This past July, fellow singer-songwriter Shane Cooley and I went on an adventure from Virginia to Chicago to share songs troubadour style as a co-bill. We named the tour after a line in one of our favorite Tom Petty songs called, "Down South". Here's where we went!
First stop, Virginia Beach at "The Big Pink", a Victorian listening room. Our dear friend Connor Charlton joined us to sing, "Never There", along with Shane's dad, Jack Cooley, on drums.
Second stop, Paulo Franco's house! Our house concert got rained out but we played a beautiful live stream and participated in a 3 way co-write!
Next stop, Williamsburg, Virginia for the Second Sunday Festival. We explored Shane's college campus of William and Mary, and even played a Steinway piano in his old practice room.
Then, we spent some time at Shane's home on the edge of the Rappahannock River to do some recording before hitting the road. What a beautiful creative sanctuary with many spectacular plants and animals, including an Osprey nest.
Then, off towards Charlottesville we embarked, playing at "Durty Nelly's" followed by a rare form karaoke performance.
We headed off to the Shenandoah mountains for a couple days, where we hiked to Rose River Falls, visited with my mom and my Aunt Gail, played a show at Starr Hill Brewery in Roanoke, built a fire from scratch, and gazed upon fields of wildflowers.
Through the windy mountains of West Virginia we landed in Berea, Kentucky at Rebel Rebel Studio and Lounge. Thank you Erica Chambers for the photos!
Many rows of cornfields later, we arrived at the Switchyard, a house venue which welcomes touring artists with kindness. What a joy it was to play here.
We meandered up to my home state for a beach day, where Shane laid eyes on Lake Michigan for the first time.
Here we are at Purple East in Grand Rapids, a smoke shop established in 1974, and a special piece of history for West Michigan. Thank you Drew Phoria for having us!
We played in my hometown of Kalamazoo at Papa Pete's. Many of my friends and family (including my dad!) came out to see us share our original songs.
We traveled east to Ypsilanti to open up Unity Vibration's new beer/kombucha garden.
Then, we headed to Chicago to play at a dive bar called "The Store".
Next, we played at honky tonk local haunt called "9th St. Pub" in LaSalle, IL which had some supernatural ghost energy.
Onwards to Village Wine in Effingham!
We concluded our tour with a "day off", Ferris Bueller style, with Chris as our pedicab tour guide of the city of Chicago!