Waking up on the bus headed to Roswell, NM. We typically wake up having already arrived unless it’s a particularly long drive. Last night was the Luck Reunion fest in Spicewood, TX, a little outside of Austin, so this is quite a haul.
Luck Reunion is held at Willie Nelson’s property. My understanding is that it was built to look like an old western town for the film Red Headed Stranger and after the filming was done, Willie decided he wanted to own it. It definitely still feels like the set of an old western, which makes it the perfect setting for a small festival.
We were put on one of the smaller stages at the event, which was a bit concerning at first (if only because of how many people we have on stage for this show) but it ended up being perfect. The crowd was jammed in tight at the barricade and pouring out the sides of the tent.
Austin has always been so good to us, ever since our early days at SXSW. I have fond memories of playing 5-6 shows a day, doing all the loading and unloading ourselves, staying up all night, and having no idea where we were going to sleep. It was a wild time. It’s strange to feel like I take much better care of myself than I did back then, but to also be absolutely certain that I couldn’t handle a work load like that at this point in my life.
Ever since then we’ve come up the ranks of venues, from Mohawk to Emo’s, from Emo’s to Stubb’s and most recently from Stubb’s to Moody Theatre. Each of these venues made us feel like rockstars beyond what the rest of the world seemed to be telling us at the time. But now that I’m thinking about it, maybe it’s just the fans in Austin and the venues themselves are just that - venues - albeit really great venues. In any case, this feels like as good of a moment as any to express some deep gratitude to the city and people of Austin, Texas. Like for any band, there’s a short list of cities that have been so consistently supportive to us and Austin is right there at the top. It’s never taken for granted. Thank you.
After yesterday’s set we watched some of Tyler Childers show, caught up with old friends from Old Crow Medicine Show and waited to see Willie Nelson play. He opened his set singing The Rainbow Connection with Kermit The Frog which happens to be my 3 year old son’s favorite song, so it was a big moment for me. It was an incredible show, but it obviously required a little bit of context for maximum enjoyment. Brief moments of his incredible singing and guitar playing would shine through, but otherwise, being 91, it’s just a miracle to get to be in his presence and watch him perform at all. I think that was the shared experience throughout the crowd. It wasn’t your typical audience simply expecting to be entertained, but rather a hushed awareness of what an opportunity we all had to pay reverence to this titan who still walks among us. So it didn’t matter at all that he struggled with songs here and there. At least that was my impression. All the artists from the festival joined him for his last few songs - Will the Circle be Unbroken, I’ll Fly Away and Oh Lord, it’s Hard to be Humble - and getting to stand on a stage with him will always be one of the greatest honors of my musical life.
The rest of the tour has been a blast. Holly and Jess are incredible and putting on a masterclass every night. It’s such a privilege to get so far inside someone else’s material and getting such a close look into how it functions in front of an audience. There are a lot of lesson’s we’ll be taking away from this experience. It seems like the crowds are digging it too. Personally, finding out that all of Little Feat are backing up Carly Simon on her version of It Keeps You Runnin’ or learning that Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are the rhythm section for Zevon’s Werewolves of London is the kind of information I live for as a music fan. So I’m hoping that Lucius fans getting to see them sing some Dawes tunes and Dawes fans getting to see us back up Lucius feeds that part of the fan brain. It seems to be working!
Here are some photos from the road
And for you paying subscribers out there - I’m attaching a recording of Griff and I singing The Rainbow Connection backstage in Roswell, NM. Last time (maybe the 20th time) I was watching the opening sequence of The Muppet Movie with my older son Gus, I started thinking a lot about this song - while we live in a time when most music from musicals for kids (or even for adults) is pretty objectively awful, to think that a roomful of producers, writers, directors and general creative types decided that THIS was gonna be the opening number coming out of Kermit’s mouth is such a triumph. Beyond being simply a really great song, it’s also respectful of a child’s ability to think deeply about something; to reckon with complicated insights and still really enjoy it. I dunno…maybe I’m overthinking the song. I personally don’t think so. I think it’s fucking masterful. And so, it seems, does the rest of the planet.
This will also give Mandy something else to play the boys while I’m gone. Two birds, one stone cold classic.