Good Morning!
My Book and Music Tour came home to California after a little over 7000 miles across the USA and back.*
First things first:
Saturday, May 30, 2026
I am the guest speaker at Songsalive's Monthly Meeting
Singing some stories, talking some music
Goldenwest Diner****
Westminster, CA
6:30-8:30 p.m.
*****
It's been a few years since I drove the width of the USA and I'm still unpacking all that I saw and experienced. I kept notes like I always do but the travel times made the actual writing few and far between. I was driving into Texas as the sunset was blinding my rearview mirror and I thought about how Kerouac described an Arizona sunset as “a mad orange fool raging at the gloom.”**
I found a salad at a Mexican bar and got a message from Hartley Pleshaw about the next morning's radio interview on WCAP. He texted: “I will call you at 10 am EST.” This is all fine and good but I don't know what time zone I'm in. I went up to the bar and asked the bartender, “Can you tell me what time zone we're in?” She looked at my tired face and asked “Honey, do you know where you are?”
At the Love's truck stop in Pecos, Texas I saw a guy washing up in the restroom with a Mexican blanket over his shoulders singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and for a second he looked like a sunburned Jack Kerouac. That night I learned about the Permian oil basin here in Pecos*** and started singing a song with Kerouac in mind and how I've been chasing his spirit across the country.
My new song was writing itself.
The heat was already getting to me and my mind drifted to San Francisco and how I like the San Fran gloom, it reminds me of Galway, Ireland and why is it so goddamn hot in Texas this early in the year? I should do a show at City Lights Bookstore. I should contact them. Heading up to San Francisco as Paul Westerberg would say. Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Coney Island of the Mind came back to me - poem 20 ends with “and the leaves cried as they fell, too soon, too soon.” I will take the “too soon” and make it the end of my chorus.
In my Best Western motel room I set up a microphone in the bathroom and recorded Kerouac's Ghost and it's the free song included today. If you listen close you can hear not just the motel air-conditioner but also a few scratchy notes as I was still just learning how to sing this. I was originally talking to the folks at the Kerouac Foundation about doing a collection of songs inspired by Jack's work but they seem to be busy with other things. I might do it anyway. Record all the songs in motels across the country? I don't know. Something though. I like the spirit of this song.
*****
June is going to be a slow moving month with me hopefully getting my left knee fixed.*****
I almost forgot that I wrote the theme music for the podcast “Are you seeing this?” and they have asked me to be a guest on an upcoming episode. We've rescheduled our Backyard Benefit Concert for OC Foodbank for Sunday, July 19. I've booked a joint author event in Saltash, U.K. for October 3 with author Annalisa Crawford. I will be at the FAR-West Folk Conference in Portland, OR in October. I will be at the Anaheim Indie Authors day on November 7 and on Nov 14, the Twentynine Palms Book Festival has asked me to be on their “On the Road Again” panel discussing traveling across the U.S. and it's cultural legacy in literature. The Fallen Stars will be performing our Firefly themed music at WorldCon on August 29th. My show dates are slowly filling in for Germany and Austria in September.
I'm also still recording the audiobook for Too Many Miles. It is slow going but going to be worth it.
*****
The companion album to Too Many Miles book just got this great review from the Dutch website Muziekwereld where they said "Taken as a whole, Too Many Miles is a warm, honest, and meticulously crafted album that aims not for spectacle, but for humanity. It is a record that takes you on a journey, yet also invites you to pause for a moment—precisely as the very best Americana does."******
Lastly, I met the talented Celtic singer Amelia Hogan last year at a festival and we've been scheming to do some recording together. There is a beautiful Italian song called Bella Ciao that I heard last year in Austria when performed by friend Roman's band. It is a song of resistance and was a WW2 anti-fascism anthem. I suggested to Amelia that we record it together and she has a beautiful voice to carry the tune and I'm excited to be working with her. She is currently running a Kickstarter and if you're a fan of traditional Irish music and songs of freedom - you should really look her up.
This email is way too long and I apologize. I had so much more to tell you about! Hope to see you soon at a show or whatever.
As always, thanks for hanging out with me and tolerating my ramblings.
I nearly forgot to remind you that my Too Many Miles book is for sale here and it's on Amazon here and Goodreads here, Barnes & Noble here. If you're still up in the air about whether to get your own copy - Look at these reviews and the testimonials on the Amazon page.*******
And since I told you about my book - I'm also going to tell you about another book that I'm reading right now. My Billerica friend Joanne Diaz just published an award winning collection of poetry called Electric Dress. It's inspiring to me and I'm loving reading how she blends art, science and history into her poetry.
xo
~Bobbo
BobboByrnes.com
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*I went through 25 U.S. States and drove 7,014 miles (11,285 km). California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and then home to California. For my European friends - if you drove from Lisbon, Portugal through Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and all the way to St. Petersburg in Russia AND THEN BACK to Lisbon - you would still have to drive another 2300 kms to catch up.
**This is from Kerouac's book Desolation Angels. I had to change this because “mad orange fool raging” would make everyone think of our current President.
***Pecos is pronounced “Pay-kus” for some reason.
****about a mile from where that chemical tank thing was happening!
*****Devotees will remember that I was once hit by a bus. Something happened in the last week that has me wondering if in my dreams I ran a slant pattern through a zone defense and was chopped by the cornerback and the strong safety because I am moving like I got hit going for a first down.
******If you'd like to read the review in English, click here.
*******If you've read the book and wanted to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads - I highly encourage that!!