Merlefest 2005!
I kept a journal this year, and here are some excerpts starting with the day before we left....
Wednesday 7:10 PM
I woke up sick as a DOG this morning. Took the Tahoe to the mechanic at 7:30 AM and walked a mile or so home. Had to get Mark Duckworth to give me a ride to the doctor, and he said we could borrow his car to go to the festival! Big thanks to the Duckworths!
11:30 PM
Just set the alarm for 3:30 AM. Jodi says maybe she doesn't want to go after all. We're tired, depressed, and more than a little negative.
4:10 AM
We're up! Barely!
2:17 PM
We made it! It was a stinkin' early morning, but the weather is great here and it felt cool to get special backstage passes. I don't feel nearly as sick as I did yesterday, and Jodi's glad she came. We're perkin' up a little!
3:30 PM
As I walked through the crowd toward the backstage area, it struck me how I don't deserve to get special treatment here. Maybe nobody does, but at least the other folks on stage put in years and years of hard work become masters of their instruments. I didn't practice or study singing or songwriting---how could I be so lucky to get a magic free pass into the "cool", elite crowd?
11:45 PM
Day one of Merlefest was a dream come true, except for my friends Matt and Tyler not winning the mandolin contest. We have a great hotel room, I'm going to get plenty of sleep, and I think I'll feel fine tomorrow. Haven't met many folks yet, but I hope to do that after the contest. Backstage is awesome---free food and everything! There are more non-artist people back there than I thought, but really I don't care at all I'm just THRILLED to be having one of the most exciting and fun experiences of my professional life yet....
9:47 AM
Well today's the big day! My voice is a little croaky, but maybe that's just from sleeping so much. I'm probably the only person at the festival that got 10 hours of sleep. :) Occasional showers today with a high of 72...as for other forecasts, who knows?
4:05 PM
OK, I'm worn out. The contest was great---it was a ton of fun, I was never very nervous, and things went great!! "Hurry Home" won the Country category, "Livin' in the Good Ol' Days" won the General category, and "Start with Amazing Grace" was third in the gospel category! I ended up with two guitars, $250, and 50 sets of guitar strings... :)
So far I only have three business cards from venue owners---here's hoping some record label and booking agent folks will find me in the coming days and weeks....
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Here are the winners with contest chair Jim Lauderdale. I won the "General" and "Country" categories, Mike Finders won the "Gospel" category, and Sam Quinn won the bluegrass category. Check them out at www.mikeandamyfinders.com and www.theeverybodyfields.com |
11:01 AM
Well, yesterday was a big day. It's one of those momentous days where you're kind of sad when it's over with. Here are some more cool things that happened...
One lady came up and bought a CD who remembered seeing me last year playing in an out-of-the-way hallway, and listening to me for a while. It was neat for her AND me to see the progress I made! I also chatted with Al Moss, an Americana radio promoter, and talked to Billy Block about maybe playing his Western Beat show in June...
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The one and only Billy Block! |
3:12 PM
Well we're listening Buddy Miller on the mainstage, and then it will be Alison Krauss, and then Merlefest '05 will be in the history books. I left the festival last night to do a show at Elon University, which went well. Got to see my friend Jason DeShaw (www.thecountryway.com). Probably missed out on some networking back at the festival, but I got paid and it's hard to argue with that. Still haven't talked to any booking agents or record label folks---guess I'll have to rely on follow-up work to get the pieces of the puzzle I need assembled. It'll be back to doing business the slow way, waiting two weeks to get called back instead of just talking to people face to face. But, I'd say I did 85% of what I hoped to do here, and that's a big percentage in this real world we live in....
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The winners each got to perform on the Cabin Stage! |
3:55 AM
Well, we're back. And this truly concludes our Merlefest experience. I'm inspired to put together a great band and really improve my musicianship. 30 minutes of practice a day for 15 years, and maybe I'll be able to express myself like Darrell Scott does (www.darrellscott.com). Soccer, hacky sack, video games, looking for snakes, and all other such pursuits will have to go to the back burner, or fall off the stove completely, but it will be worth it to really invest myself in my chosen profession. Maybe it's not too late for me after all, and I do have two nice new guitars to practice on! (One of which I may trade for a mandolin. Boy, I am feeling ambitious...)
