Fiddlin' on a dock

gigs, recording and canoeing through swamps

Such great experiences I've had here in Charleston, South Carolina. My first gig with the Steady Hand String band was a bit nerve racking since I knew barely any of the songs, but it ended up being a casual restaurant gig that was a lot of fun. We then headed over to an art gallery immediately after and played a super rowdy, close and personal gig for an appreciative audience. The next day, while we were jamming in the backyard on Friday, a neighbor who happens to own a bar down town asked us to come play a half hour gig at his bar on Sunday for a christmas party. $75 each for half an hour! The next evening we played at a beautiful wedding ceremony. The family was so happy they gave us a hefty tip afterwards and personally thanked us. It was a great time up on stage singing old country songs with such talented musicians. The next morning we played at the Farmer's Market for three hours and ended the day with the half hour set at the bar down town. We couldn't even hear Luke's loud old time voice and Matt hitting his guitar over the drunken noise there, but it was a fun, easy way to get a nice band fund to live off of for the next few days. Especially since we spent the next two days recording nonstop for the Steady Hand String Band album. It was almost completely stress free. We recorded almost every song all together instead of recording each part separately, which makes the whole album sound much more spontaneous and exciting, which is what old time and bluegrass is all about. All the songs have such a good feel to them because we were all happy while we were recording, which is usually not the case when recording an album. Luke, the studio manager and mixer was amazed by how smoothly everything went. Both him and his studio partner, Kevin, had a great time and told us we should come back and record any time. Luke told me he really wanted me to come back with my originals and record them as soon as possible. I will hopefully find the time to take him up on that. Matt's friends are all so nice and welcoming, and keep telling me I need to stick around and go to College of Charleston instead, which I really can't help but seriously consider as an option. Now we are in Conway, South Carolina which is where Luke and Gloria are from. They own a quaint little cabin on a pond in a swamp which we have been jamming at and taking potential album cover photos. Today we're going to canoe into town, buy some oysters and have a yummy dinner tonight.

Here is a picture from recording at the studio:

Charleston, South Carolina

I made it to Charleston, South Carolina yesterday morning around 6am. It was a very quick, easy ride with a guy from Wells, Maine who was traveling down for work in Florida. Definitely lucked out with Craig's List this time. He happily drove the whole way in his new saab he just bought last week. I had a nice day touring around Charleston on the bike Matt found for me, and a lovely dinner with Corey and his girlfriend, Grace. I'm still getting used to everyone speaking english around me. I keep wanting to say to them, Oh you're from the U.S. too! Music shenanigans starts tomorrow evening...