Tour Diary June 8, 2023
Good morning from rainy Lunenburg, MA!
I started writing this yesterday before my shows and it was heavy about the music biz side of things that I am still wrestling with* but it is really exceptionally boring.
Today is a twofer - two shows, one in Manchester and the other in Pittsfield, NH.
New Hampshire Magazine does their version of the Tiny Desk Concert with their Cubicle Concert series. I last played here in 2019 and at that time they were in a different office space and their staff was all working in the office. Post-pandemic NHM has a smaller work space and most of their staff works from home. I’m very much in favor of working from home but when I’m in the office and performing - I kind of wish more folks were in the office!
What a strange juxtaposition - I am in the office and most of the workers are at home. The irony is not lost on me.
Caleb meets us at the door and mom and I follow him to the fourth floor of this old mill building in downtown Manchester right on the river. It’s really amazing how they have transformed these old mills to office and retail spaces. The super high ceilings that once made way for manufacturing equipment are now beautifully finished and the old hardwood floors finished to a shiny sheen but you can still see where they were worn and hard trodden stains beneath the finish.
In the office they have me set up between cubicles and light filters, and reflectors are set up, other diffuses are haphazardly place on the top of the high windows using a tripod extended all the way and balanced so precariously that we’re all sure they’re going to fall but somehow do not.
The soundman debates mic placement and asks my preference. I tell him that last time we just used a single large diaphragm mic and he decides this will work today too. They seem to be happy that I’m just a solo so it will be an easy production.**
With everything in place, the Mac crashes and then there are audio problems. I play a song and then we have to stop. Soundman has determined that the issue is a bad USB cable connecting the interface to the Mac. Doesn’t matter how much nice stuff you have if the (nearly) disposable crappy little cable dies on you. He has to go out and buy a new one because there isn’t a single one in the office.
About a half hour later we resume the recording, I do the introduction and first song again and it feels odd playing the same song twice to the same group of folks but they feign excitement the second time as well. Then there’s an interview portion and I invite mom to join me and she says she’ll be quiet but fortunately for me she chimes in a couple times and is great. The interview is just audio but I think she’ll still make the cut.
Oh and I made toast for everyone too.
The rain is just starting to fall as we get in the car to drive to Pittsfield.
I have never been to Pittsfield and it’s a beautiful if slightly slow, traffic wise, drive to this country town in the hills of New Hampshire. We pass old barns that I know my buddy Gio would love to scour for old wood to make his Black Volt amps and guitars.
There’s one of those old barns that we drive by that has the 70 year old pickup truck rusting away in the garage that looks so perfect that it looks staged. Every country act in America is looking for that setting for their album cover or promo shot.
Rolling hills and congregational churches give way to a hilltop opening where Over the Moon Farmstead sits. Tonight I’m the feature of the open mic that my buddy Dan Moran runs here and this place is beautiful. High ceilings, nice space, tables, brewery, fantastic food. This is really a hidden gem of a spot. And the owners really love the music too!
We had planned on getting here early and eating but we were delayed about an hour by the technical difficulties in Manchester so by the time we get to Over the Moon, the open mic has started and there’s a dude with a thumbpick and a Martin D41*** performing as we walk in.
Mom and I sit down and order some burgers**** and listen to some great music. The dude with the D41 sounds like Gordan Lightfoot and apparently was even friends with him. The next guy has a Larivee parlor guitar that sounds incredible and then the next guy has a PRS archtop and it’s one of those things where you’re like - there are some really expensive guitars at this open mic! I talk to some folks before I play, one woman tells me she’s really excited to hear me play and then goes and sits down. I ask Dan how she knows me. “I was telling her about you.” Oh, good. I was hoping I didn’t just forget I met someone. Whew. There’s two other women sitting in the back, Kathy and Mary Lou and they are both performers as well and tell me that they’re looking forward to my set.
Dan has really built me up. No pressure, you know. “Just don’t suck.” I tell myself.
Apparently I did not suck. It’s a great show, lots of storytelling and singing and strumming and a fantastic listening audience. I play my last song and Dan jumps up on stage and says “you’re playing one more with me and you’re in drop D.” He picks up his mandolin and we tear through “Copperhead Road” which I may have acoustically taken over more than followed along - it’s such a great tune and Dan performs it great.
Post show is a great hang. I’m told “you’re too young for me but if I was 20 years younger I’d be all over you.”***** There’s still a couple performers after me. One of whom is Mary Lou who does an acapella version of…oh man. I can’t remember the name of it but it was like being transported to an old Irish bar where someone breaks out in song and everyone just shuts up and listens.
I talk with Kathy who runs an open mic in Northwood, NH.****** and invites me to come be the featured thing on Sunday. I’m looking forward to hearing her sing and play as she tells me she has a Gibson J200. We even talk about songwriting for a bit - so yeah. More songwriting!! The world needs more art and beauty!!
It’s a long, slow ride home with patches of thick fog, so thick, I miss an exit and have to turn around on the 101 in Brookline, NH.
Speaking of songwriting, I’m including here a short snippet of one of the songs me and Morgan wrote and recorded the other day. The start of this song was the chorus that I had in a dream and I forced myself awake to write it down and just sang it and played it, chords and all. I played it for Morgan and he started singing a verse and then we wrote the rest together on Monday and recorded it that day as well.
Tonight I’m heading to Greenfield, NH for a house concert at Dan Moran’s. Dan is a great musician, having formed The Pop Farmers over 20 years ago, being a bass player, singer, songwriter, mandolin player and he was also the first person to ever write a review of my music back in 1998 when he reviewed my first solo album and compared me to Izzy Stradlin from Guns and Roses.******* I love Dan and am excited to return to his middle of nowhere New Hampshire.
Ok, that’s it for now.
xo
~Bobbo
*My publishing changed companies four or five times since 2014 and the last one screwed up a bunch of stuff.
**foreshadowing.
***A Martin D41 is the top of the line.
****This is a fantastic place to get a burger.
*****It’s nice to know there is at least one demographic that does go for me.
******Northewood? I’ve never heard of these towns but I’m going. I can’t expect folks to come find me in the big cities like Lowell - I have to go to them. BTW - Lowell isn’t that big of a city.
*******It’s amazing the things you remember sometimes.
https://on.soundcloud.com/otByj