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!

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.

27 Ain't So Bad

It's been a Heaping good time, in fact. My birthday was on Sunday, but I'll work backwards because I am still buzzing from the Imogen Heap show last night at La Zona Rosa in Austin. I don't recall what led me to Imogen in college, but I've had her "Speak for Yourself" album for several years, and she just recently followed that up with "Ellipse"...hence she's on tour again. I saw her at La Zona Rosa in 2006, and it was a momentous show for me. That kind of technology onstage is rare in my folk world. Also she wore a pink feathery dress and had crazy hair and hopped around a lot. I was right up by the stage so I got quite the eardrum pounding. It was awesome. So "Ellipse" is out and I love it though have not internalized it all yet because Imogen is complicated musics (while outwardly very fun and accessible...smart), and luckily Austin was a stop on the tour. This time I got there kind of late to be in the front without being one of those jerks I hate at shows who nose their way up to the front even though they just walked in...so I scouted out the highest point in the back of the venue (which was still small enough for me to see facial expressions and everything). It was a great vantage point compared to my last show, because this time I could see the whole stage, her multiple gear set-ups, the band, etc. Good choice. She rocked it. I won't go into glowing descriptions of individual songs. She managed to get the audience involved in 3-part harmony in a round for the encore on "Just For Now." Impressive and always a crapshoot with audience participation. She explained to us that she had microphones strategically placed everywhere, like ON HER WRISTS, so she could play all her percussive doodads and not have to walk to a microphone. She played the KEYTAR. Heck yes. Afterwards I walked all the way to my car, said goodbye to some friends, and then had a flash of groupie-dom and went back over to the front of the venue where the tour bus was parked, and where about 30-40 people were hanging out. After 10 minutes of standing, Imogen came out and I decided to get my iPhone cover signed because her music lives on my iPod...and I had no CD cover with me, haha. And someone took a dark and slightly blurry iPhone photo. The least prepared I have been for a celebrity encounter EVER. Which makes sense because I was pretty good at that stuff in high school and college -- meeting the artists and having a photo taken and all that. And then somewhere in the past 3 years, probably after the privilege of some of my favorite artists becoming my good friends, I stopped caring about the autographs and the tour busses. This was neat, though...a tiny unremarkable chat amongst a sea of people (she apologized for the rude girl who had cut in front of me moments before...haha), a signature, a photo with one of my Top Fives. I guess we all need to be a fangirl sometimes (or fanboy...you can be a fanboy too). I'll value the show and the interaction, though already the signature on the iPhone case is rubbing away, and I don't think I'll shellack it on. It was there and it will be gone but I'll have the picture to remember it by, and the mp3s to blast through my stereo on the many more miles of road to come. A face to a name is always nice.

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!

Joys of the Song Circle

That post title sounds a little...counterculture, haha. So raise your hand if you know what a song circle is! I'll wait. This is part of a circle. It is a full circle. You just see the semi-circle. Time for school. The folk singer scene has this thing called a "song circle" that I've become uber familiar with since moving to Texas. I had taken part in "jams" in college, though they seem to differ a bit. Song circles are pretty acoustic and folk based. I had the fun of hanging out in two of these circles this past week -- one after the Jpo Trio's fun gig at the Thursday Night Music Club at the Faust Hotel in New Braunfels. It was our first time there, and from the minute we drove up to the awesome old hotel I knew we were in for a good time. The folks at the TNMC (because I'm a lazy typer) were generous enough to have us play last week, and then after the festivities they turned off the PA, circled the chairs, and we all went around the circle with our guitars and played tunes. Some were covers and some were originals, but usually by the 2nd chorus we were all singing along with the words regardless. Then on Sunday after our outdoor house concert in Fort Worth (for which, might I add, the 105 temperature of Saturday cooled down to a lovely, cloudy, high 80's for us which seemed like the ARCTIC and we loved it)...we circled yet again and had us a time. I have grown from an absolute fear of these situations to a true love for them. The first few times you play these you're worried about impressing or picking the right tune or whatever. And it's scary to jump in with a solo on someone else's song you might be hearing for the first time. However, I've learned there's no better place to learn and experiment than a song circle...people are generally just there to share music they love with kind folks. I've gotten a lot of chord theory practice done over campfires and song circles in the past year, some on the fly soloing training (and might I add, I am STILL so in the training stages), and as evidenced above, I even get to play drums sometimes. Badly, I'm sure...but now I really want a fancy box to hit. Guilda seems to approve, since she remained sitting next to me and didn't remove herself from the percussion next to her. So let's review the benefits of song circles, shall we? 1. Nice people. 2. New songs heard. 3. Low pressure place to try new musical things. 4. Good times. Try a song circle! Just follow a singer-songwriter around for a while and you'll find one.

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.

TV, Faces, Solos, Songs, all that stuff

Barrel. Stare. Whew! It's Sunday already. I am staring straight down the barrel of a lot of things. No wonder my eyes seem so squinty. At the end of the barrel: - My first live TV appearance looms on Tuesday. I'll be performing with the girls from my Monday night songwriting class at Red Leaf...Emily and Melissa and I had a stellar practice today and I am pumped. If you would have asked me yesterday I would have been freaked out. Now I know we're just going to play music and have fun like we always do, except it will be really early in the morning. In a TV studio. (FOX 7 here in Austin...I think they put these things online, too). - We get to play hot Gibson guitars because Gibson is sponsoring our Red Leaf showcase on April 5th...and since we're going to be on TV we might as well all be playing hot Gibson guitars, right? The two I will switch between I am pretty sure total more in worth than my car. This is what it's like to be a rock star? I'll take it. Photos will come. But for now, can you say...Gibson Hummingbird? Mmmhmmm. (I told you it was worth more than my car). - Dan has been drilling into me the next level of guitar soloing for about...oh, 6 years now. Or a couple months. Or more. And I take things and I ruminate on them and sometimes they don't pop out until they're really. I'm a really super awesome incubator. Sometimes that frustrates people, mainly myself. But anyway...I've been working on it and at practice this afternoon I had a breakthrough guitar moment...or hour...or whatever. I sang along with the notes and made faces and it works. I hope it's not too John Mayer-esque. Yes, I will make faces on TV if that's what I have to do to get the solo out the best I can. - I have also been booking up a storm for The Boss. There were holes in the calendar for April and May and the thing about booking is that the more time goes by, the harder it is to book the dates closest to you. Which means you have to be ON IT. And knock on as many doors as you can until someone says yes. I've also been tackling booking a Pacific Northwest tour for the whole month of June. Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California...here we come. (Drop me venue names or places to play if y'all have them!) We're coming for YOU. - The weird thing is I get into this strange creative flow state when I am working on this booking job...because it's utilizing my history major brain to search out venues and research if they're good or not. It feeds my obsessions with maps because routing is key. It makes my big picture brain work hard to figure in timing, routing, money, and dates. I guess what I mean to say is I like it. Who knew I got a history degree to book shows better? I guess that's a pretty long barrel. Boom!

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.

Air and Simple Gifts

This piece by John Williams was the perfect musical mark for inauguration day. Awesome.

Settling In

The cheapest gas I have ever purchased. Yeah, I'm young. Las Cruces, NM... I made it back to Texas just in time to play a gig on Friday night. I started the drive from Albuquerque at 5 AM and didn't stop until I got to Tantra Coffee in San Marcos around 7 PM. The half hour drive up to Austin was probably the worst part just because I did not want to get back in the car, but luckily I played at a place of caffeination. I think I made up a new word. This new year brings about some immediate changes and the promise of more. The Big One is I have moved up from the title of Merch Girl to more of a tour and business assistant in Camp Susan. I'm excited to be able to work with such a great person whose music I believe in unequivocally. But I'm still probably going to keep the Merch Girl title because it's so darn cute (right, Phil?). I just finished the first song of 2009 (although it was started back in '08)...we'll see if it sticks and where. I'm making demos in preparation for the next EP...kind of just swapping song orders around and seeing what might work. Also starting a NEW BLOG project...domain name has been purchased. Now I'm just trying to set it all up. More on that sooner. Here's the progression of the sunrise from about 6 AM - 7 AM in Southern New Mexico on Friday....

Georgia O'Keeffe and Making Records

"I know I cannot paint a flower. I cannot paint the sun on the desert on a bright summer morning, but maybe in terms of paint color I can convey to you my experience of the flower or the experience that makes the flower of significance to me at that particular time." - Georgia O'Keeffe Perhaps my favorite thing to do in Santa Fe is visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. I'm no art critic, and I often don't know what I should be doing or looking at in an art museum...but O'Keeffe's work has always gotten under my skin. Maybe it's because she sought out New Mexico as her artistic home. Maybe it's her ability to paint something I recognize while making me see it for the first time and differently each time after that. Maybe it's just because she's brilliant. The Museum itself is not large at all; you can get through it in 15 minutes if you don't look too closely, or you can take all afternoon. A lot of times there's no glass separating the viewer from O'Keeffe's broad strokes on the canvas. The paint looks fresh. One of the security guards even showed us O'Keeffe's fingerprint hidden in a tiny watercolor of a windmill. He had to shine his flashlight on the glass so we could pick it out; we felt like we were being let in on a secret. While I was looking at the exhibition yesterday, I decided I want to be able to write songs and make records the way O'Keeffe painted. Bold strokes without hesitation. Making life's minutiae important and beautiful. Shedding light on the colors and scenes already surrounding us. Georgia didn't make the mountain she painted multiple times, but she definitely made it her own.

Because Terri Hendrix Rocks Like That

I got my Terri Hendrix CDs in the mail today...because I pre-ordered them because, well...WHY NOT!? The big news from Terri was that the pre-orders themselves paid for the recording and printing of these CDs and will pay for her NEXT record, too. That is amazing. In these times of record labels dropping artists and folding and freaking out because people are stealing music by burning a CD for their friends...Terri is the one still standing and still putting out awesome music...independent since 1996. Who's got the right idea?

Bring 'Em All In / Lloyd Month

I love this song. Yay Terri and Lloyd. :) Also it's Lloyd Maines month at LoneStarMusic.com -- good times and well deserved. Woot!

Life's A Song 2008

Well this took me a while. I seem to be wandering between solid internet connections all the time, and it took me 3 days to get 13 photos uploaded to Flickr properly. There's no excuse. Needless to say, the Life's A Song workshop with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines was a great experience and I met and re-met a lot of great folks this year. Not a bad way to spend a birthday, either. I got play some of my new tunes for Terri that are possibilities for EP 2, and the feedback was definitely useful. The jams were awesome, even if it got cold enough to make us move inside and away from the campfire. I didn't think it got cold in Port Aransas. (In my mind if you drive that far to a coast, you're pretty close to Jamaica. My mind isn't very geographically accurate, however). Here's some photos...and while you look, go to Terri's Myspace page and listen to her new tunes! Some from her new retrospective album and some from her Christmas EP. "Bring 'Em All In" has been a favorite of mine at live shows for quite some time... Cruising around Port A... Lloyd and the dobro go together like PB&J. Campfire Jam! Inside jam! Terri harmonicas it up. I recorded "Switzerland" with Lloyd being his kickbutt producer self. So there you go. If you have any interest at all in the craft of songwriting, I encourage you to attend a workshop like this...get yourself on the list for Life's A Song or check some of the other ones across the country. They're good for you.

A Music-ful Day

Phew. I have that happy tired feeling when you know you did your job well but it took a bunch out of you. I spent a lot of the morning rehearsing a new tune because it's a co-write (my first "real" one, I think) and I know the parts I wrote really well, and am having to internalize the other lines a little more. Fascinating. Cheat sheet. I also have a wild hair on a new chord and picking pattern, and today brought some workable words...so there's something new in a holding pattern. I spent a chunk of the afternoon trying to flag it in. We're still circling the airport on that one, but I like where it's headed. Who knows. Then I had a voice lesson. We sang "hee hee hee" over and over again and I learned about where your "hee's" should come from. Not your throat. Stop that. Then there was the gig, which was very fun. And since Year 2 of Folk Music Grad School is shifting into focusing on "outer" stuff...like performing...Red Leaf's new Stage Performance teacher came to see my gig. She took notes. That was a little nerve-wrecking, but she's way cool and we meet tomorrow to go over her notes. It's perhaps best we are meeting right before my next gig so I can apply her thoughts to the show. (Her name is Jess Klein and she is awesome and you should totally check out her music, and I hope she does not mind me blogging about her because I just did!) I don't know if part of the outer training will be how to haul a PA around without breaking a sweat, but I could use that class, too. Yay summers in Austin! I'm so ready for fall. And thus ends my random day.

It's Done. And other random updates.

Well...we have a mastered version of The Early Year that is going to be the one that everyone gets in their mailboxes, email boxes, on their computer speakers, and on their turntables. Ok, no turntables. We're not doing a vinyl release...yet, hehheh. I am proud of it. With a capital P! And there's the cover...woot! What is holding me up right now is that I am a little slow to comprehend the embedding of ISRC codes on the tracks, still...so I did not realize I needed to register with the RIAA before this could occur. So I am registering, and then we'll get the codes, which get embedded in the master, which gets shipped to Oasis for duplication. I hope this goes fast. Today is busywork day so I can get my PO box set up (as much as taking orders from my home address via the internet is appealing, haha) and file our paperwork for Bourn Records. And send a fax to the RIAA. Who has a fax machine these days? Oh, that's right...business people. (And Kinko's! Woot!) I am still all happy from last weekend at Threadgill's. Jamming on stage with Terri and Lloyd and Glenn was pretty much a highlight of my...forever. It's neat to think about the things I've been fortunate enough to do in my two years of living here. A lot of the above paperwork and business stuff is thanks to Terri and Lloyd and their never-ending sharing of smarts and experience. From the Life's A Song workshop last October to Terri letting me harass her and pick her brain all the time throughout this past year...it's good to have people who have your back. Dan and Suz and Terri and Lloyd are all really insanely integral parts of me as an artist and of this record...I hope it does them all proud. Thanks for the chance, kids.

Threadgill's with Terri and Lloyd

What happened last night? THAT happened last night. I was surprised at the end of my set by Terri, Lloyd, and Glenn joining me on "Blonde on Blue" and "Paper Rock Scissors". Talk about fun! Such class acts. If you came to the show, thank you so much. Such a fun night, and thanks for braving the raindrops! More on the evening later, I am off to Gruene Hall with my college buds to show them some Texas culture... And thanks to Maestro for the photos!! His clicking finger was on fire.

Yay KUT!

All kinds of fun things happening today! We just had a great hang with some friends over Thai food at Madam Mam's -- red curry for me, always. They do tofu right there. Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines were on KUT's Folkways program this afternoon and were kind enough to give a jpo shoutout. Thanks, kids! That was neat. Check out the KUT site - Susan Gibson will be on this Thursday. I have a little bet with her involving her saying something on air. If she does it, I clean her van windows. The game is on. (And they used my photo from our Very Large Array trip!)

To the Top of the World

This is one of the most gorgeous versions of this tune... (If you squint you'll see Lloyd in the background behind Emily!) I'm driving to New Mexico, y'all...see you on the flip side in the Mountain Time Zone.

Girl Crush on Imogen Heap

I'll admit it...I have a girl crush on Imogen (don't worry, the NYT says it's cool). I watched her latest video blog just now and my mouth kept dropping at each new bit of sound-making genius. From the swirly tube thing that we all had as kids and never quite knew what to do with except annoy the crap out of our parents...to using the Gameboy start up sound on her song...sheer genius. SHE PLAYS THE GAMEBOY. ON HER RECORD. And I thought I was all cool playing the banjo. Imogen, if you need someone to play the Diet Coke bottle, or flip flop around the studio loudly, or perhaps type with 3 fingers on a keyboard really fast...I'm your girl.

Tori II: Bouncing Off Clouds

I know, this is the second Tori post in a week. But the benefits of having a really devoted fanbase mean there are really great quality Youtube videos of you around. This is my favorite track off Tori's latest, American Doll Posse. Note how she plays TWO pianos at the same TIME. One behind her back. I know it's probably easy for her but it looks dang impressive.

A Sorta Fairytale

Tori Amos is brilliant. I love this live version of "A Sorta Fairytale." Talk about commanding a stage. Presence, dress, voice, musicianship, confidence, all of it. I won a front row seat at one of her shows when I was in college, and it changed my perception of live music. I will admit I was not familiar with much of her music before the show, but I was instantly converted. This is probably my top Tori song, and not just because it mentions New Mexico, haha. In fact, the "Scarlet's Walk" record is one of my favorite records period. It creates amazing soundscapes and is beautifully written.

Wowsers for Mary Chapin Carpenter

You've all heard me gush poetic about Mary Chapin Carpenter, one of the main reasons I picked up a guitar in the first place. Some argue that her rise of fame in the country music market was a weird abberation. All I know is that if I had looked to other popular people as mentors in the mid-90's when I was just starting to be curious about music, I might have picked up a karaoke mic and be hitting the American Idol auditions now. (Not that there's anything wrong with that). But anyway...over on Country Universe, one of the blogs I read to keep up on all things Nashville, there's a series being posted about the 100 Greatest Women in Country Music. While entirely subjective (the joys of blogging), the list is great so far and it's been a joy to read. I knew MCC would probably rank pretty high...and she came in at No. 29 today. While reading the article, none of the information was very new to me...except to see it all spelled out at once made me realize what a formindable career MCC has had. Check it out: - 10 albums over 20 years - The tune Down at the Twist and Shout in 1991..."earned her the first of five Grammys...beginning a historically unprecedented domination of the Best Female Country Vocal Performance category, which she would win four years in a row." - In 1992 the album Come On Come On "would bring Carpenter to the peak of her popularity. It spawned a stunning seven hit singles, practically unheard of at that time." - He Thinks He'll Keep Her (my gateway drug song to MCC's music) brought about Chapin being the "first country artist nominated for Grammy’s Record of the Year for a non-crossover hit." - In 1995 , "the Best Country Album category was reestablished after a thirty-year absence, and Stones in the Road was the winner." It was double platinum by then and Chapin's first that was entirely self-penned...no co-writers. Wow. Wow! Now, we all know a career is not summed up in Grammy awards (although I have cleared a place on my cherry-colored particle-board bookcase should the moment ever arise), but Mary Chapin was breaking down barriers left and right as a woman and a songwriter in this genre. And she made a huge difference for a lot of people...when I was but a wee wannabe chordist...I heard intelligent, smart tunes and you had better believe I was paying attention to the fact that Chapin was writing them herself and playing them herself. Makes a big difference. There's my Sunday warm fuzzy. Thanks, Mary Chapin. If you squint, you will note MCC in the middle and me to the immediate left backstage at a concert in Atlanta in 2005. Surrounded by a bunch of fun people decked out in flamingo garb. This is probably a long story for another time, but it was dang amazing.

nite kids (iPod blawg no. 2)

I just got home from another inspiring session with Dan. We recorded a bit, he said with the purpose of taking the mystery out of recording. Instead of being freaked out like usual, I just did it. He is a master! 1:19 AM. Bed.

The Year That Was.

Oh everybody's doing it, so I guess I will, too. All the blogs I read are doing their "best of" posts of 2007, and I have officially, as of January 1st (TOMORROW!) been blogging for a year, so I have a whole 12 months to pick from. What a year it's been. I guess it'll also serve as a little "2007 Year in Review" because life looks considerably different now except the whole point hasn't really changed at all. Let's make that make sense: January: My first post was...well, a first post. Then I saw Patty Griffin at Gruene Hall and it was a good sign of the fun year ahead. February: I launched the re-design of jpo.com which is what you're looking at now. Yes, before there was NO BLOG ON THE FRONT PAGE! Gasp! Now it would seem weird to have anything different. Still a little slow at blogging. March: Jana Susana Banana Rama happened, and it was my first time playing with Susan Gibson and it was SO COOL. Plus, I got to meet Jana Losey and Melanie Peters (who of course, added the Jana and the Rama to the Susana and the...I guess that makes me the Banana. Hrm.) Jana L. is releasing a new album called "Blocks" and you should probably own it. Rama. Susana. Jana. Banana? My first SXSW left me in a dizzying realization that Austin pretty much rocks. I saw a bunch of killer music, and interestingly enough a little band I like to call porterdavis (well, actually...that's what they like to call themselves) with some dude named Dan in it who I had never met before. And I didn't meet him then, either, haha. Shy Jana. April: I played at the Austin Women's Film, Music, and Literary Festival -- met a LOT of cool people and gigged a bunch in one weekend. Great times. May: My blog exploded thanks to a week of touring around New Mexico with Susan and hanging out with business partner Josh, who logged and filmed and took notes the whole time. The video blog (vlog) became a fixture. I like having business partners who know things. Well, just one, because he knows it all. Getting to NM Susan is a trooper Late Nite Radio Santa Fe Gig Filmed for TribVid at the ABQ Tribune Got Paid in Potatoes? The curse of the Czech name Hanging out at the Very Large Array My One Year Anniversary Phew. June: I was very coy about starting to study at Red Leaf School of Music because I didn't know how things would work out with this aforementioned Dan guy from porterdavis, so I just said "things are happening." I'm a little silly sometimes. July: My Independence Day was spent waxing poetic about the influence Mary Chapin Carpenter has had on me. FINALLY I speak about Folk Music Grad School. And FINALLY I introduced you to Business Partner Josh, even though he was still The Mysterious J at the time. August: My little opus about Terri Hendrix is one of my favorite posts. Dan and I started our Hemingway Book Club. We're on our 5th book now, I think. Oh, and Dan and I decided to make a record. September: The Artist Market, which I have been playing with for over a year now, got a little rained on at the Pecan Street Festival. So did my pants. I got a flat tire. October: Three Words: Life's A Song. Day One Day Two November: The 2nd Annual JP Project went off without a hitch. More shows in New Mexico with Susan Gibson. Lovely. Now it's December and you're reading this post. Are you exhausted yet? I'm not. My point is...I did not have a clue most of this stuff was going to happen. In January I knew I was taking steps to build a business with Josh and start working toward the path of being a self-supporting singer/songwriter/entrepreneur/freelancer. That happened...but 2 tours to New Mexico with one of my very favorite songwriters ever, folk music grad school, a producer for my EP, and lots of new people and mentors in my life were pretty much all...surprises. All I can say is, chart your path with purpose and then let your chart get re-written as you go, but keep the purpose. That makes things go smoothly, I think. 2008 is going to be fun. Thanks for hanging in there! Have a SAFE and HAPPY New Year, kids!