Sailing Into Summer
Update time. We’re well into our new year of gigs and songs now, and enjoying the opportunities for returning to those new places for the second time. Aqus Café in Petaluma and Trek Wine in Novato are our new havens, and we’ll be returning to each this summer.
Our first time at Trek was especially memorable. We had somehow picked a holiday weekend for our first time there, and many fans were away or with family. Nevertheless, we have a nearly full house, and the reception was terrific. We responded with a couple of very good sets, as well.
Some of the newer tunes on our list right now:
• Rescue Me: Not the classic R&B tune by Fontella Bass you may be hearing in your head right now, but a new tune by Amy Helm, daughter of the late legendary drummer and singer, Levon Helm. This song is from her latest album. There’s a great live version on YouTube, as well. Jean Marie sings our rendition, of course, and Ron and I supply the harmony. Lots of energy, and lots of fun.
• Slow Down: You’re right this time: It is the Larry Williams/Beatles tune from the ‘60s. When Ron suggested it, I was skeptical, I admit, because the original is SO ROCKIN’ that it was hard to imagine how we’d do it as a drummer-less trio. But it came together, complete with three part harmonies even the Beatles didn’t do. I love playing this song, because people dance even with no snare drum to propel them.
• Johnny Crewcut: My latest composition, and a song about my hometown in Gill Massachusetts. During a recent trip back, I drove the old school bus route, checking out all the houses and farms where my classmates and their siblings used to live. Much has changed of course, and a poem first, then a song came to me, stitching together stories from about four different lives into a fictional character, named in the title. A story about rural life, hardship, Vietnam, and resilience.
As always, we’re cooking up a bunch more. I’ve got two new ones in the lyric composition process, one probably for Jean Marie to sing, one for me. Ron’s found another song from the Byrds repertoire he’s like to try: Satisfied Mind. Porter Waggoner had a hit with it as a country song in the ‘50s. But like many of you, I know it from the guitar of Roger McGuinn and the voices of the Byrds. And that led me to another Dylan/Byrds recording, My Back Pages. My arrangement has begun on a guitar in Nashville tuning. Google it. We’ll see if it comes around. And finally, we’re bringing back a song Jean Marie and I did before the band started: Richard Thompson’s Dimming of the Day.
Stay tuned for more. And check the Shows page here for our summer gigs.
