Your technologically challenged Uncle finally made it. Woody Allen once said that eighty percent of life is just showing up, so it's good to be here. I've been living with the rough mixes of the new recording almost every day now since getting back from Nashville, and I've got to say I'm honestly still very much in love with it. I haven't yet reached the point of true objectivity where I start thinking that we ought to erase all of it, start over, and maybe bring in Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to help "punch it up." As Steve suggested, the road trip down Route 66 was incredibly inspiring and a truckload of songs came out of this rich experience. I re-read Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" before the trip (haven't read it since my early twenties), and at one point on the road all of the Dog's watched the film version of the novel. This certainly helped to evoke in us all the "dust bowl Okie" sense of the road's history and to inspire a few songs about that particular period. Of course there were the old Drive-Ins, restored gas stations, diners, hotels, and various tourist trap icons that also motivated us to write a number of songs, along with the most important aspect of our trip---the people. They overwhelmed us with their kindness, hospitality, individual uniqueness, and more importantly their willingness to tell us incredible storys about their lives in relationship to the Glory Road, all of which we mined in the creation of both music and film. I will say that Roe drove the RV most of the time, and we spent half the trip missing exits and having to turn around miles up the road. I may be wrong about this, but I think Mike is probably the only guy in the group whose never been camping in his life and wouldn't know a tent from a moo-moo. Steve was the only true sucker...er..camper on this deal, and as he told you in his blog, he braved the elements while the rest of us nestled serenely in the RV's body-stench ridden lap-o-luxury where Roe continued every night to build Thomas Merton's Seven 'Snorry' Mountain. Despite that, the good Lord was certainly with us and blessing us with an abundance of traveling mercies as well as giving us a shared experience that was so profound we are not likely to ever forget it. The most exciting thing for us now is getting to share it with all of you through film, music, and live performances.We can't wait! All that we experienced is obviously way to much to capture in one blog, so I plan on coming back here as often as I can and risk boring you all to death.
Blessings fellow travelers.