Tag Archives: tour

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.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Knoxville yesterday held many revelations. Among them Morelock Music, which is right around the corner from The Square Room, where we were playing. I happened upon it completely by accident. What caught my eye was the huge banjo

Uncle Earl's Paula Bradley and the ridiculous banjo.

Uncle Earl's Paula Bradley and the ridiculous banjo.

but what really drew me in was the dead cool vintage clothes. Not what I usually expect to see in a music store, but I went with it, and found a nice fleecy jean jacket for $15. They were playing Reed Martin (solo clawhammer banjo) on the store stereo, which made me feel right at home.

Second revelation: YeeHaw Industires printshop. They had a booth set up at the Clifftop old-time festival, where I spent too much money. I was saved from a similar fate yesterday only by the consideration that whatever I bought has to survive in the van for five more days. No poster has a chance.

Third revelation: Kopi Luwak coffee, which we fondly refer to as cat poo coffee. I had heard about this coffee for years. I think the first person to tell me about it was KC Groves. It comes from Sumatra. These animals called Luwaks (cat-like creatures) eat red, ripe coffee cherries. They digest the fruit part, but the beans pass through and end up on the forest floor, where people collect them, roast them and grind them, just like regular coffee. Except that this coffee is so rare it costs $480 a pound. Seriously.

Brandi and I happened into a shop called Coffee and Chocolate, just next door to the venue. They had this coffee. It cost $60 for two ounces. Brandi made a deal with the owner of the shop that we’d get a package of it, get them to brew it up, and split it between all of us, so it would only cost us just over $8 each. They had some of these Kopi Luwak coffee beans encased in a clear paperweight. We all thought this was very amusing and studied it very closely.

Stephie Coleman, Jeremy Darrow, Bryn Davies and KC Groves seriously considering Kopi Luwak coffee beans.

Stephie Coleman, Jeremy Darrow, Bryn Davies and KC Groves seriously considering Kopi Luwak coffee beans.

If you liked the Uncle Earl blog song, you’re sure to like this one. It’s the Uncle Earl Cat Poo Coffee Song! (You need a jingle, they got a jingle. Even if you didn’t know you needed a jingle, they’ve got a jingle for you.) I'm not sure this one is going to be as big a hit as their blog theme...

Before the cat poo coffee we played on the local radio station WDVX for about twenty minutes, advertising the night’s show and our new CD Susanville. Here’s a little photo gallery.

Brandi Hart, consulting about mic placement with WDVX deejay.

Brandi Hart, consulting about mic placement with WDVX program director Tony Lawson.

Rachel Johnson, tearing up her break on "Heavy".

Rachel Johnson, tearing up her break on "Heavy".

Brandi Hart singing "Heavy" from the new Dixie Bee-Liners' CD Susanville.

Brandi Hart singing "Heavy" from the new Dixie Bee-Liners' CD Susanville.

Buddy Woodward rendering "Truck Stop Baby," also on Susanville.

Buddy Woodward rendering "Truck Stop Baby," also on Susanville.

And here’s a shot from the show’s finale song:

Almost everyone from Uncle Earl, Sierra Hull and Highway 111, and The Dixie Bee-Liners in the final song of the night.

Almost everyone from Uncle Earl, Sierra Hull and Highway 111, and The Dixie Bee-Liners in the final song of the night.

Today is a travel day. We’re headed to Glen Ella, Illinois, near Chicago. I don’t think anyone is looking forward to the long drive!

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Holy cow, day twenty! We've really been out for twenty days? It seems like a hundred. Just kidding. It seems like thirty.

News Flash: this afternoon (November 18th) around 5:00 Eastern time The Bee-Liners and (I think) Sierra Hull's band will be live on the radio--WDVX in Knoxville. You can listen online here, or tune in to the local FM frequency.

Last night was a truly exciting moment: Uncle Earl debuted the blog song on stage for our lucky Bowling Green crowd. And I got an MP3 version of the song, so everyone should be able to play it with no problem. Listen to the Murphy Method Blog Theme Song here. After they sang it I got several inquiries about the address of the blog, so a big welcome to any readers who were lured in by Uncle Earl's siren song.

I realized yesterday that I really hadn't had any pictures of Sierra Hull and her band on here, so I snapped one as were were hanging around, killing time backstage. Here's what Sierra does for fun:

Sierra Hull, finding her true calling.

Sierra Hull, finding her true calling.

This next story is about what Jeremy and I do for fun. We were in the green room backstage, which happens to be under the stage. Sierra's band was soundchecking and there was some foot pounding going on. Underneath the stage as we were, it sounded like someone using a sledge hammer. We decided walking around in the cool night air would be preferable. Jeremy found on his handy iPhone the Corsair Artisan Microdistillery, which was just next door to where we were (we took a roundabout route to get there, but we made it). The inside lights were on and the sign out front said "Distillery Gift Shop," so we took a chance and went in. The pungent smell of fermenting grain met us at the door. We didn't really see anyone, so we looked at the shirts, glasses, bottles of spirits they had there.

Brady, hard at work on a batch of Pumpkin Spice Moonshine.

Brady, hard at work on a batch of Pumpkin Spice Moonshine.

A couple minutes later a guy notices us, says they are actually closed, and introduces himself as Ben, one of the owners. We get into conversation and he tells us about their operation, which is less than two years old. Even though they're closed, he offers to do us a little tasting. We take him up on the offer. He first pours us their Rye whiskey, which is great. The Yazoo Brewing Company in Nashville made the mash for it, and it apparently really clogged up their machines so they'll never do it again. You better believe that Jeremy and I walked out of there with the last two bottles of that batch.

Then Ben poured their vanilla vodka for us. This was far and away my favorite. It tasted like drinking vanilla extract (made with organic fair-trade vanilla beans). I took a bottle of that home as well.

We moved onto Gin, which is not my favorite, but theirs was wonderful. Jeremy tasted the absinthe and liked it enough to buy a bottle. I'm not a licorice fan, so I just smelled its distinctive aroma and that was enough for me.

I would have liked to taste the Pumpkin Spice Moonshine that was running out of the still right at the that moment, but it wasn't ready for the public. Finding Corsair Artisan Distillery was by far the best impromptu side trip of the tour. We felt lucky to have happened upon them, and were so grateful that even though they were closed Ben took the time to introduce us to his wonderful products! They will make the rest of the tour much more fun!

Today we're hitting the road to Knoxville, Tenn., where we play at the Square Room.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Yesterday was a travel day, a rainy one, across Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky to Bowling Green. We Bee-Liners stopped to eat twice, once at Panera for lunch, and once when we arrived in Bowling Green at the Montana Grill, where the waitress seemed a little nonplussed by Robin's request for vegitarian nachos.

Jeremy and I then continued on to Nashville (thanks Uncle Earl for letting us borrow your van!!!) to our own houses, where we could sleep in our own beds. As I write this I'm in my own office and just almost burned my oatmeal because I was concentrating on writing a birthday card to my dad and forgot it was on the stove. My laundry is turning merrily in my dryer and I'm getting ready to re-pack for the last week of the tour with somewhat less stuff than I started out with. A blissful twelve hours at home. Well, actually a truly blissful morning wouldn't' include laundry, or unloading the dishwasher, but it was close enough.

We're playing at the Capitol Arts Theater in Bowling Green tonight, only about an hour from Nashville, so we expect to see some hometown friends. And, check it out, the show is free. That's right, completely free! So if you live nearby, come see us!

One picture for today:

The Dixie Bee-Liners van, ready to roll.

The Dixie Bee-Liners van, ready to roll.

This is our van, which we load and unload at least twice a day. Good times, good times.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Blog Theme Song

I mentioned yesterday that Uncle Earl has a daily blog theme song to accompany their van blog readings. Well, they really came through for me and actually recorded it so that we can all enjoy it. Here is the Murphy Method Blog theme song!! (It's a .m4a file, which will play in Quicktime. I'll try and figure out how to make it into an MP3 so that it will be easier for everyone to play.) Thanks, G'earls. You're the best.

Last night we were in Springfield, Missouri. There were a lot of young peole at the show and we got asked to sign more programs than on any other night so far. The Chapmans, who are from here, came out to see the show, and Rachel and Sierra and her band went out with them afterwards to Steak and Shake.

The last couple of shows I’ve had bad pick karma, and I’m hoping that by writing about it I can purge it. Two nights ago in Fayetteville I had a minor pick incident. It went like this:

Between the first two songs I have to change banjos, from my low-tuned banjo back to my regular Kel Kroydon, which sits in a stand just behind me. This time when I put my Gibson down, my fingerpicks got caught on the strap and came off. They both landed on the floor under the stand. Now, there is not supposed to be any time at all between the first two songs. I even leave off the last note of “Crooked Road” so I can switch and be ready for the downbeat of “Bugs in the Basement” by the time the applause has stopped. The extra time I had to spend putting my picks back on, in addition to being nerve wracking (“What if I can’t get my picks back on at all?!”) was awkwardly silent. But, I did get them on and the show continued apace.

Last night, though, came very close to disaster. A few songs into the set we do a song called “Heavy” on which I do not use picks. I’ve been taking them off and carefully putting them on top rail of our multi-intrument stand, which is just wide enough to balance them (since my stinkin’ stage skirts and dresses don’t have pockets). When I turned around after “Heavy” to put my picks back on they weren’t there. Just think about that for a second. THEY WEREN’T THERE.

I calmly figured that they must have fallen off onto the floor. So I looked on the floor and found one pick behind the stand. One. Holy crap, where are the other two?? I start to panic a little. I move the stand and look under it. No picks. I’m bearing in mind all the while that I’m squatting down beside this instrument stand as gracefully as I can in a short dress and leggings and they’re about to start the next song. Finally I spy my thumbpick and other fingerpick sitting on my banjo. How the heck did they fall onto my banjo? No time to think, I just picked them up and put them on. It flustered me a bit, to the extent that I was off by a fret on a couple licks during “If I Was a Carpenter” (sorry, Robin).

Disaster averted, I finished out the set with all three picks, only slightly distracted by thinking about how much worse it could have been, and how I was going to write about it later in this blog. As I said, I’m hoping that by writing about this I will apease the pick faries and turn my luck back to the good.

Now, a couple of things I meant to include yesterday. The corporate sponsor for our Fayetteville show was Mars (the candy company). They had made this cool poster for the lobby of the theater (Rachel got one to take home with her. She really liked the sexy green fiddle player M&M.):

M&M's Tour Poster

M&M's Tour Poster

They had these backstage. Has anybody ever heard of these before? I don’t like peanut butter, but other people’s reports were positive.

Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M's.

Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M's.

And here is how I’m pogressing on my scarf. I’m going for long and skinny. I’m almost done, I think:

How my crocheting is coming along.

How my crocheting is coming along.

This is a plant that I saw in Fayetteville. I’d never seen one before, I have no idea what it is, but I thought it was really cool:

Does anyone know what this plant is?

Does anyone know what this plant is?

Today is a travel day, heading to Bowling Green, KY.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Yesterday I found out that not only does the Uncle Earl band read this blog every day in the van, they have a song. A blog song that that they sing. A theme song, if you will. By the end of the tour I'm definitely going to get a recording, audio or hopefully video, that I can share with you.

Last night's show in Fayetteville was the best show that we've done so far. The crowd was wonderful. We Bee-Liners got a genuine standing ovation, at the end they gave Uncle Earl a long standing ovation, and again at the end of the encore. They really, really wanted the second encore, so we obliged with "Angel Band." We were competing with a college football game that night, and several people mentioned  that they hated we were on the same night. Otherwise we would have gotten a much bigger crowd, they said.

There was a brew pub right across the street from the theater, so after the show two-thirds of the Bee-Liners, and two-fifths of Uncle Earl and Sierra's band came out for a pint (well, fifteen ounces). The beer was wonderful, and the company---entertaining doesn't even begin to cover it. I'd say more, but mostly it was too dirty to post on our family-friendly blog.

From somewhat earlier in the day I'd like to share this picture:

Rachel Johnson---proud to be taller than a parking meter!

Rachel Johnson---proud to be taller than a parking meter!

Rachel went to eat breakfast with Clay Hess, Sierra's guitar player. Walking down the street he happened to notice that her head barely cleared the top of the parking meters, and they decided to immortalize it on film, well, in pixels.

Today we're headed to Springfield, Missouri. Not a long drive. Yay!

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Yesterday was a long drive from Texas to Arkansas. It took us about nine and a half hours total. I had a difference of opinion with the GPS, which took us on an indirect, but mostly interstate route, passing by Dallas, where we ran into slow traffic, of course. I wanted to go the very direct but slightly smaller road route, which would have saved gas if not time. Oh how enslaved we have become to this device that is supposed to make our lives easier.

We stopped at a buffet-style restaurant called Sam’s for lunch. It had the most hideous gift shop I’d ever seen, full of stinky candles and tacky “personalized” souvenirs. We were forced to wait there for five or ten minutes until they seated us. Brandi later speculated that it’s probably a marketing plan to make people to spend time in the gift shop so they’ll be more likely to buy something. Because there were plenty of empty tables.

My first crocheting attempt.

My first crocheting attempt.

Rachel showed me how to crochet and I made good, if uneven, progress on a red scarf. (I know it doesn’t look red in this picture.) By the time we made it to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, we were all very ready to be out of the van. Rachel joined up with Clay Hess, Cory Walker, and Jacob Eller from Sierra’s band and ventured out to the Choctaw casino, where she watched them win some money, and lose some money. Playing at the casino tonight are the Dan Tyminski Band, the Grascals, and Earl Scruggs. Can’t we just stay here and watch them play???

Jeremy and I sought out the local mexican restaurant where margaritas and guacamole erased our travel fatigue. On our walk there we spotted a coffee shop that looked promising for breakfast. This morning after my workout I walked down there, bringing my laptop and planning to blog from there. What a surprise to find that they are CLOSED on SATURDAYS!! What kind of coffeehouse is closed on Saturday morning? The kind in Ft. Smith, apparently.

Tonight we play in Fayetteville, AR. Hopefully everyone from there won’t be driving down here to hear Earl play!

This is just too weird. It says it has "natural flavor and certified color." What the heck does that mean--certified color??

This is just too weird. I saw it in a Texas convenience store. It says it has "natural flavor and certified color." What the heck does that mean--certified color??

P.S. - Here is the link to by second weekly report on the tour for the Bluegrass Blog.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Yesterday was interesting. I feel like touring is starting to wear on us a little bit. We had a 300 mile drive to the gig yesterday, from Baton Rouge, LA, to The Woodlands, TX. Our band stopped at Al T’s Seafood and Steakhouse for some cajun food for lunch. That was a total success.

When we pulled into the Dosey Doe Coffeehouse, there was no one there. The other bands weren’t there yet and there wasn’t a single car in the parking lot. Actually it turned out there was one guy there, and he let us in so we could unload instruments and equipment. The Dosey Doe is a cool venue—a 150 year old barn from Kentucky that they disassembled and moved to Texas, reassembled and turned into a restaurant, coffeehouse, and music venue. Great coffee, really good food, and a nice atmosphere. And wireless internet. Kudos.

But. They don’t have a backstage or dressing rooms, which makes it hard on us, what with sixteen people needing to put cases and bags somewhere. Soundcheck wasn’t going to happen until much later than we thought, so we went to our hotel, checked in and chilled out for a little while. I got my laundry done (that doesn’t really count as chilling out, does it?), and Rachel and I made a Wal-Mart run.

The crowd at the Doesy Doe.

The crowd at the Doesy Doe.

Back at the venue we soundchecked and ate (I highly recommend the cream of mushroom soup). It got to be about half an hour before showtime and there weren’t very many people there. We began to get concerned. Turns out we had a good reason to be concerned. The crowd that night totaled fifteen people, which meant that all the band members officially outnumbered the audience.  🙁

The show, however, was very good. All the bands were more relaxed and really interacted with the crowd. And the people who came were really a great audience. They clapped loudly and often and really did their part to contribute to the show. We can’t thank them enough for coming!!

Uncle Earl

Uncle Earl

It’s funny how when the gig is very low-key, we have lots of time to tweet. Bryn posted this, which made us all crack up. She’s kidding, of course, but we are on that middle plateau of the tour where we’re starting to get a little bit tired of everyone else, but the end is not quite in sight. Today is a longish travel day, about nine hours, and we play in Fayetteville, AR, tomorrow. Rachel’s going to teach me how to crochet.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

Today we’re in Baton Rouge, LA, where none of us have ever been before. Brandi is especially pumped to be in Louisiana because that’s where the Sookie Stackhouse novels are based and she is pretty sure we’re going to see at least one vampire before we leave the state.

We’re playing at the Manship Theater, which is in a big huge building that also houses the Louisiana State University Museum of Art. We didn’t go to the museum. However, Brandi and I did go to Louisiana’s Old State Capitol museum, which is across the street. When we get to a venue we always have time to kill because Uncle Earl soundchecks first. That can take anywhere from one to two hours. So Brandi and I wandered across the street to the building about which Mark Twian said, “It is pathetic ... that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things ... should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place.” After seeing pictures of that incarnation of the building, I have to agree with him.

The building now houses a museum about the history of Louisiana’s governors and government and it is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. It successfully does the thing that many modern museums try to do, which is to be interactive, without being a bit cheesy. It conveys lots of information, especially about Huey Long, quickly and elegantly and is just really, really cool. I certainly never thought I’d say that about a Louisiana government museum.

The Manship Theater is a medium-sized space with two, count them two, balconies. They also had the best backstage snack spread I’ve ever seen, as evidenced by the pictures below. At the end of the night I filled a plastic bag full of the fruit and brought it back to the hotel for breakfast--kept overnight in the ice bucket. Tonight’s show followed the trend of our last couple of shows—small but enthusiastic crowd. They really seemed to like what all the bands were doing.

Tomorrow will be a long day: a five hour drive followed by the show at the Dosey Doe Coffeehouse in The Woodlands, Texas.

Casey Henry

Casey Henry

We had a long, rainy drive yesterday through Hurricane Ida, which lasted from Atlanta all the way across Alabama. Jeremy and Robin split the driving duties, Rachel crocheted a scarf, both Buddy and Brandy were immersed in Sookie Stackhouse novels, and I read and finished Julie and Julia, which I liked. I especailly apprecited the author’s consuming love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A woman after my own heart.

Once we arrived that the Hyatt in Baton Rouge, Jeremy, Buddy, Brandi, and all the members of Uncle Earl went to see Darrell Scott play at the Manship Theater, where we’re playing tonight. Bryn (Earl bassist) played a lot of the show with him. She has said he is her absolute favorite person to tour with. Once while on tour, Darrell took his band biking down the Virginia Creeper trail in southwest Virginia. He’s also a total foodie and knows all sorts of chefs, so he finds the best restaurants to eat at in every city where they play.

As ashamed as I am to write this, Rachel and I stayed in and watched TV. It sounds completely lame, but I was SO tired and downtime on the road is very important. Most of the band had downtime in Asheville, but I was at my aunt’s birthday party and I badly needed a night to veg out and do nothing. Four episodes of The Office, M&Ms for supper, ten hours sleep, and a good workout this morning were just what the doctor ordered.

Here are a couple pictures from Monday night at the Red Light Café. I’ve completely dropped the ball as far as taking pictures is concerned, so I have my friend Myrna Talbot and uncle Mike Johnson to thank for these:

The Dixie Bee-Liners at the Red light Cafe in Atlanta.

The Dixie Bee-Liners at the Red light Cafe in Atlanta.

Casey Henry, Buddy Woodard (hidden), Brandi Hart, and Jeremy Darrow.

Casey Henry, Buddy Woodard (hidden), Brandi Hart, and Jeremy Darrow.