The day began early, Adrian Conner and Armando Reyes picking up me/luggage/bass rig in Vincent Van Go around 10am for the all-day haul to Alpine in West Texas. A recent storm system and flooding rains made for a cooler than normal drive through the Chihuahuan Desert. Good, as there is no AC in Vincent.
Quite a haul. Texas is pretty fuckin big.
Got these awesome/goofy sunglasses on the way out of town. Turns out the clerk forgot to charge me for them. Scrore!
But I didn't get to wear them much, as I was unable to acquire new contact lenses before leaving town so went on the road with a very old pair. Turns out I'd get a few hours out of my old contacts per days (from soundcheck to load out), so I was rolling with my eyeglasses all day. Well shit. But I jump ahead of my tale.
Home for the next 3-ish weeks:
I'd played Railroad Blues in Alpine in early 2008, first date of the first tour I did with The Mother Truckers. Was looking forward to returning, that place was/is all kinds of awesome. But we had to actually get there first.
West Texas
Although as a photographer I wanted to remove items from the dashboard so their reflections don't show up in the pics, as well as be more proactive in cleaning the bugs off the windshield. But fuck it. This is how we'd be viewing the western half of the country, and so should you \m/,
Still driving...
Finally! I seem to recall Railroad Blues being more in the middle of nowhere as opposed to being more in town. But it was night when i rolled in 6 years ago, and Alpine itself is pretty much in the middle of nowhere...
Still had the fire pit in the parking lot. Awesome!
Two sets for this show. As an experiment began the set semi-acoustic, just to work into the Rock a little. Went great! Even some of the more rock songs translated well. Adrian even pulled out "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" and really blew some minds.
We also played "Little Wing" which went over very well. Whenever I play that song now, on the road especially, I think of friends that have passed while I was on the road. And there are a few.
Switched over to the Rock and knocked em dead rest of the first set and all of second. Crowd wasn't huge, but the people there sure were into it! 15 people going nuts > 150 just standing there.Unless we're playing for the door hahaha, but still. Adrian jumping offstage and rocking out to people in the crowd and going to the bar, mid solo, for a shot always goes off well!
However, her wireless unit was being problematic at this show, which could affect her mobility during said crowd-walks.
All around a good first show to kick the tour off right. Was hoping we'd be staying in the little cabin/duplex hotel that the Truckers stayed in, but alas we had a more conventional room. No complaints tho!
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