Tour Recap - Morganton, NC
A day in the Blue Ridge mountains filled with walking, craft beer, and a deckside night of music in the Carolina air.
I was up early in the morning at Scott’s place in Knoxville. We enjoyed coffee for a while and chatted before he had to head to work and I hit the road for Asheville and points eastward. I thanked Scott profusely for his hospitality and friendship and jumped in the Buick for a relatively short drive to Asheville.
Last summer was my first trip to Asheville and I found myself smitten with the place. It’s a sort of hippie enclave in the mountains filled with galleries, restaurants, cute shops, and a host of art and music to be soaked up. The crowd of during my visit this year was fairly light compared to my time there last summer, but as always the folks in Asheville were pleasant and welcoming.
I met my friend Frances for lunch at a very cute little sandwich place and we caught up over a meal and chatted about our lives. Frances regaled me with exploits from her very recent trip to Portugal. She’d gone with a group of friends to celebrate a birthday and had just returned home earlier in the week. It was great to see my friend and sneak in a bit of catch up time before the flurry of activity around the show. I dropped Frances off at her place to finish her day of remote work, and I headed back to Downtown Asheville for a bit of walking around maybe a speck of dessert as well.
On my previous trip to the area I had played right in Asheville at a piano shop, but on this trip, my show would be out east of the city in the small town of Morganton where my friends Paul and Susan Wesley have a lovely ranch style home on a small plot of land. I grabbed myself a dish of ice cream for the walk back to the car and began to make my way toward my venue and home for the evening.
A friend had suggested that I check out Black Mountain, NC which is another progressive and quirky resort style town in the mountains between Asheville and Morganton. I parked the Buick on the upward incline of the main drag and walked the whole of the small downtown area before heading to Black Mountain Brewing for a pint. The brewery sits in a brick building at the end of a block in a semi-industrial section of the downtown area. The main wall on the exterior of the building is emblazoned with a beautiful mural dedicated to the singer Roberta Flack who grew up in the area.
My IPA was crisp, tasty and cold. I considered getting another one, but the ice cream and beer combo left me feeling a bit full. I got a few more steps in before I eventually made my way to the car and headed towards Paul and Susan’s place. I arrived just before 5:00 to get my gear setup and found my hosts busily getting things in place for the big night.
A new deck had been built, something that Paul and Susan had been wanting for sometime, and now they had used my show as an excuse to finish the project. I arranged my stage setup directly in front of Susan’s she shed and was even able to play with my back to air condition during the warm outdoor set. Susan had even placed a small table near my stage setup with a chilled water pitcher, a glass and a bowl of trail mix.
The Wesleys pulled together an amazing crowd of friends and community members that arrived early and excited to see me play. We chatted boisterously over beer and snacks while the crowd continued to file in. The new deck area was littered with chairs that all began to fill quickly. As showtime approached, I looked up to find a very full house.
With folks packed in and comfortable, I breezed through my hour or so of songs and stories. The setlist changes each night on the tour, which helps to keep things fresh. Often something as simple as the order in which the songs are played changes the context of the way I might frame the subject of the song or talk about the stories behind the tune.
On this night, I had placed ‘Connection’ a Stick Arounds song about my daughter moving out west next to ‘Cabin By The Lake’, an old Pantones number that is usually the pent-ultimate track of each night. The songs are both about raw emotions related to family and dislocation. They also both feature my daughter Maddie in the stories behind them, and I found myself noticing that even after playing these songs for years, they still have an emotional impact on me when I play them. Playing the pair of them together in that moment in the Carolina mountains, I found myself covered in goosebumps as I sang to an attentive crowd and hoped that somehow the energy of my songs would find its way back home to the loving arms of my family.
I ended the night with a rendition of a brand new song I have been playing throughout much of the tour, called ‘Thursday’. The tune is a dedication to my affiliation with the Stand Up With Pete Dominick community that has become such an integral part of my life in the last few years. The SUPD gang is how I met the Wesleys and how I can to be a guest and performer in their beautiful home. I was also able to play the song for my dear friend Frances, who came to the show from nearby Asheville with her Mom.
After my set, folks stayed and caroused for quite a while. I got the chance to meet and chat with a wide variety of kind and interesting people. The folks who come to shows like these are usually curious, open hearted folks and the hour after the set is often my favorite section of the day. I adore meeting these folks and learning about their lives.
I was especially connected to Paul and Susan’s friend Brad, who seemed a kindred spirit. We’d had chatted for a little bit before the show and really hit it off. After I finished playing, Brad came to give me a hug and tell me how much he enjoyed the set. Then, he told me that while I played ‘Cabin By The Lake’, a cardinal perched on the pole above where I was playing and stayed there during the entire song.
When Brad told me this, I nearly began to cry. Cardinals in our family are almost sacred. It’s hard to explain, but they have an almost spiritual quality to them; and in that moment, I was sure that my Great Grandfather who is the subject of the song, or my Dad, who I think of each time I play it now, were there with me while I sang for the mountain crowd. I know that the sentiment is silly and makes no logical sense, but I still cannot shake it. I am not sure that I want to.
Once the crowd had finally dispersed, Paul and Susan finished cleaning up the veritable buffet they had laid out and we eventually made our way to bed. I shared a room that evening with a lovable little cat named Millie who spent much of the evening snuggling next to me.
With a good night of sleep and an amazing show to bolster my spirits, I loaded up the Buick, said goodbye to the Wesleys and began to make my way further south to the village of Awendaw and a truly once in a lifetime place.
Cheers,
Matty C
I love this tour and the people you get to meet and all of your great songs. I'm so happy you are doing this. I believe you and agree about the cardinal! Take care, safe travels my friend.