January, 2007
Ok, so again, I’ve totally slacked off on the journal situation, but I thought I would come here and scratch in a little outine for myself and maybe post some photos later. It’s not exactly January either. As a matter of fact, I’m in Recife, Brazil right now. It’s February 22nd and It’s summer down here!!! I’m living in a house on the beach and taking in inspiring new music everyday. Anyway, I’m getting a head of myself. I’ll post a daily on this Brazil tour in the February Journal. I just want to try and remember some highlights from January.
I came off the 2nd state dept. tour and had 2 days at home (feeling terrible from eating something bad in Turkey). Then I launched right into the annual Christmas tour with my boys Brian Mulholland, Stockton Helbing, and Kebbi Williams. We had some great gigs. My good friend Ricky helped us get it started in Columbia. We rocked a couple of news tunes and some stuff from the record. I love playing with those guys and we seem to grow stronger every year. Our last night was the best by far. The crowd in Anderson really come out to support us (I love you guys) and the music really came to life.
The second leg of the tour was planned for after Christmas and I was supposted to work with Krystle Warren. Unfortunately she became sick and couldn’t make the flight. I was gonna have to eat it, until I was luckily bailed out by some good friends in the south. I played in Columbia and Ashville in a new collaboration with the amazing singer songwriter Danielle Howle (www.daniellehowle.com). I had a great time working on her music and I think she did too. Hopefully there will be more to come. In Charleston I spent New Years Eve reconnecting with old friends. I played a very cool city sponsored gig with Charleton Singleton and Ron Wiltrout. It was so great to play with those guys, they both sound incredible, and make me miss Charleston very much.
Back in NYC, I went back to my steady gigs. It’s been great to work with Tim Keiper and Edward Perez on our trio. These guys have such unique voices on their instruments and I love the way they play my music. I’m really looking forward to developing our sound and creating more performance opportunities. I’ve been studying Tony Rice pretty intensely and digging into lots of bluegrass in general. I’ve been singing a lot again and feeling more and more comfortable. I’m really digging playing with Rob Hecht, of course Krystle, and I had a fun B-day gig at Moto, where lots of friends showed up to play and hang, including Itai Kriss, and Olivier and Claire Manchon. Great times.
My trio had a really nice gig at La Lanterna on the 19th that will hopefully strengthen a connection in the Midwest. Hopefully we will travel out there to perform together sometime soon.
The gig at Anyway Cafe has been suprisingly fun this month. I’ve been singing a lot and experimenting with the loops. Lots of people have been coming out to hand with me and for a Cafe Audience the gigs have been surprisingly show-like. Of course, I also really enjoy the people that work there.
Otherwise, I’ve been writing a lot. I’m hoping to collect lots of material this year and have plenty to choose from when I start working on my next CD. Brazilian Rhythms, Bluegrass twang, Jazz Harmony, these are some things I’m really into right now. Oh yeah, and I bought an amazing new Martin D-28. Look out!!! Thanks so much for checking in.
Much Love,
Clay
