The Mountains

Driving into the mountains of western North Carolina is a peaceful and mesmerizing thing from any direction, and rolling in from Durham today was as beautiful as we could have expected. We checked into our room in Black Mountain before heading to The Grey Eagle --

This was our first time to play The Grey Eagle, and what a cool room. And who knew; great cajun food! (Thanks to Susan in Durham for that hot tip) --

Our Asheville show was a songwriters in-the-round evening with Kyler England and Ashley Chambliss.
While we've listened in (very happily) on several such wonders, we realized during our drive in today that we've never participated in an in-the-round. And we felt a little sheepish about it, since the singer/songwriter arena is definitely one place where we feel quite at home...

But oh my gosh, we couldn't have asked for a more lovely introduction to the idea.

I had this moment in the green room when I was getting ready for the show and Kyler was playing softly through a tune to warm up her voice, and Justin was logging on to the internet --
Anyway, it was such a deeply peaceful moment, feeling at home in a strange and dimly-lit room, feeling a sense of community with these other artists, and hearing the soft sounds of Kyler's voice over all of it. Lovely. Once Ashlee arrived it was even more of the same-- A simple camaraderie and the kind of thing where you can say a lot in a few words and in a short time.
Such a gift to play with such talented musicians, and to feel such a lovely human connection.
Thank you ladies for a great night --

And thank you to our Sunday night audience who came out and stayed late with us; we were so honored to play for you all.