“Trio” show at Johnny B.’s went well. We ended up with a full band—besides James on lead guitar, Jack played bass, George Clark harmonica, and Johnny himself sat in on drums. And everyone was excited about how good we sounded. Even had a crowd show up—mostly college kids; I thought they had come to hear the act after us, but most of ‘em drifted away after we stopped playing.

(Come to think of it, there was a “downtown artwalk”—a monthly thing, with street jugglers and such, that night; it probably ended about dark, which is when the kids showed up. I think the music drew ‘em in.)

Set was:

One: I Love You

When I Jump Off the Cliff I’ll Think of You

Armadillo on the Interstate

Duct Tape

She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself

Hank’s Song

Free-Range Person

Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus

Bluebird on My Windshield

Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep

I was told we were recordable (yes, I think we are), and that we could get gigs (yes, I believe we could). Proof, probably, will be the Big Gig in Ashland; if we can hold their attention for three hours, we have probably made a name for ourselves.

Three upcoming openmike-type performance opportunities over the next three days; Saturday and Monday are SOSA “showcases,” and Sunday is the Wild Goose. Best, I think, to play different songs each time, to get the musicians (not all of whom will be at each one) familiar with as much as possible of the material for the Big Gig.

Lessons? (There are always lessons.) First, the whole is greater than its parts. The performance underscored what I’ve maintained publicly for some time—even wrote an article for SOSA’s newsletter on it—that we sound better collectively than we do individually. And that’s true not just of me, but of everybody.

Second, have to make sure that the rising tide (if there is a tide, and if it is rising) lifts all boats, like Kennedy said. We have the Triple Tree gig coming up, with four different writers including me, and I’d like to see us all be each other’s band to the extent we can. It is each of us’ job, I think, to make the rest of us sound as good as possible. It’ll take some practice, but we’ve got a week.

Joe