A Telluride Tall Tale

So I had heard of this magical place called "To Hell You Ride" Colorado, but never had a good excuse to go. That is, until I heard they were giving away a guitar in a songwriting competition. And since that's my little racket these days, why, we packed up the car and went.

We took basically everything we owned, leaving only enough space to bring back the prize guitar, and possibly a few ticks. But, we still needed one more essential component....a couple of inconspicuous, normal-seeming "festivarians" to attend the contest and get the crowd riled up in my favor. So, we swung through Dallas and picked up Jodi's parents---Gary and Tanya Smith. Ahh, yes...it was all falling into place.

Before we had gone too far, we saw a sign that I considered a clear foreshadowing of things to come....

Upon arriving in Colorado, we took a hint from scripture about how to conquer an unknown land. We marched around the city 6 times, and on the 7th time we blew our trumpets and let loose a terrible thundering yell. That's when security came, and escorted us down into town on the gondola. Nice view...

Telluride was quiet upon our arrival, nestled in amongst the still snow-covered peaks. The streets were filled with quiet tension and hot dog carts.

It was time for me to do what I had come to do---to fulfill my destiny and claim the title of "2005 Telluride Troubador"... And so I battled, axe in hand, for two long days. And when the dust cleared, lo, both my arms had been chopped off at the shoulder.

In the land of the limbless, the one-armed man is king, and so it was that Keith Greeninger wrenched the prize guitar from me at the last moment with his one remaining arm. Pictured in the aftermath of the mayhem are, from left to right, Matt the Electrician, Natalia Zuckerman, moi, Wendy Woo, Keith, and the master guitar-smith Michael Hornick.

No, I would not bring home Michael's fabled Shanti guitar. But I would bring home the second place spoils: $400, an amp, and this "Little Martin", which I found that I can play while sitting in the passenger seat of my car. Much to the consternation of whoever is driving.

Oh yeah, and I grew back my arms. But nobody else did, unfortunately.

Realizing that my limbs are resources that I should not take for granted, and needing a pick-me-up after my narrow defeat, I gave myself over to a two-day binge of non-stop hacky sacking.

When my legs were too tired to bust a "Blurred Eggbeater" or a "Paradox Symposium Whirl", I knew it was time to pack it up. We had just gotten on the road to head for home when suddenly it happened..... The prophecy was fulfilled! SNAKES!!!

Oh happy day! And there was one for everybody! Thank goodness for that sign back in Texas that had so wisely advised us. With much thanks and praise, we released our friends the snakes and went on our way rejoicing. And come to think of it....so far, we've lived happily ever after.

Contest Results!

Hey everybody! We just finished up the Telluride Troubador contest today, and I want to give you all a quick update on how I did. Drum roll please.............longer..........longer................. OK, I got second.

And, I have mixed emotions about it---on the one hand I'm thankful to have placed as high as I did and I've had a fun experience. The other contestants were all great and it is SO beautiful here. On the other hand, I wanted to win and had high hopes that I would because I'd gotten a lot of good feedback about my performance. Apparently it was really close between me and the guy that won, and the judges had to take extra time to deliberate. My prize haul was not too bad---I got $400 (not quite enough to pay for the trip actually), a Crate guitar amp, and a "Little Martin" guitar.

Now I know that you can't take things like this personally because different judges have different personal preferences. BUT, tonight as we were watching the mainstage acts I was thinking that if I were really as good as they were, I should be able to win small competitions like this hands down. It made me wonder if my inability to do so in this case is a sign that I just don't have a unique enough talent.

Now I'm not looking for sympathy when I tell you that, I just mention it to let you know what an experience like this is really like. I mean, there were some really good singer-songwriters in the contest that didn't even do as well as I did, and it must be even harder for them to go home and tell their fans and friends that they got 7th place or whatever. Shoot, some of them traveled long distances to get here and went away virtually empty-handed. All in all, it has made me think that I'd really like to get out of the contest scene because it doesn't seem right to rank people when everybody's so different and good in their own unique way.

Well, the good news for me is that ultimately the only judge I have to answer to is you the fans. If enough of you guys out there dig what I'm doing I'll get along just fine, and that thought reassured me today. Your support makes all the difference, so thanks!! I'll post a Telluride report with pictures on the website here in about a week---and here's the website of the guy that won if you're curious: http://www.keithgreeninger.com Take care everybody,

Zane

Capitol Records Meeting

Hey everybody! Just wanted to let you know how the meeting at Capitol went before we hit the road for Telluride.

Capitol Records is in a high rise building that is a mile or two away from the main "Music Row" area. Several businesses share the building with Capitol, but Capitol has the entire top floor. I was there to play for Larry Willoughby, who is the Vice President of the A & R talent scout division. I needed to run to the restroom before we went to his office, and sure enough there were only two urinals, and while I was in there he came in and used the one right next to me. I wasn't going to say anything, but he said "Hi" so I said "Are you Larry?" He said, "Yes I am." I said, "Well I'm here to play some songs for you" and that's how we met.

Larry has a corner office with huge windows that look out over I-440 and south Nashville. I was actually looking down on a hawk that was soaring over the city, so we were definitely up there. We chatted a little about where I'm from, how long I've been in Nashville, etc., and he asked to hear some songs. My audience was Antoinette (my friend who set up the meeting) Sandy (the A&R coordinator) and Larry.

So I sang four songs, telling a little about each just like I would at a real show, and man it was pretty fun. My voice felt good, I felt remarkably at ease considering the circumstances, and all in all I think I got across who I am. (For better or worse.) If you're curious, I sang "Livin' in the Good Ol' Days", "The Distance Between", "Hurry Home", and "Just Like a Country Song" in that order. Larry watched intently during each song and seemed to be concentrating and taking it all in. So that's nice, to know that somebody really listened.

I also talked a little about my vision for myself as an artist, which is to do something more acoustic and more singer-songwritery than anything else out there at the moment, and in doing so to make music that can appeal to a more general mainstream audience as well as a traditional country audience. Kind of a modern day James Taylor, or a country/acoustic John Mayer. Then I told him a little about my CD, and we gave him a copy of a few songs off of it to listen to, and that was pretty much that! He didn't give much indication of what he might be thinking, just was friendly and said he would give the CD a listen.

So that's it folks! And now we're off to Telluride, where I'm going to try to win yet another guitar with "Hurry Home." When will I ever stop. I just don't know. Thank you all so much for your support and I'll keep you posted! Peace,

Zane

PS T-shirts are finally for sale on the website if you're into that. :)

2005 Hog n' Possum Tour

Well first off, this isn't a hog or a possum. This is Harriet, and she's a princess. We babysat her for a week, and it was an adventure in and of itself---but, that's a story for another day...

The 2005 Hog n' Possum Tour was a whirlwind three-day run up to Wisconsin to open for the legendary George Jones ("The Possum"), playing at the Hope's Way Hog Roast in Indiana along the way. It started like all good whirlwind trips must inevitably start---with an alarm going off at 4:30 in the morning.

From there it was off to wake up Tyler Grant, who would be playing guitar on this trip. Guitar players are actually only semi-coherent at 6:15 in the morning, but in this picture he shows remarkable coordination for the hour.

Six hours of hard driving brought us to Bainbridge, IN and to the hog roast. We met Amanda Kowalksi there, who was to play bass for this adventure, and we hit the stage for a 45 minute set.

This event was a benefit for Hope's Way, a place where children with special needs can go for excercise and therapy. We couldn't stay long with all the nice folks though, because we had 10 hours yet to drive. Amanda's cousin Elise was along for the ride, so that made five of us in the Tahoe with all of our luggage and an upright bass...cozy...

We arrived in Hayward, Wisconsin at the unholy hour of 2:30 AM. The casino could only provide one hotel room that night, so there were five of us in one room. Six actually, since mandolin player Matt Raum was joining us at 8 AM the next morning after driving all through the night from a gig with another band. Oh, the joys of being a traveling musician....

As I was drifting off to sleep that night, I had an idea for the show the next day. I thought it would be cool to end my set with "Don't Rock the Jukebox" by Alan Jackson and have the crowd all yell with me "I wanna hear George Jones" when we came to that line in the song. I didn't really know that song all that well, but I figured I'd have plenty of time to learn it before the show that afternoon. Hmmm...

The day of the show can be summed up in one word: confusedandhecticandfrustrating. After a disorganized sound check we had lunch and went back to the room to rehearse. We were tuning up when my booking agent came running in to say that they wanted us on stage IMMEDIATELY. I hurriedly taped the words of "Don't Rock the Jukebox" to the top of my guitar while Jodi and Elise scrambled to copy the chart I had made for the band.

A crowd of about 1200 Possum fans had gathered, and the casino owner was wanting us to hurry up and play in an effort to get George on stage before the rain came. They told us to cut our 45 minute set to 30 minutes, and we took the stage.

You know honestly, even after all the craziness, I really enjoyed my time on stage. The sound system was great, the crowd seemed fairly into it, and for a little while I was living the dream. A VERY little while---we had only played for about 12 minutes when they told us we needed to skip to the last song. I didn't really have time to be disappointed, we just launched into "Don't Rock the Jukebox" and I asked the crowd to yell with me when we got the George Jones line.

Of course with all the excitement, I totally forgot the words and I couldn't read them off my guitar fast enough. I just kind of babbled during the first verse and pretty much made up my own melody for the whole rest of the song. Luckily most fans, like my new friend "The Rambler", weren't too picky.

So, we made our hasty exit and the Possum took the stage right as the rain really started to come down. Despite the bad weather, we were soon all singing along with his familiar hits...

And I think George was appreciative. "Fine singing, young lady!" Just kidding. He didn't really say that.

George put on a good show, and the skies cleared, and all was right in the world. We said good-bye to the Rambler and retired to our respective hotel rooms, the casino having upgraded us to three rooms.

We did an hour-and-a-half-long set that night in the casino lounge and although we had fun, it was a little sad to see people drinking too much and probably losing a lot of money that they didn't have to begin with. After the show we had time for each band member to pursue whatever guilty pleasure they had a hankerin' for, which of course in my case was hard-core, no-holds-barred SLEEP.

The next day we got up early and headed for home. You know you're a long way from Tennessee when you drive from 7 AM until noon and you're still in Wisconsin. We made the best of it though by stopping at a local cheese outlet and having a cheese party.

I think my favorite was the "Wild Morel and Leek Jack" cheese on the toasted white crackers. Boy, that was a sissy thing to say. We also each had a sip of what was declared to be the absolute pinnacle of root beer floats. Just 600 miles later we pulled into Nashville a little after midnight and that, my friends, is the story of the great 2005 Hog n Possum tour. Next week is Telluride Bluegrass festival in Colorado, so stay tuned for more tales of cheese, crackers, and incredibly dull highway driving!!!