Hope Diamond

UniTunes in Houston

Ok, so I've been in a cave prepping for the big gig on Saturday night, whereupon it was Susan's return to the stage, cast in tow, and I was playing guitar for her. Which is a big deal because she is one of my favorite musicians on the planet. We shared the show with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines. Who, as most of you know, are two of my other favorite musicians on the planet. Eek. Except by the time we were driving to the gig we had prepared up the wazoo and I wasn't nervous because when you do your homework you don't have to be. So there was that. We started off with our musical theater number, a 3 handed, 2 personed, 1 guitarred version of "Perfect World." After that we sailed through the set. Susan is a champ and picked up some harmonica prowess and also got good with a shaker. I imagine by the time she gets her cast off she'll be proficient at about 14 new instruments because she's good like that. Terri joined us for "Lovely When You Cry" and my own "For and Against" which was NIFTY... and then Lloyd came onstage too and we had a grand time finishing out the set. And then we got up to sing with Terri on her set for "Hole In My Pocket" and "Wind Me Up." And then it was over. And I was glad I did my homework. Thanks to Susan for the shot as her guitar player. Dang. Dan the Producer once told me about a basketball coach who would make his team run laps after they won games, because the best reward for a job done well is to keep working on what you do. So it's back to the geetar and charts today. More shows this weekend! Tomball, Marble Falls, and Luckenbach oh my!

March Madness!

Hmmm. Best laid plans to blog more have gone awry, for a little bit. It's March! Hooray! This week I have spent some time with an electric guitar and a loud amp, figuring out all the Mary Chapin Carpenter solos I used to be able to play in high school and college. I could probably compile a comprehensive songbook of her entire catalog if I tried. The good news is practicing because it's fun is back in style in my world. Rock. Excited for the gig in Houston on Saturday. Maybe I'll sell some t-shirts. The first round has gone out to all the pre-orderers, and if people send me their photo wearing a Jpo shirt, I'll make sure they are famous. Just like... HEATHER! Aka Lyrical Venus! She's live every Tuesday on KRUU-FM in Fairfield, IA. Check it:

Good from the Other

Um, ok. So to lighten up the mood from that last post, I gotta say...whoa. When I was a spunky bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 23-year-old...a whole 4 years ago, I packed up and moved to Austin to see about the music business based on a few things, but one of the main ones being that both Susan Gibson and Terri Hendrix hung around the Central Texas area and used it as their home base. I figured there was good stuff in the water if those two chose to be here. And here we are, 2010 and the next show on the books for me is playing guitar for Susan while she gives her broken arm a rest, and she happens to be sharing the bill with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines. So I'm going to stop blogging now and go practice guitar. Lucky for me, I've been playing a bunch of these Susan tunes for a while, and I picked up a big chunk of my strumming style from her. Luck = Preparation + Opportunity. Life is weird and wonderful.

Another EP 2 Video

EP 2...Progress and Fancy People

Yesterday was the day to bring in reinforcements. I've done all my work, and so I got to sit back and watch other people prettify and grittify my album. Very cool. David Carroll added his bass skills with some electric on "Drive Around" and some upright on "Ritalin." So cool to hear how he makes notes become other notes and it all works out so well. That is why he is the pro. Then Susan came in to sing on "Drive Around" and "Switzerland," which was fun to see and hear..."Drive Around" really got its wings yesterday between the bass part and the background vocals. You never know what it needs until you do it. We ran over schedule yesterday so Katie and Emily still get to come in and sing a little...luckily they are the patient sort. THEN...then! I think we might be good!

Two Hometowns

So Susan's got a song called "Two Hometowns" which, taken out of context, applies to our trip this past weekend. The first stop was Amarillo, her old stomping grounds, where she played at the Golden Light and I witnessed something I thought I'd never see: a partial Groobees reunion. I first found Susan through the Groobees records because that's all that was available my freshman year of college. She hadn't quite released the solo record yet, I don't think. So I had every song memorized, and was a big fan of the band as a unit. Gary Thomason, the guitarist in the band, lives in Amarillo so he played with Susan at the Golden Light this weekend. He is amazing. He can play anything and he hops around like a 7-year-old on Pop Rocks and Dr. Pepper. It's awesome to see. They were joined for a tune by Todd Hall, the Groobees drummer, hence the "reunion," hence my fangirl glee. If you can get yourself a used copy of any Groobees CD, do so. They sound great. Then it was off to my hometown of Albuquerque for the yearly house concert we deem "The JP Project," whereupon my friends from all walks of life show up and we have a reunion of our own. A lot of them know Susan by now, so as the special guest there was some familiarity but also a lot of hilarity because we do things like talk in British accents and I collect ceramic pigs and she puts change in them for my 401k plan. It was another great show and it's nice all those folks have stuck with me since moving to Texas, which...well, I'll say it...most New Mexicans hate Texas, haha. They tolerate the transplants who come back for green chile, though. We kidnapped our friends Amy and Kate and took them along to show them the views and make them haul our gear. They are impressively accommodating! Kate also plays a mean guitar, so we made her play for her bottled water. You never know what will happen or what hitchhikers you'll pick up. And now my tasks involve a lot of booking for next year and paperwork and web site work and yadda yadda. I will probably take a break on my birthday and sleep. Oh yeah, we're working on EP 2 this week, too! More on that, too....

August Recap...

Here we are. Here I am, here you are anyway. I'm in Albuquerque...not being a merch girl in Colorado. I quit the tour in a fit of frustration over a lost bag of Skittles in the van last Thursday. Just kidding. While I love touring with Susan, I have another job in Austin that must be attended to at the music school. It's good for me to have both, and I am fortunate enough to have both jobs let me be flexible with where I am at any given moment. I fly back to Austin tomorrow and Susan stays on the road for another 2 weeks. The first two weeks went fairly smoothly besides the gaping wounds on my feet (mostly healing well, one is still gaping and hurts right now...but it was the worst one so it's taking longer heal. Skin is pretty awesome, growing back over itself and stuff). We played at the Rhythms on the Rio Festival in South Fork, CO last weekend. We drove all night from Fort Collins to get there (translation: Susan drove all night while we slept and I took the last half hour drive in the morning so she could go to bed and sleep a bit before the festival). We stopped at a rest stop somewhere in CO at 3:30 AM and let me just say this...if you are a creepy dude, or any dude at all, or any creep at all...never ask 3 girls in a van at a rest area to jump start your truck at 3:30 AM. Ask a guy. Or call the cops. Or just wait for daylight. We left in a hurry and I'm sure creepy guy got a jump start...just not from us. Shudder. It was the first annual and went really well for a giant production like that in its first year. The scenery was awesome, the people were great. Susan played a great set and won a lot of new fans. I played what is called a "tweener" set between bands while Great American Taxi set up their gear. It's weird to play solo at a big festival. I felt like an ant on the big stage, but it was fun nonetheless. Even ants have fun. Then it was off to Taos, NM for two nights at the Old Blinking Light. The 2nd night we were lucky enough to be outside, and the view was gorgeous. Sunsets rock here. I have thought it for a while but really, mark my words, I am retiring in Taos in an adobe house. I can't wait. I want to retire when I'm 32. A few days in Albuquerque are good for meeting up with people I haven't talked to face-to-face in a while. I get to be a bridesmaid in my friend Jamie's wedding, so I tried on the dress today. I hope I don't trip in its fanciness - it will be a fun wedding! Currently listening to the new Imogen Heap album...she's brilliant as usual. My wound will continue to gape for a while. In exactly a month I'll be flying to New York City. Things swim in my head.

I Can't Forget the Alamo

I got to accompany my buddy D.C. Bloom the other night at Ruta Maya as part of Webb House Concerts Songwriter night. Great fun! And as you can see, D.C.'s tunes are always guaranteed great fun. Check him out at http://www.dcbloom.com

porterdavis rocks.

So I don't mean to rub it in or anything, that maybe I have a copy of the new porterdavis CD and it's not out until September 1st. But I mean, if I were gonna rub it in, I'd point out that it is fantastic and you should pre-order yours. So you can have one too. Look how pretty it is. Dan wrote some great tunes and picked some great tunes..."Grass Growing Through Concrete" below is on the record. Czech it. And Eliza Gilkyson sings background vocals on a track, too. Yay! So proud. I hope Dan still produces my records when he's busy flying around being on Letterman and playing at Bonnaroo and stuff. Don't forget us little people!

Salt Creek by a Lake

Ok. So I haven't blogged in a week. We arrived here in Montana on Monday night after hours and hours of driving and I have been enjoying the lakeshore ever since. I've learned you can't blog and HELP WIRE POWER TO A BOATHOUSE at the same time. I never thought I'd type that sentence. We rolled big driftwood logs up the beach and burned tree debris and Marian and I held some wires while Susan and her dad did the electrician stuff. And that proves...you probably can't Google everything. Except the name of the power company which is what I'd have to do if I had to wire anything. Susan's dad sat down next to me yesterday and said, "Can I ask you a personal question?" "Yes?" "Do you have a sunburn on your nose or have you been drinking?" Haha. It's sunburn. All this outside time and my pasty eastern European complexion have caught up. Better crack a beer. We did take several hours to sit on the beach and practice, though. I learned the traditional bluegrass tune "Salt Creek" in high school, and since we have a guitar, banjo, and fiddle, I thought that would be a good one. We got pretty far for one day of practice. So it is. The gigging starts tomorrow. Maybe I'll find a good Internet connection in Missoula this weekend. And some suntan lotion.

Kerrville Folk Festival

All right, this is my 3rd year in Tejas and my first time at the Kerrville Folk Festival and all I can say is HOLY CRAP everyone is right. People rave about the Kerrville experience and it was just as cool as they all said. Which is rare to happen, by the way. We rolled in and I played the Ballad Tree as one of the high falutin' Regional Selected Artists (finding my name in the program made me yelp with joy)...but it was very laid back and fun and I met about 8 New Mexicans at the Ballad Tree. Which is an actual tree, or used to be, with a kickbutt stage next to it. It's a mini-hike across the massive campgrounds to get there, and up on Chapel Hill, no less...I felt like I needed to hire my own monkey for the trip. Ballad Tree stage. Tuning and chatting. Would you be my monkey? I want that little triangular pop up trailer on the corner. Then it was back to the mainstage area where I looked tough and checked in Susan's merchandise so that people could buy buy buy. And I had the night off from sell sell selling. I count EVERYTHING. Katie and I wandered backstage to the staff kitchen, where they served us some (what I assume were) vegan tamales and black beans and rice. Tasty. The whole staff was so happy to be there, too. Made us feel good. Then it was time for suSANG to rock the festival's face off, which she did. It was neat to wander the backstage area and also through the crowd and hear everyone's comments about how great the show was. Yay! Yay again! Afterwards we wandered around the campgrounds, which is the other main attraction of a 3 week folk festival...the mini-compounds that get set up and often have traditions of gathering for 20+ years. My favorite happening was when one of us exclaimed in the middle of the road, "We need a guitar!" And then a passer-by said, "I have one." And it turned out to be my friend Grace who I had met at a songwriting competition...so we all sat in the middle of the road and passed Grace's guitar around in the dark. That's what they call a Kerrville Moment. We had a late night and an early morning so we drove home...but I've got plans for next year already. I had better practice my tent-setting-up abilities...

Yay Terri!

Yeah, those are my buddies Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines jamming with the Indigo Girls in Austin last Thursday...and Terri gets to sing her own VERSE! Yay! That is the ultimate in folk music cred right there, to sing "Closer to Fine" with the Girls. Terri's opening for them all weekend...so cool.

Joy

These are shots from the Red Leaf Show at the Gibson Showroom last month. My Monday Night Songwriter's Group ladiez, Emily and Melissa, are so fun to play music with. I was just thinking that I hope I always portray my joy and gratitude for music when I play.

At the Crossroads Again

We're driving back from Winnsboro, TX...Crossroads Music Company is a great venue about an hour and a half east of Dallas. It's run by my good friends Lynn Adler and Lindy Hearne, and the lovely and talented Kate Hearne. It's a wonderful listening room and one of my favorite venues ever. There was a full circle moment for me because last July I opened for Susan at Crossroads (re-live that thanks to the glorious blog archive) and it was my first weekend as being a merch girl. I was kind of along for the ride as far as being useful goes, and it was fun and a great weekend. But here we are almost a year later and I am now The Merch Girl, Tour Monkey, and whatever else you wanna call it. We went back to Winnsboro with much excitement, and I got to play with Marian and Kate (who is a killer guitar player). Susan then rocked the stage with Marian (she works all the time) with a great show that sucked the crowd in from the get go. At the end Susan had me and Kate up to play the song that Susan and I wrote together called "Still Lovely When You Cry." Then Lynn joined us for "Wide Open Spaces"...Kate called it an estrogen fest and then Susan deemed it "Festrogen." That might not sell well on t-shirts. Me, Kate, Marian, and Susan Festrogen? So there we go. So fun to return to the beginnings of merch girldom as well as hang out with such good people. There's more to this weekend story but that's another blog post... Photos by Lindy Hearne! Yay Lindy!

Friday SXSW

Blisters on feet. I think I walked 78 miles up and down 6th Street. But it was all good. I awoke in a Tori daze and wondered whether I should even try topping that...but I got my butt downtown just in time to see Lisa Hannigan take the stage at BD Reilly's Full Irish Breakfast party. I think some of the real magic of SXSW happens at these day parties that kind of lump people together in tight venues based on things like...being from Ireland. Anyway, I was familiar with Lisa from her days touring with Damien Rice and I had just purchased her album, Sea Sew, last week. The album is amazing and the live show was amazinger. She had her full band with her and the whole package was inspiring. She sings with joy. Period. That's all I want. Then I found myself uncharacteristically without a plan...so I wandered in and out of several parties and scored some free stuff. I found myself back at La Zona Rosa and caught part of Gomez's set. And then I took a photo of the fence. There's crap strewn all over Austin right now, from show flyers to CDs to wristbands. In 3 years there will be no CD demos at SXSW and people will just hand out download cards. It'll save plastic and trees and space in my bag. At that point my eyes started glazing over from live music overload so I decided to head up north to my own gig with my good friend Emily Shirley. It was her gig and she let me crash it. So much fun to play with her, and she adds some sweet bass and harmonies to my tunes, too. Then it was back downtown to see Elizabeth Wills play her official showcase at Mother Egan's. It was kickbutt as always. I had fun taking photos. And then...I hoofed it over to the Victorian Room at the Driskill Hotel. Samantha Crane and the Midnight Shivers were playing and I enjoyed them quite a bit. Lucy Wainright Roche took the stage at 12:15 AM...and she was wonderful. I play her song Chicago (on Myspace for your listening pleasure) quite a bit because it's just so singable. And then I went home and slept like a rock again.

South By WOOHOO!

Day two is done, and I should be getting ready to go plod around again for day three...but blogging comes first. Rule number one for being Jana: blogging ALWAYS comes first. I guess it all started Wednesday night when I ended up at the Gibson Showroom for the Austin Music Awards after party. Porterdavis is Best Roots-Rock Band...because they are...so there was celebration. Deadman, Slaid Cleaves, and Hayes Carll played among others and them were good times. Yesterday got off to a good start when I turned in my notice of not renewing my lease on my apartment. Now I actually have to start packing and throwing stuff out for reals because it's...REAL. Eek! I made my way to 6th street, found an excellent parking spot, and wandered in to Waterloo Records. I was there early to see Justin Townes Earle. Luckily there's lots to look at. I did not buy anything, though, as tempting as it was. The weird part was the I, the CD junkie, had the thought many a time of, "I'll just download it." Poor brick and mortar. Part of it is probably the thought that anything I buy will have to be moved down 3 flights of stairs in a month. I digress... The only thing I knew about Justin is that he's Steve Earle's kid and he's a legend in the singer-songwriter parts so I thought why not? I was so impressed. Justin's a great musician and his songs are great and his presence is charming. Charmed! Then I had a couple of options and they were on 6th Street so I trekked quite a few blocks East from Waterloo. The weather was perfect and there was already so much going on for 1:30 in the afternoon. I knew Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines were doing a Gibson showcase, but I had no idea what time they were playing...so I decided to try that party first and just see. Lo and behold I walk up the stairs at Maggie Mae's and Terri and Lloyd are sound checking. SCORE. They did 4 songs and I was thrilled because it's been months since I've had a Terri show fix. Afterwards Brandon, the manager for porterdavis who also works for Gibson, hooked me up with this sweet wristband. Dear Brandon, you are my favorite. That got me into the VIP lounge where Terri and Lloyd were being interviewed. After that Randy Rogers and Mark Jungers played followed by Bruce Robison with my buddy and Red Leaf teacher Kevin Carroll on guitar. Bruce is a great songwriter and the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, and George Strait have covered his stuff. Then it was over to Artz Rib House for Elizabeth Wills and a Diet Coke. And some photo fun. And THEN...then...Elizabeth and I headed over to La Zona Rosa to see about some Tori Amos. We cruised in with good parking karma and there wasn't a line to get in. We found a spot on the left side of the stage and planted. Perez Hilton introduced her which is maybe my first encounter with a blogger celebrity in real life. And there was TORI. I got to see Tori in college and she converted me into the type of fan that will forever buy her albums on the first day of release. My shortlist of artists like that is well...short. The thing that I love about Tori is her stage presence and musicianship. She's a classically trained pianist and an impeccable singer and when she's in the room, you're watching her. Her command of the audience is one of the best I've ever seen from anyone. Always observing. We got to hear 3 new tunes from her new record and also some classics like "Crucify" and "Cloud On My Tongue" and "Silent All These Years." Yeah. And I went home and went to bed and now I need to do it all over again.

Plotting Panels

I'm back among the living. This morning my throat does not feel like it's trying to take a vacation and walk out of my neck, so we're doing ok. It's grey and cold and rainy here, just when I wore a t-shirt multiple days in a row. I'm cool with that. I am going to have a crew pass (badge? wristband? I dunno how that works) to SXSW next week. WOOHOO! The lovely and talented Elizabeth Wills, who I have been semi-stalking because I love hearing her sing, is hooking me up. She's got a SXSW Showcase, so I'm going to be a monkey in all my glory and help her out for that gig. And the rest of the week...I'm gonna try and hit up panels about promotion, gigging, blogging, digital music distribution, and yes...MERCH. This is a conference with a panel about merch. The love. Here is some Elizabeth Wills for your Wednesday...her voice is pretty much like if you hiked up a mountain in Switzerland and then found some bubbly spring that no one has ever discovered and there was a wildflower field next to it, and maybe some puppies romping around. It's pure like that.

Live From Geology 1426

In my friend Amy's class at UT Arlington. The merch girl is always in search of new knowledge. Susan might want to start selling engraved igneous rocks.

Lessons Learning

It's been quite the few days over here on planet Jana. The long weekend consisted of a planned "camping" trip and an unplanned gig. Those of you who know me well know that's pretty backwards for moi. I use "quotes" around "camping" because I slept in a house all weekend, but we sat around campfires a lot and played guitar and my buddy Amy made about 4 killer meals all in one dutch oven over coals. That is skill, people. Also Susan the Boss beat me at Guitar Hero, which is...I suppose...how it should be*. Due to some mix-ups in booking transitioning, Susan found out she had a gig on Valentine's Day in San Antonio...the day before the gig. (Please note right here that if any blame is to be levied here it is not on anyone mentioned in this blog mmmmkay?). This is not optimal because it does not allow one to properly do things like...tell people you're playing a gig. Luckily all 20 or so campers piled into vans and we all drove to Casbeer's in San Antonio, whereupon it was bestowed upon me the title of Opening Act. I was super psyched because Casbeer's at the Church is a fantastic venue and listening room with a great reputation. My comrades commented that "Game Face Jana" appeared for awhile before the gig; I really forced myself to mentally prep for this space. The good news was there were plenty of friendly faces in the crowd...ones I had met before and ones I had yet to meet. I had a great time playing. Susan's set was excellent, and she brought up some of our talented fellow campers to play as well. We kind of bring the big guns when we rough it, so "campfire jam" means something entirely different when a bunch of pro musicians are hanging around. Tiffany Shea rocked us, Andy Pate cracked us up, and Elizabeth Wills about raised the roof with her gorgeousness. Marian worked the hardest of us all that night, because she played fiddle with all of us. So much fun! So all in all...the unexpected turned into a very good thing and I had quite the educational Valentine's Day...about the love/hate thing we all have for the music business. The good thing to keep in mind is that most people who do it - from the artists to the venues to the listeners - do it because they love it. That's what it takes to keep all of us crazy musicians off the streets, yo. * I totally just let her win.