The best thing about road life is the hard stuff

The best thing about road life is the hard stuff.

The moment you hit complete exhaustion. When you get delirious. When the absurd happens and another bandmate is there to witness it.

And upon reflection, you feel you have really been living.

Traveling with Brennen Leigh and Melissa Carper is a pretty full life.

Until recently we’ve been doing it all ourselves. Just the three of us. I think because it organically came into existence.

It was meant to be one or two weeks of shows. And you know the old COVID drill. We caught it and had to reschedule a couple of the dates and that turned into another week or two. And then, more offers came in. And opportunities we wanted to take. It took on a bit of a life of its own and we made it work between our three schedules and solo stuff. 

We hit the road in Melissa’s van taking shifts driving. We load in, soundcheck, set up merch, try to get food, get dressed, play the show, sell our own merch, load out, drive until we find a quirky motel (read cheap), load the valuables into our rooms and crash.

Get up the next day and do it again.

And each gig has its unexpected problem to solve. And this is a crew of expert problem solvers. Nothing phases us. I think because we are all three band leaders. Equally invested. No prima donnas in this group. No bratty drummer complaining about the schedule. But there might be a canceled flight or an outdoor show in pouring down rain, or a haunted hotel room, or driving off without taking the gas spout out of the car first, or a gummy overdose or a car crash… whatever, the show must go on.

But in the midst of this is the music. And what we bring to each others sound. It’s its own thing. Not better or worse than our solo shows. Just uniquely and wholly its own thing. And our audiences share the love for the new artist if they don’t know one of us. It’s been incredible.

I personally have never played in a band for someone else. Never had my guitar really matter that much. So learning someone else’s songs was new to me. A new kind of pressure. These two play styles and rhythms and jazz chords I have not used before. But it turns out it is fun to learn new tricks and some old dogs can do it.

When I put all the pieces together it is more fun than any big rock band I’ve had (which is big fun!) or prestigious tour I’ve ever been on (ok, not alot of those to cite).

But easily the hardest I’ve ever worked. 

Brennen, Melissa, and me – backstage at the Ozark Folk Festival

We were in the green room in Eureka Springs, which was a sort of homecoming gig for Melissa, who had lived there for a while. Brennen started filming a little something for socials and we started laughing. And laughing and laughing. We have reels of it. It is unexplainable. And Brennen said “you guys, we have made it.”

Yeah, working hard, loving what you do, feeling like you are making something good. What could be a better goal?

Until next time,
Kelly