After driving for six hours, Bryan and I pulled into Homer on Saturday afternoon. We were greeted with sun shining out over Kachemak Bay. A sunny day in Homer is one of my favorite things. We were both very exhausted from our drive, especially since a portion of it had been through a blizzard. We were staying at Old Town Bed and Breakfast, so we were able to catch an afternoon nap before the show. The view of the bay from my window was spectacular. We played that night to a small but enthusiastic crowd at Bunnell St. Art Gallery. We had some long time fans in the audience who were excited to get their hands on the new album, and singing along to songs off older ones. That is always such a nice feeling.
I had a gal tell me recently that one of our songs was a huge help in dealing with some personal issues in her life and that it offered comfort when she needed it. Those moments bring me great joy. The idea of these songs and stories weaving their way into people’s lives, offering laughter, hope, or sometimes a much needed cry, well, that is something I hope for as a songwriter. Writing songs has always been my way of making sense of what the world throws at me. Just writing them is incredibly healing, but I feel the true magic happens in the act of sharing them with others, aiming for relatability and hoping that they might help others who have had similar experiences.
The snow continued on Sunday and only fell heavier as we approached Seward. We showed up at Resurrect Art House and it seemed like any other snowy afternoon in a coffee house, but as 5:30 rolled around, the place began to fill up and by the time we started there wasn’t a seat left in the house. We felt so much love and appreciation in the room that night. I love touring around Alaska and falling in love with towns. Seward really won me over that night. They just seemed so glad to have us there and we were grateful. Post show we met and talked with folks, selling the new CD and sharing stories about this tour. We then quickly had to pack up and get on the road as we still had three hours to drive that night to get back to Anchorage. We had to be up early for a music video shoot and the drive could not be avoided. The storm only worsened near Girdwood and the last hour of our drive was in complete white out conditions along the Turnagain Arm of the Seward Highway. It may have been one of the most sketchy drives of my life. Thankfully, we made it safe and sound back to my house by around 11:30 pm.
We didn’t let the blizzard stop us from doing our video yesterday. It was incredibly fun and an experience I won’t soon forget. I just have to say thank you to John Norris, our friend and director who has worked so hard on this project. I can’t wait to share it with you all!
Today is our official album release day for The Black and Wretched Blue. It’s hard to believe that after all this time and effort, we are finally able to share this album with the world. This is our fourth full length release and each one has felt very special in its own way. I can honestly say I’ve never been so proud of us though. We really put it all into this record. I hope you’ll consider listening to it. If you enjoy it, know how much we appreciate you letting others know.
You can buy it digitally through Bandcamp here.
You can buy a physical copy through CDBaby here.
It’s also available on iTunes and Amazon.
Well that’s all for now. Tomorrow we play a house concert in Anchorage at the wonderful Ely house and Thursday we head north for Fairbanks.
