The Long and Crooked Road
I'm fit for a trip, but I'm not going anywhere much. The kids and I have a fun weekend getaway planned in a few weeks, and that will pretty much spell the end of travel for summer. I think part of what has me feeling used up and burned out is that I haven't had much time this summer to get away on my own. Nashville and IBMA loom ahead like an oasis, but deep, deep down I am ready to get away, for good.
I'm not saying I want to be on some permanent, wandering vacation through the hinterlands. That ain't really me -- I love to work although if conditions were right, I bet I could take a year off. But when I get some time and enough of it in a row to slip away, there's a place I want to go to see if I can hear it calling.
The Crooked Road is a 250-mile and counting stretch of Virginia country driving in the state's southwesternmost corner. It leads you into the cradle of bluegrass, old time, and country music, the place where it is not most celebrated, but most begun. All the music I love really leads back to that place.
Earlier in the summer as Son of Mando and I started to dig a little into family history, I learned that ancestors on both my mother's and father's side came up out of Virginia. It is a place I've always loved, and could certainly someday call home. For now it would just be nice to spend a little time wandering this wonderful pathway of American musical history.
And since I can't be there now, until I can I'll wander it vicariously through this sweet and singable tune by The Dixie Bee-Liners honoring The Crooked Road. Jump to the link and scroll up to the top of their MySpace offerings to hear what Brandi Hart described as a "love song" to one of their favorite places, a little bit of backcountry sacred to us trad fans.
posted by Mando Mama @ 9:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I'm with you, Mando. I think PMS is catching me, or slowing me down so the burnout can catch me. Today I was unsettled, angry, and almost fed up. Makes me think this is my last campaign. Frustrated with my candidate. Feels like things are snowballing and I am the only one who seems to care.
ARGH!
Hang in there...
Love,
Shameless
I'm super-frazzled too, but it's useless even thinking the word vacation. At least my pressure project is due at the end of the month. That means it HAS to be done then, and therefore WILL be. Then I hope to slow down in Sep (but that probably won't happen either) but no real down time in sight.
Well, both of you are busier than I am so I don't have much room to complain! I think part of it is an overall longing for place. I'm getting tired of some of the dynamics both on the private side and the professional side, and can't get the immersion therapy I want with music -- the next good show here is Sept. 12 (Stringdusters!).
Shameless, I hear you. Politics is nothing if not thankless. Even as Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones lay near death, people had to comment on how she sided with Obama at the last minute. She is no doubt in a "better place" now. I hope you can get through the next 8 weeks without punching out anything shiny.
Blueberry, a vacation for you would be no work for 24 hour period. At least you are good about getting yourself out for the copious musical offerings in Austin. I know it's not a week at the beach but live music does bring a bit of relief. That, and of course, beer.
Mmmm. Beer. ;-)
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