Happy New Year!
I still find myself saying that to people when I am out and about. What’s the cutoff on wishing someone a Happy New Year? There are more years left in the year than are not left in the year, so maybe we should say it until at least Opening Day for Baseball. How was everyone’s Dec 31? Heck, it’s been a couple months since I’ve checked in, so I’m going to need a recap on all the holidays starting with Thanksgiving. I hope you ate a lot, recovered, had lots of Santa presents under your trees, and that NYE was a safe and joyous one. It seems like 100 years’ of events and memories has happened since we last spoke, so I’ll get you caught up.
So Thanksgiving. Always crazy. Always wonderful. My very pregnant wife and I went to Missouri for some family time, and that’s when my ‘eat just about every dessert’ phase began, ending somewhere around Jan 1.
We had 2 shows in Milwaukee to bring in December in proper fashion, and to say we had fun is an understatement. The crowds in Milwaukee are always fantastic, and it seems that every show there is just a (very) early warm up for Summerfest. We then trucked up to Minnesota, then to Iowa to round out the week. The wonderfully mild weather made that trip nicer. We always cringe when we see Northern States between Nov 1 and March 1.
The next show was at Foxwoods Resort in CT. We spent the better part of 2 days there, but if I had to be somewhere where it was 20 degrees outside, Foxwoods would be one such place. First of all, the casino is IMMENSE. Tons of stuff to do, and I walked miles (literally miles) getting from wing to wing. But it was also my birthday, which used to be a month-long celebration, and has now whittled itself down to a tidy 2-day event. One for the party, one for recovery.
After Foxwoods, we hit the Cabot Theater in lovely Beverly, MA, which happens to be next door to Salem. My history senses were percolating as we hit Salem for lunch in a wonderfully quaint Italian eatery. My face froze off as I went for an after-dinner walk through Beverly. I found out I would pay for it later. I ended up with Bronchitis that lasted the better part of the month. Oh, New England. How you curse me so…
Jake and I flew back to Nashville and landed at 8AM, giving me about 40 hours at home before I had to head to Louisiana for a video shoot with PreSonus, a wonderful musical company. I was there for a day. Like, less than 24 hours, and had to get back to Nashville Tuesday to play the Opry at the Ryman that night.
The next night I played a wonderful show, although it was the kind show I never want to play. A bass icon here in Nashville passed away this past year, and his history is wonderful and unique. His name was Mike Chapman, one of the ‘good guys’ in this town, and he played on all of Garth Brooks’ records. Local bass player Jeff Jenkins, a friend of Mike’s, arranged the rest of the ‘G Men’ to get together and play Garth’s songs, with different bass players filling in on each one. Phil was gracious enough to lend his time and talent to the evening, and we played a very special song.
Thanks to the G men and Jeff for having us out, and for 3rd & Lindsley for hosting such a great night for the Chapman family and the musical community of Nashville.
So after that – Christmas! Henry was all about his presents, and I am pretty sure we have ‘one of everything’ that has wheels. I can’t wait for the next one.
On December 29 I was a guest on the ACME Radio show ‘Gear Gab’, which tapes at ACME in Nashville. Here’s a link if you have an hour or so and want to hear some things I’ve recorded and hear about mistakes I’ve made in my musical journey.
Phil was very kind and asked a few months back if we could book a couple of in-town shows for New Year’s Eve. He asked because my wife was very pregnant, and he wanted to keep me close to home in case baby decided to show up early. The Franklin Theatre was the site of the 2 shows, and it is always nice to sleep in your own bed after a show. So we rocked for two nights, then, well, the next phase of our lives began. After about 4 hours of said ‘sleep’ in my bed, I was up with H-bomb, then someone decided to make his grand entrance.
We were admitted to the hospital at 2PM, and a scant 13 hours later, our boy Miles was born. Of course, we didn’t know he was going to be a ‘he’, and I am once again glad we didn’t find out. Guess what? the nursery decor is still waiting to be purchased, and everything was just fine. 🙂
So now we try to sleep, we spend a lot of time snuggling these babies, and getting ready for the year ahead. I get back on the road very soon, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again. In the meantime, between feedings, nappings, and changings, Daddy is diligently working on the albums that I promised. And I’m awfully excited about them. Yep. Them.
So get ready, 2017. The word is ‘Love’. Shouldn’t that be for every year?
