Artisan Sanctuary-Fitting Finale

The Life We Lead
Fox On The Run
Logic And Lies
Nashville
Ever So Much
For What Its Worth
Let's Work Together
I've Been Down So Long That It Looks Like Up To Me

Freddy Jones-Harmonica on the last three songs. Jim Jacobmeyer took this photo.

I've been up and I been down this year.  The past couple weeks I haven't been able to get into the music that I like to play.  I have been sleepwalking through some of my acoustic sets but nobody noticed that, all the songs came out mistake free.  I've gotten too busy with the drum gigs and those bargain hunts that I have blew off playing and learning new songs.  As we slowly come to the end of the year I'm bound to at least so some interest to play new stuff next year if need be.

While the last open mic had more players, this time out there wasn't as many.  Jeff Allen and his friend played, Colton Thompson is back singing more often, and Ed Butler came up to run sound and do his set.  Stuart Pershing came down from Cedar Falls to play and then hit the road, 3 AM comes way too early for him too.  Gregdon Cole came later and so did Freddy Jones.   Pat Lower was sick with the flu and stayed home.

I wasn't feeling up to it for the first hour,  I went over a couple songs before departing to Marion to play the finale.  Last time, Nick Lnenicka was my go to guy on harmonica, this time it was Freddy to the rescue.  I keep confusing him with the blues, but Freddy can play rock and roll   So he asked if he can jam with me and I said of course, come on up.  I might have used him for the whole set but he did pop up to play on a slower version of For What Its Worth, more of a jazzier, bluesier version.  I've never played it in that slower speed but I was kinda bored with the original version.  Even the lead off track The Life We Lead was done slower than usual.  It just happened that way.

There are at least five great harmonica players in town:  Freddy is one of them, Nick is another, Tom Berdo and Bob Gleason too.  Bob Dorr, the legend of Waterloo/CF can go to town.  The Cedar Rapids area is underrated for great musicians and we discussed this at length from time to time.  Freddy is one of the more approachable musicians, he's well liked and easy to talk to.  His stories about hanging with Bo Diddley is the stuff of legends.  We talked about maybe doing something as a duo, a good reason to dust off the Alias Smith And Jones moniker.  He's very talented, and maybe I can talk Brian and Kris Briles to add him as a guest star when Blues Rox play.

It's nice to see Colton Thompson again, he requested Logic And Lies, which I was going to do anyway.  For a rare original, I played Nashville and changed the last line of that song from I would love to join her if I could only grow a beard to  If I can sell off my soul.  I think but I will not sell my soul, meaning not going to Nashville to play Bro Country EDM.  I practiced it earlier in the day and thought I'd see how it would fly.

I didn't intend to use Freddy Jones outside a song or two, the original intent was to play Baby What You Want Me To Do but For What Its Worth was the same chord start (in E).  Freddy is a professional, he picked it right up even when I still messing around with the beginning.  The last time we played together was the Maury Baker Jam two years ago, but I shared the stage with him, me playing drums.   I was unsure of myself and where I was going, but when Freddy came up, things just fell into place.  I finally felt comfortable and at ease with myself.  We ended the set with Been Down So Long and just made the words up on the spot. The songbook got the night off.

Gregdon Cole finished the fun and Jim got me and Freddy to do another song before calling it a night. It was a variation on Wagon Wheel but I had another song in mind but couldn't think of it.

This concluded my Artisan Sanctuary participation for the year.  Back to work and back to the grind once again.  I like to thank Jim Jacobmeyer for his support of my acoustical adventures on guitar.  I have been blessed to have Freddy and Nick help me the past couple times I played and of course Julie on the birthday bash this year.   When I think I'm ready to hang it up, Jim has managed to find a way to keep my interest going and tho I was struggling at times, Jim, Colton, Ed, Jeff and others supported me with positive comments.   48 hours ago, I left Parlor City frustrated and questioning myself.  Tonight I found the collective groove and the encouragement to keep me going, or at least consider to keep it going in 2020.   Perhaps I'll take Mr. Jones up about being a duo.  I hear I can make 30 dollars playing Ramsey's.....