Day 5: Roanoke and Runnin'

Greetings from Virginia (and the van). While in Pennsylvania, we met for dinner with friends at an old local haunt called The Scarlet D. A place which has harnessed music since the 70's, and one that some of our family was part of throughout those years. We noticed a "Pickin' Party" on their schedule. We ended up meeting the players, and Kelly played Poncho and Lefty with the band. We then all hopped up and played three songs acoustically. Instrumentation: acoustic, electric, bass and harmonica. It was a blast and we enjoyed playing for a different type of crowd in a rural setting.

We departed from Pennsylvania and headed south to Virginia. The south is beautiful, and it's always a pleasant experience for us. As it got warmer the farther we drove, I started to once again notice the increasing number of billboards suggesting rather easy routes to salvation. We even stopped at a truck stop with a chrome shop attached. Everything from fancy semi-truck add ons to airbrushed pictures of horses. We got into Roanoke a little early, and got a Ramada Inn that was probably at it's prime in 1995. Chitwood and I rebuilt one of my tattoo machines, and Noah and Kelly discussed the importance of a smoking room (which it was).

The show at Martin's was fantastic. The staff was very kind and Tony (the sound engineer) was a friend we had met years back at a festival. Small world. It was a long set, so we had the opportunity to play through many old songs including This City from the first album by request. We cleaned the dust off other old songs including, Stump,  Leave Me Blue and Drivin' Fast. We had a ton of fun. For our first time in Roanoke, the crowd was very kind. We met a couple from Vermont and they made us feel right at home. We are very grateful for all the support. Reverend Chitwood even pulled out his old Harmony that hasn't seen daylight in a few months. It sounded damn good. Noah switched over to merchandise after the show, and the rest of us loaded the trailer.

We are off to Asheville, and look forward to playing The Lab which is a new venue for us there. Stay well everyone, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. 

Here is a shot of the dash of our van. Bukowski and ARTnews? What happened to the stack of Hustlers from the old van? 



Love,
Waylon Speed

2/07/2013