Last Friday night at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta was a fantastic experience. I’m not sure what the night started out to be — a Drive-By Truckers show, a benefit for restoring old movie theaters or exactly what — but my friend Kevn Kinney from Drivin N Cryin stepped in and decided to curate a sort of variety show of Georgia music, and then the thing started snowballing. Kevn originally asked me to play a couple songs with Drivin N Cryin but called back a few days later and said, “You’ve been stolen from me!” Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry of REM were going to play a short set (shhhh!) and wanted me to sing “Money Changes Everything” with them. Of course I was up for that. But I said to Kevn, “Can I still play with you?” 

“Sure,” he said. “We’ll do ‘Straight to Hell’ and maybe another.” 

So Thursday I drove over to Athens, Georgia, for a rehearsal with the R.E.M. guys. They had done their homework, even calling me the day before to find out if they should study the single or the album version. The single, of course. We made a few arrangement tweaks, but they pretty much had the song down. By the time I left we had it cold.

I got down to the Fox early Friday afternoon, because I had sound checks with two bands. The day just kept getting better and better. Every few minutes another old friend would walk in, and we’d both say, “I didn’t know you were on this show!” Rick Richards from the Georgia Satellites, Vanessa Briscoe Hay from Pylon, Michelle Malone and my old buddy Phil Skipper, playing bass with Michelle. I was introduced to Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, who invited me to join in the gang chorus finale at the end of their set. It was good to see several friends in the crew too. The whole day felt like a homecoming. 

The show was a blast. Everyone had done a serious job of keeping a lid on the R.E.M. factor, so when the lights came up for a set by “Kevn Kinney and Friends” the audience did a collective double take and then went crazy. Peter Buck told me they used to sell out the Fox for five nights in a row. Kevn sang “Fall on Me” and a duet with Mike on “The One I Love”, as Rick Richards and I watched from the wings, stretching, pacing and cracking jokes. Rick went on and sang “Battleship Chains”. Vanessa followed with “Crazy”. Then it was my turn. It was a tremendous experience. The band closed with “Texarkana”. 

How to follow that? Well, I went out front and watched Michelle Malone not only do it but kill it. 

Then Drivin and Cryin came on. This time Peter Buck and I sat on a big road case in the wings, waiting for the last two songs. Rick and Michelle joined us on the closer, “Straight to Hell”, with the whole audience singing the chorus. 

Drive-By Truckers played a full ninety-minute set. I watched about thirty, then went backstage to hang with the others. The party was in the “Kevn Kinney and Friends” dressing room. When I say party it was mostly sitting around with glasses of wine or whiskey, joking and telling stories. There was a good, comfortable feeling in the room, and a lot of laughter.

L-R: Tim Nielsen, me, Mike Mills, Rick Richards, Peter Buck, Kevn Kinney.

We were all supposed to join the Drive-By Truckers for the last song. Somebody kept asking, “So when does the last song come? How will we know?” The answer was always the same: “You’ll know because it’s the last song.” 

Then the word came: “This is the last song.” We trooped out on stage. People strapped on guitars. Vanessa borrowed a tambourine from the drummer. My gear was already packed up, so I clapped along to Neil Young’s “Rockin' in the Free World.”  Everyone joined in on the chorus. Halfway through, Jay, the Truckers’ keyboard player, caught my eye and said, “You can play my B-3 if you want.” Well, sure. “But you won’t hear a note because the Leslie is way over there.” He was right, but it was still fun. 

Hats off to Kevn Kinney for putting the whole extravaganza together and acting as MC, and to the staff and crew and especially R.E.M.’s head tech, DeWitt Burton, for putting in a long day and making sure everything ran smoothly. 

Everybody left saying, “We should do this again.”

Photos: Top: Tom Branch. Middle: Kevn Kinney. Bottom: Kevn's granddaughter and, sorry, I don't know her name but she deserves many thanks.

Last weekend Mark Johnson, Franher Joseph and I retreated to a palatial “cabin” in the North Carolina mountains to write songs for Delta Moon’s next album. Mark’s wife Jennifer and my wife Janet came along to prepare the meals and keep us focused. We had a great time and came back with three finished songs and lots of promising bits and pieces.

It was a pleasure to get the guys up to the part of the country I think of as home. For all of Delta Moon’s travels, this was the first time I was able to show them around the family farm where my sister now lives, with her dogs, sheep, cattle, horses, peacocks and yaks. This was where I celebrated my sixth birthday, where I picked blackberries and fished and shot Prince Albert tobacco cans with a .22. Later my grandfather sold off most of the land, but several years ago my parents, siblings and I were able to buy much of it back. In the time since, this farm has played a huge role in keeping our family together — not just the immediate family but cousins, uncles, aunts and a new generation of kids. When the band decided to rent a place to write, I knew exactly where to look and found a secluded house just ten minutes from the farm. 

Mark, Franher and I played music in the afternoons and evenings, batting around titles and chorus ideas. The verses I mostly slogged out in the mornings -- the kind of work I love to do. Since each of us has his own strengths, the three of us working together came up with things that no one of us could have created. It’s a great way to work. The weekend ended all too soon. 

I guess we’ll just have to do it again.

Cyndi Lauper’s album “She’s So Unusual” has been named to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as an essential American recording, along with Lefty Frizzell’s “Long Black Veil”, Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man”, Richie Valens’ “La Bamba”, Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” and 20 others. Congratulations, Cyndi.

Cyndi told me that when they needed a couple cover songs to round out the album, producer Rick Chertoff made a cassette of five or six songs he thought might work for her. She chose Prince's "When U Were Mine" and my "Money Changes Everything", which she still performs today. Thanks, once again, Cyndi. I'm proud to have played a small part in this.

This was my third time at the 30A Songwriters Festival, and, for me at least, it just keeps getting better. The festival is spread over thirty miles of Highway 30A along the beach in the Florida panhandle. Bands and headliners play full sets, but the songwriters perform in round-robin groups of two or three according to a schedule announced a week ahead of time. You never know until the last minute who you will be playing with or at what venues. My shows this year turned out to be challenging, inspiring and a lot of fun.

My history is mostly with bands, rather than acoustic song swaps, so I’m still learning as I go. But one thing I figured out early is that it’s not about one-upping the other guy. Audiences enjoy when the performers work together and when these almost random pairings produce moments that will never happen again. Every song has to follow what came before, and you never know what that’s going to be until it comes. If the singer before you goes big and brings down the house, then it’s time to go small and intimate and draw people in, or vice versa. Sometimes you need to clear the air with a good story. Other times you just jump right in. It’s like playing tennis. You’ve got to keep on your toes. 

Friday night at Redfish Taco I performed with Peter Karp, a blues guitarist and pianist from New Jersey. Peter and I met at 30A Fest last year when we faced a rowdy crowd at AJ’s in Grayton Beach. We teamed up and played on each other’s songs that night and have stayed in touch since. I sat in with Peter's band last year when they played the Vista Room in Atlanta. This was a fun set and a great way to kick off the festival.

Saturday night by the beach at Seaside I worked with Abe Partridge, from Mobile, Alabama. Abe is a former preacher who left the ministry to go to war in the Middle East. After he left the service he started writing songs. He also paints and arranges shows in local galleries to coincide with his concerts. Abe is sort of a down-home Tom Waits meets Howard Finster. His songs are unflinchingly honest — grim or hilarious, and often both. I enjoyed his set tremendously.

Sunday I shared the stage at the Boat House in Watercolor with two solid pros: Webb Wilder and Jerry Joseph. I’ve known Webb a long time and have been a fan ever since the first time I saw him with his band, the Beatnecks, years ago at the Exit Inn in Nashville. Jerry Joseph, from Portland, Oregon, besides writing incredibly powerful songs, has been doing things like teaching rock guitar to American soldiers in Kabul and taking guitars to a refugee camp in Iraq. The three of us mixed it up, taking solos and singing backup on each other’s songs. This show was a highlight for me and I hope for the audience as well.

There were hundreds of great artists at the 30A festival. Because of scheduling conflicts and the distances involved I saw hardly any of the shows that I would have liked to. Over the weekend, though, I did manage to connect with a number of old friends. I like to think I made a few new ones, too. 

Thanks, 30A, for a great experience. I hope we can do it again.

(Photos by Rick Diamond)

Welcome to my new website.  

The first song I’m posting here is “Long Way to Go”, from Delta Moon’s latest album, Babylon is Falling, released September 21. 

I wanted to write a gospel-flavored song that would feature Franher Joseph’s rich deep voice in the backup vocal responses. “Long Way to Go” is a song about the will to keep going. Often the first line of a song is the last one I write, but this time it really was the first: "Let me lean on the light pole till I catch my breath." Certainly the song expresses how it feels sometimes making an album or traveling on the road for weeks or months at a time. But in a larger sense I wanted to say something about America's journey as a nation "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." And in yet another sense, it's about hoping that we all still have a long way to go. 

The thunderclap in the intro was a gift. We were recording backup vocals in Marlon Patton’s studio when the crash rolled in. The main recording room has large windows facing the back yard and some woods (Marlon used to keep chickens back there, until a predator got them), so the thunder recorded loud and clear on the mics. Everyone agreed it had to stay in. In fact, we were somewhat awed by it.  

I plan to keep posting more music here, both Delta Moon’s and other songs of my own. I’ll also be writing regular posts in the blog. This is a brand new website, very simple, but I hope to build it into something. I hope you’ll stick with me on the journey.

LONG WAY TO GO 

Let me lean on the light pole 
Until I catch my breath 
Let me lean on the light pole 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

You can hold on my shoulder 
If you miss your step 
You can hold on my shoulder 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 
Oh-oh 
Oh-oh-oh 
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Don’t the fields shine like diamonds 
In the morning dew 
Don’t the fields shine like diamonds 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Let me walk in the sunlight 
Where the road is plain 
Let me walk in the sunlight 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 
Oh-oh 
Oh-oh-oh 
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Don’t the sky turn to purple 
In the evening tide 
Don’t the sky turn to purple 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Let me lean on the light pole 
Until I catch my breath 
Let me lean on the light pole 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 
Oh-oh 
Oh-oh-oh 
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh 
We’ve still got a long way to go 

Written by Tom Gray 
© 2018 Tigray Music (BMI)