Driving Though the Night

There have been many nights in my life that I have been driving down the road. Sometimes it has been with family. Sometimes with friends. Often it has been alone and the result of work or traveling for work. Many times it has been for music and while that is also a profession, it is more play than work. Although I am exhausted when we finish a program.

I enjoy driving in the night, even as I realize that it can have it's own special dangers. There is usually less traffic during the night however, at least until the truckers begin waking back up and getting on the road (if you happen to be driving the Interstates). I really do pretty well up until around 2:30 or 3:00 am. My natural tendencies are to be awake late and sleep a little later, though that isn't always possible.

When my children were younger, we would drive late in the night and sometimes all night to make distance while they slept. We would trade off on the driving. I will say that my children always were good travelers though, and especially on long trips. Even as they have grown up, we have continued to drive many times at night to make up time on our trips.

Sometimes I like to listen to music as I drive. Other times I just want it quiet and have time to think. I have solved many problems, or what appeared to be problems, as I drove along a road. Late at night it is fun to listen to AM radio stations. It is amazing some of the things you hear on the old AM stations in the middle of the night. Some things are great and mind expanding. Some are funny. Many are just plain strange. Still others will transport you to another time or place.

David and I have had the chance to drive several nights together as we returned from a gig somewhere close enough to drive back from. That has often meant getting back home around 2:00 am or later, but still close enough to be there well before daylight. Those trips have often been productive times for us as we discussed songs (and sometimes worked on them), planned places to contact for gigs, talked about musicians we enjoy (and listen to their music), and enjoyed a bit of the road while knowing we didn't have to be on it all the time.

We have enjoyed meeting a lot of people over the years. People who have become friends and acquaintances - great musicians and music fans. As we have ventured farther from our home turf, it has been great to be greeted by good people everywhere we go. It is exciting to learn about new places as well. Whenever possible we try to get to a place early so we can look around the area before setting up to play.

This summer we went to Boone, NC for a program. I have been to Boone many times, but it had been a few years since I had been there. We went early to see where we would be performing, then toured town and the area. It was interesting to see the changes that had taken place since my last visit, and it was good to see that many things had not changed. We then drove over to Deep Gap, NC to see the hometown of Doc Watson. We didn't get to see Doc, but did take our picture by the Doc and Merle Watson Highway sign.

That evening we were on a double bill with Baldwin and Haney (Lisa Baldwin & Dave Haney), one of our favorite duos. It was a great evening for us as we were able to perform, watch their show, and then go to dinner with them as well. I usually just eat supper, but it was nice to have dinner that evening. Then a drive through the night that got me to Blairsville around 2:30 am.

This past Saturday we played in Johnson City, TN. This was our first trip there and again arrived early enough to look around. We checked out the town and then drove around East Tennessee State University to look it over. ETSU has a big Bluegrass Music Program going, so there is a lot of music in that area. Our program was at the Acoustic Coffeehouse and we had a great time. The patrons are music fans and the food was excellent. I do have to remember that college towns tend to go later in the night, so next time we should try to play the 10:00 pm show instead of the 8:00. The crowds really started getting there around 9:00.

Driving back, or maybe I should say riding back since David drove on this trip, was good. We listened to the CD from our program at Boone - they had recorded it for us. It gave us a chance to listen and see what we liked and what we might want to work on. Then we listened to some other CD's. Somewhere after midnight, I put in the Claire Lynch CD call Crowd Favorites. It was a great choice for that section of our trip. I love to hear Claire sing and what a band. Jim Hurst can't be beat on guitar for technique and taste. Missy Raines is outstanding on upright bass (as is the current bassist with Claire Lynch - Mark Schatz). The other musicians on the CD were top notch as well. It was fun to listen to them spread their wings as they played an almost 9 minute version of Wabash Cannonball. Good music as were ramble through the night.

Be careful as you drive around, especially at night. We may be somewhere on the road and while we would love to see you, we don't want to actually run into you. Have a great day and we'll see you down the road.

Nelson