Six Weeks , through twenty five States and over 10,000 miles by Totem Pole Rik

I left for the open road on September 6th. I had just come back from a week of shows in Germany. I was still not over my jet lag when I went to pack up my truck- camper “apache” full of my instruments ,clothes books and cds.

The plan was to drive down to Nashville TN, with my dog “Arnika” and my co producer Rebecca Padula (who also works in community TV) and do some video work for The Americana Convention then drop Rebecca off at the Airport and continuing driving a grand loop across the USA.

I found out from last year that It was too hard for me to do both the interviews and also try and run the camera , so this time around I asked if Rebecca could come and help. As we had both worked in the studio on last years editing for the events PR video it seemed right to ask her along.
Rebecca was also very keen on experiencing the convention that she had spent so many hours only seeing on her computer and was ready to go.
When I was planning out the tour I wanted to return and check in with many of my old friends in some of the towns I wrote about in my last book, and also do a few shows in places that I had never played.
To make the tour a bit more fun ,I also planned that my wife Marianna , would join me for the last two weeks making it not just a long tour but a bit of a vacation too.

So with my truck finally ready to go I picked Rebecca and we started the trip.
The first stop would be at my sister’s house , Lisa who lives in New Jersey. I knew that if we can stay the night there it would get us off to a good start and would be able to drive all the way to Nashville in just one day.
My calculations were correct and with the help of Rebecca and her driving skills ,we did make the trip in one long run.

We arrived in Nashville by late evening and stayed over at my old high school pals home. Bruce Michael Miller. Bruce was a great musician when we were kids . Now he has turned his hand to the craft of song writing and is trying his luck in the Nashville music scene. His wife Patrica also works in the music BIZ in a publishing house along the famed 16th avenue. They live together with their son “Forest” a very inquisitive a talented young fellow and their dog Phoebe in a happy little house just outside of the main part of town.

After spending the night at Bruce’s ( I slept in my camper , which is my custom) we headed off to Nashville to check into the Convention. We had arranged for press passes before we left so there was no problem getting our badges and big packets from the friendly reception desk greeters.

Now of course the big question is , What exactly is Americana ? Well that is a tough one to answer but I will give it a try.
According to legendary steel guitar picker Junior Brown, Long ago when Ernest Tubb was asked to describe his music he dubbed it Americana as he felt his songs spoke the music of our land. Later like many others he accepted the new label of Country &Western and the label seemed to almost disappear.Then a new croup of roots inspired musicians like , Steve Earl, Jim Lauderdale, Randy Foster , Cowboy Jack Clemments and many others started to wave the Americana banner again and now the label is alive a kicking again.

Today Americana is a warehouse of some of the most exciting music being created from the roots of Country, Rock, Blues and Folk. As you can tell I am also a fan of Americana ,so last year when the opportunity came to do some video for them I jumped at the chance. This time around with Rebecca’s help I knew I could get even more work done and we were both up to the challenge. Once we got our badges we went right to work doing interviews with just about every one ; Performers, agents, managers, radio DJs , panelist and volunteers. Some of the highlights were interviewing Country Song Writer and guitar wizard Marty Stuart, CD Baby’s Derek Silvers, CMT, Country TV , along with short clips by singers “Cowboy” Jack Clemmens, Babby Bare.We also attended many of the panels and parties and met a lot of new and old friends along the way.The days just flew bye and ended in a grand Awards ceremony at the old Ryman Auditorium, with guest such as Steve Earl, Jim Lauderdale, Judy Collins, Marty Stuart, Guy Clark, Solomon Burke, The Duhks, Radney Foster , Emmylou Hariss, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Raul Malo, Mindy Smith, Billy Bob Thorton,Arlo Guthrie ,just to name a few. Needles to say to was a packed house a fun show with some folks dressed in their Stetsons and boots. It was a good chance for both Bruce and I to wear our fancy “Manuel ” shirts and jackets and even Manuel himself showed up ,so you know it was the place to be !

After the convention we also spent some time with Bruce and the band he plays with called The Delicious Blues Stew. We went with them and their families to one of their fun gigs at the state fair. It proved to be a great night for not only music, but death defying danger and stupendous feats of bravery as between the “Stew’s” groove, there was an amazing show where this carnival act entertained the crowds with stunts on high poles , wild rides in the air on a spinning whirling metal cage and best of all two motorcycles doing flips inside a cage while this young woman stood and touched their hands while they were inches from her head ! Lucky for us , Rebecca got it on tape or no one would ever believe it.
The next morning it was time to bring Rebecca to the airport and then prepare for my own show

To be continued ………..

“Totem Pole” Rik

Posted by Rik in General