I’m writing to you from my hotel room in Sitka, Alaska.   It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, an island on the Southeast Coast of this beautiful, wild state.   Even though the town is rather small, they have an amazing theater and we were lucky enough to play there last night to a full house.   I’m feeling very grateful to be a musician, to have incredible Red Molly band-mates who are my best friends and hilarious traveling companions, to be able to travel and meet all these wonderful people along the way.   As I was walking back to the hotel this morning with my espresso (people up here share my love for the strong stuff!), someone leaned out of their car to yell across the parking lot… “that was the best show I’ve ever seen!”   I’m just speechless.   I realize how lucky I am for this life and never take it for granted.   It makes me want to practice more, write more songs, and put even more energy into my music.   Basically, it makes me want to return the favor or pass it on in some way.   I’ll do my best, Sitka!

In other news- check out the new Slide Sessions video!

And at the end of the month, two jazz gigs with my dad’s band.

10/22 Swing Dance in Poughkeepsie, NY

10/23 Library show in Cedar Grove, NJ

Abbie

I’m sitting here on a rainy Sunday, 12 days into the month before I realize it’s a September!   I’ve had my head so far into Dobro world that I lose track sometimes.

I’m preparing for a gig tonight with my buddy Pat Wictor.   He and I have written, recorded and performed together for as long as I’ve played Dobro and somehow it never gets too familiar.   We’re always picking up new songs to keep ourselves on the edge and challenge what we can pull off on stage.   Right now I’m trying to get some ideas for what to play on Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile, one of Pat’s picks for tonight.   I tried going for the melody, but this one seems like it would come out better if I just find a distortion pedal and go crazy.   I’m also refreshing on our duet and co-write, A Little Love is Gonna Do (a mellow jazzy number), and some swampy rootsy tunes, as well.   It’s gonna be a really fun show.   We’ll try to videotape something to post for the next episode of the Slide Sessions, too!

Speaking of which, the first episode is now posted, featuring the father-son Philly-based duo Beaucoup Blue!!   I’m so excited about this project because I get an excuse to play with some of my favorite slide players!   On this tune “Sea of Love” we ended up opting for the rehearsal take instead of the “real” one because it had more guts to it.   Go figure…

Take a peek here:

SLIDE SESSIONS: Beaucoup Blue

Abbie

July was an absolute whirlwind!   Falcon Ridge was beautiful, sentimental, and amazing.   Teaching melody-writing and “getting unstuck” down at the Swannanoa Gathering (North Carolina) was incredible…   it opened me up to the rewarding world of teaching and also helped me focus my own thoughts on songwriting, besides the added bonus of being able to play some tunes with Peter Mulvey and dance up a storm with Vance Gilbert.   YAY!

I’ve gone from one tour to the next, breaking handles off my suitcase and learning how to really live on the road.   I’m really getting to know what foods don’t spoil or leak in the car!   Our first international tour, up to Nova Scotia, was a beautiful way to break in our new band member- Molly Venter.   She’s amazing and so fun to be around.   I feel very lucky and inspired these days.   I’m hoping to use that inspiration to carve out a regular practice routine while on the road.   Easier said than done, I know, but there are so many melodies my ears hear that my hands don’t know yet (on the Dobro).   I guess that could seem frustrating, but right now it’s just inspiring me to practice more (and practice BETTER).   Every time I figure one melody out, things feel a little more right in my world and I get fired up to figure out more.   Ah, Sally Van Meter told me to work on this like 4 years ago!   I’m getting there, Sally!   Actually, I think I’ll put the computer down and get to it!

Photo by Ginger Fowler

Here’s my summer uniform- red rubber boots!

Abbie

Wow, what a summer!   Big changes are brewing with the band I’ve spent the last 6 years of my life on.   I’m wishing the best to my friend and bandmate Carolann as we finish up the last few shows in our original formation, while working to get ready for the new formation of the band with Molly Venter.   Our last show together is at The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, where the band started, and we’ll be playing a great slot on Saturday night.   It’s exciting and emotional, but fitting.

Also, at the end of the month I’ll be teaching songwriting at the prestigious Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina!!   This will be my first time teaching and I’m really excited about it.   I feel like I can bring together things I’ve learned from every part of my background, including attending Song School and Rockygrass Academy in Colorado, studying classical music, going to Jack Hardy’s NYC songwriters group, and even studying sensory integration and occupational therapy in college.

I’ll be posting the first Slide Sessions Podcast video next month, too!   Wahoo!

Abbie

Hamilton Park is finally open again!   It’s so great to get to meet all the dogs in my neighborhood.   I head to the park at least once a day when I’m here- lately with Mr. Ray Price on my ipod.   I’ve got to soak in this beautiful weather before heading to Texas in a couple of days, where I hear it’s hot-hot-hot.   I’m psyched to be playing the Kerrville Folk Festival main stage again- this time with Red Molly.

Later this month the touring will slow down enough for me to get started on the NEW Slide Sessions!   I’m taking it to the web!   What used to be a monthly gig in NYC will now be a video podcast for the world to see.   I’ve already started scheduling sessions with some of my favorite slide players, going wherever they may be and taping a duet or two.   We’ll be dueling it up on slides of all sorts, laughing and making some fun, spontaneous music together.   Recording starts this month with Pat Wictor and episodes will be posted in August.   YAHOO!

Abbie

I just got back from Merlefest.   Whoa.   With an estimated 70,000+ attendees, it’s one of the biggest festival I’ve ever been a part of!   We showed up early Saturday morning to be ready for first set (11am) and were surprised to find our new friends Cadillac Sky gearing up for their main stage set at (gasp) 9:45am!   The amount of energy these boys put into their set made us step it up in a big way and reminded me that no matter when or where you play, you owe it to the audience to act like you are playing the headlining slot on Saturday night.   We were amazed to see over a thousand people at our first set and standing room only at our indoor Lounge set that afternoon!   What a warm welcome!   We really hope to come back.

The rest of the month was a bit of a blurr, touring from upstate NY (where we saw a bear and two porcupines!) to Tennessee, South Carolina , and Massachusetts.   I even fit in two solo gigs- one with Pat Wictor (double slide gigs never get old) and an unplanned jam with David Jacobs-Strain at his recent NYC house concert.   The new record  James is steadily climbing the charts, too!   Up to #4 on the Americana Charts this week and spent two months as the #1 album on Folk DJ!   I’ll be racking up the frequent flyer miles in the next few months with trips to Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma.   But for now, the sun is bright in New Jersey and I just filled the tires on my bike.

  Abbie

Split bill with Pat Wictor on Thursday 4/8 at The Turning Point! Hope to see you there! We’ll be playing a slew of duets and backing each other up on everything.   We’re even breaking out the electric lap steel for some heavier stuff.   Fun!

This past month has been amazing.   I told you all about my “music school” concept in March and it’s something that is really changing my life.   I’m not getting as much sleep or doing the dishes quite as often as I used to, but I’m spending way more time studying the thing I love the most.   Good trade off, eh?

This past week I teamed up with my long-time friend, Amy Speace.   We decided we’d write a song every day for a week, sending each other an mp3 & lyrics to keep us accountable and supported.   No re-writing, no critique, just WRITE!   I too often judge my songs before they’re done and it makes it impossible to write, so this was a way to stop that critic in my head.   It worked so well that now we’re extending it for a month.   Of course at first I had to nail my butt to a chair, set a timer for an hour, bribe and negotiate with myself…   I didn’t believe I could do it, but I had to.   And an amazing thing started to happen.   Everywhere I go, every song I hear, my mind is taking it in differently and processing it for potential use in the next song.   I feel like my mind is constantly chewing on rhythms and lyrics and rhymes, while my heart is constantly falling in love with different melodies.   Now, the songs I’ve written aren’t finished or ready to perform, but the process of writing is now a joy instead of torture.   I wrote a few country songs, a few folk songs, and then naturally gravitated towards swing/jazz.   The idea of writing a “standard” of my own is pretty thrilling.   Not sure I’ve nailed it yet, but studying the format of those old songs does me a world of good.

Other projects in my music school in March- studying the licks from Beaucoup Blue records and taking a trip to Paul Beard’s guitar shop down in Maryland.   He fixed my lapsteel so I can play it standing up with a strap.   Very cool!

Ok, time to go figure out what rhymes with “daffodil”

Abbie

Today is March 3rd and it’s my Birthday!   My life is changing so much, so being true to that I’m doing something different to celebrate.

I’ve always wanted to go to music school.   It was a dream of mine.   I auditioned for lots of them as a senior in high school, but life took me down a different road to get where I am now.   I became an Occupational Therapist- guiding adults, children and even infants towards goals that seemed impossible for them.   Teaching them to do their “jobs” (crawling, getting dressed, holding crayons, all sorts of things) despite physical problems, premature birth, illness, strokes, head injuries, etc.

Now I’m a full-time musician, which was my ultimate goal, and I’m trying to lead myself toward goals that sometimes feel too big to handle.   It’s ironic that my training in O.T. is what is now helping me take myself to music school.   That’s my gift to myself this year.   Music School.   Right here at home, at my little red desk with a 3-ring binder, metronome, ipod, some blank TAB and staff paper, pencils, and  a big sheet of star stickers that my sister gave me.

I’m starting with a week of cover songs.   I’m learning a song per day, arranging it for solo Dobro and voice, recording it, listening to it over and over and analyzing the structure, melody, guitar licks, rhymes…   getting all of that in my bones.   It’s only day two of this project and I’m learning way more than I ever thought I would.   I started with one of my favorites, Bonnie Raitt’s version of “I Feel The Same.”   I could spend a week analyzing just the guitar licks in this recording (and I might!).   But today I’m moving on to Justin Townes Earle’s song “Momma’s Eyes.”   A simple, beautiful song with no licks to speak of.   I’ll focus on the melody, the rhyme, the simplicity.

Later this month, after I fill my ears and hands with all this great music, I’m planning to do a week-long project of writing a song per day.   And, of course, I will earn shiny little star stickers for every little step I take.

Due to the weather, the 2/26 Swing Dance gig in Poughkeepsie has been cancelled.   Stay tuned, we will hopefully play this dance in September or October.

Saturday’s show in State College is still on- hope to see you there!