The Best of Buzz

Following a four-day car trip -- or was it, five? Yeah, I think it was five -- with the kids, only to return to hit the ground running all too early this morning, I am beside myself with longing for this Friday's show at The Kent Stage. I'm counting on those feisty favorites of mine, The Dixie Bee-Liners, to turn my crabgrass back to blue. And if that doesn't do it -- unlikely as that is -- I'll have to hope for the best when Blue Highway takes the stage.

DBL is one of those rare bands that comes along once in a while to smack upside the head those folks who say things like, "I don't like that bluegrass kind of music." There are a lot of semi-conscious listeners out there who really don't know the depth and breadth of bluegrass and how, being a young form, it has its roots and its branches, to borrow an overused term at this hour when I should be asleep.

Blue Highway is a solid, more traditional band but with a message quite contemporary. Several tracks on the new release get at what is going on in this country right now. All I can say is, people who would tell me that I can't both oppose the war and support the troops are a sad case.

My mind has been turning and like my pal Shameless I've been running on fumes, but finding the time to set a spell and write just doesn't come easy, if at all. And there are so many things, despite rising before 6 and going the whole day, there just isn't enough time. Balance. I know there's got to be a way to get a better balance. Before I know it, the week will be gone, and another, and another. It makes it so hard to sink my teeth into anything. I haven't played an instrument in a few weeks. My soul needs a recharge but I'm out of batteries. If I could stay awake, I'd call my friends whom I miss so much. I feel guilty but at a loss.

This pensive tune from Blue Highway's latest release, "Through the Window of a Train," is a bittersweet take on that feeling of time slipping away like water through your fingers.



Where Did the Morning Go?