tour, we had trouble with our sign. We’ve been doing a text-in promotion, so we have the phone number on a big sign. Every show after we show it to the audience, Robin props it up in front of the monitor speakers on the stage. Last night for some reason, it would not stay propped. It actually slid off the front of the stage! On his third try it stayed, earning a nice hand from the audience!

The sweet Uncle Earl G’earls gave us a bottle of wine and made us this card:

paperplate

We’ll miss you, too!! I’ll miss Paula singing baritone at my left shoulder during the finale songs. I’ll miss the theme songs. I’ll miss the jokes. I’ll miss hearing “Shiny Penny” and “Crayola” every day. I wish I had gotten a banjo lesson from Paula.

Here’s what I won’t miss: having to load the van every morning. Hotel breakfasts every morning. Riding in the van every single day. Having to wear the same clothes over and over and over.

Another thing I’ll miss is doing the pattycake on “Crayola.” Here’s Rachel and Sierra, trying to work up their verse, backstage in Hamilton, OH.

Rachel Johnson and Sierra Hull

Rachel Johnson and Sierra Hull

Rachel Johnson and Sierra Hull

Rachel Johnson and Sierra Hull

And I’ll miss everyone. I hope we get to do another tour together sometime!

everyone

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

This is gonna be a speed-blog because I'm running late and we're about to load the van to drive 4 1/2 hours to our LAST GIG OF THE TOUR!! We were all a bit disappointed yesterday when we realized what a long drive it was. Originally the tour book (our itenerary) had said it was only 110 miles. Alas, it's 293 miles. Bummer. Here's a concise view of our tour, courtesy of Uncle Earl: tour map.

First I have to say to my Dad:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I'll call you later!

There are many things that we'll miss when this tour is over. Loading the van in the morning is not one of them. Inevitably we're always waiting on someone or other. So a couple days ago I took some waiting pictures:

Robin Davis. Waiting.

Robin Davis. Waiting.

Jeremy Darrow. Waiting. (In his snazzy new Uncle Earl hat. He helped them load their van--he got a hat.)

Jeremy Darrow. Waiting. (In his snazzy new Uncle Earl hat. He helped them load their van--he got a hat.)

Casey Henry. Waiting.

Casey Henry. Waiting.

We will miss getting to hang out with such great musicians and amusing people every day.

Here's the link to my third tour post over on the Bluegrass Blog.

Gotta run. See y'all in Pittsburgh tonight I hope! (I mean, we'll definitely be there, I just hope that you will, too.)

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Our band did a school outreach yesterday afternoon at St. John’s Lutheran School. The entire school was in attendence, a couple hundred K-8th graders. The littler kids were totally into it, clapping to almost every song, though not at all in time (it sounded like heavy rain pounding on a roof), but the eighth graders in the back row were more aloof, watching politely but completely undemonstrative.

It’s a completely different experience playing for children than for adults. I like to study the kids and pick out who looks the most like me at that age. She’d definitely be obeying all the rules, sitting politely, paying attention, long brown hair, headband or ponytail, braces.

We had to adjust our material some, on account of all the singing about alcohol, suicide, and sex that we usually do. J We did “Bound to Ride,” and Buddy introduced it with a long spiel about crackers (the food, not the people). The next song was Robin singing “Nine Pound Hammer.” As he was singing the verse that goes, “It’s a long way to Harlan, it’s a long way to Hazard, just to get a little brew…” he suddenly realized he was singing about moonshine and improvised on the fly: “It’s a long way to Harlan, it’s a long way to Hazard, just to get a pile of crackers…” The band cracked up, of course, and the school’s staff was none the wiser. The kids didn’t care.

Our show tonight had a pretty good crowd, but they were a little too polite. We like the ones who will hoot and holler. Oh. Wait. I can hear them now. They’re hooting and hollering for Uncle Earl. It was just us. Okay then. Never mind….

The women of the American Revival Tour getting ready to sing the Crayola song.

The women of the American Revival Tour getting ready to sing the Crayola song.

Anyway. Uncle Earl does one of Kristin Andreassen’s songs, “Crayola Doesn’t Make A Color For Your Eyes.” I’m not sure if I’ve really written anything about it until now, but it is a totally awesome song. It won some kind of songwriting award, but it’s completely charming and the last line of the chorus is “Crayola doesn’t make a color to draw my love.” Their arrangement includes a hand clap/slap pattycake thing all the way through. They sing and clap simultaneously and I didn’t fully appreciate how hard that is until last night.

The G’Earls wanted to get all the women on the tour involved and on stage at the same time, so Rachel and Sierra learned a verse to sing while they clapped, and Brandi and I were hand jive partners. To keep the pattern going through the entire song takes a balance of concentration and not-thinking-about-it that I have not achieved yet. Maybe by tonight, or tomorrow.

We just have two more shows left. Two! Long drive today—six hours—and a show tonight in Hamilton, Ohio. We need to make sure to get a group picture before we all go our separate ways.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

I’m sitting the lounge of the Hilton Hotel in Naperville, IL, near Chicago, writing this. Who knows when I’ll be able to post it because they make you pay for internet access here, which I’m not willing to do. Last night my phone told me there was a Caribou Coffee half a mile away, so I was planning on going there. But this morning my phone decided it was really two miles away and, since I don’t have van keys, it would have taken too long to walk there.

Scarf attempt #2.

Scarf attempt #2.

Yesterday was a travel day, nine hours from Knoxville to the Chicago area. Rachel decided to ride with Clay and Sam Hess, so I once again had the back van seat to myself (woohoo!). That made my trip easier. I finished my second crocheted scarf and finished Charlaine Harris’s new collection of Sookie Stackhouse short stories. Buddy and Jeremy did the driving, and a fine driving job it was, too.

Jeremy realized that we were passing very close to the Kentucky Coffeetree Cafe in Frankfort, Ky., so we stopped there for lunch. The Bee-Liners have played there a few times in the past, and the bookshelf-lined walls created an extremely comfortable atmostphere. I had the black bean salsa wrap and potato salad. Really, really good.

When we got close to the hotel, we decided to grab supper before checking in. We went to possibly the worst Thai restaurant that any of us have ever been to. Good presentation, but they fell far short in the taste department. You win some, you lose some. We certainly lost that one.

I took an early bed but Rachel decided to go to the midnight showing of “New Moon” with Clay and Sam. I was long asleep by the time they got back after 2 a.m. I'm still waiting for a report on the movie, since she was still asleep when I left the room this morning.

Today we’re playing a school show from 2-3 before heading over to the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage for tonight’s show. I really hope that we can hold the attention of a room full of first through eighth graders.

P.S. - A big thank you once again to Caribou Coffee, once again, for their internet access. And for my dark chocolate latte. Big yum.