Good Stuff @ Good Stuff

Last night I did a little gig at Good Stuff Grocery in Marshall, North Carolina. I know that I've said it here before, but it's so great to see Marshall in 2010-2011. Not that the opportunity to sit in Good Stuff or Baccus Bistro and drink a beer makes today's Marshall great (although it's great to be able to do so). It's just a cool place--Zuma Coffee, included.

Let's see, I've now taken part in five musical events in Marshall since June 2010. I played with the Sugardaddy band from Bakersville--one of whom, Jim Stapleton, is also a White Water Band veteran--at a Marshall event called "French Broad Fridays." The town puts on one of these every month from June through September, and the Sugardaddy guys and I played the first of these this past year. We set up on the courthouse steps, which was awesome, and rocked the lawn and the main intersection for a couple of hours. In December, I joined Nashville songwriter Larry Cordle and Marshall songwriter/storyteller Joe Penland for a guitar-pullin' or songwriters-in-the-round event. The three of us sat on stage at the Madison County Arts Center (the public library when I was growing up) and took turns playing our songs. It was a great night. The other three performances were solo events at Good Stuff Grocery.

My posse and I met for dinner in wonderful Weaverville ("Reeferville" when I was a teenager) at Blue Mountain Pizza. We were all impressed! I had "The Obama" pizza and a locally brewed coffee stout on draft. Wow! After this, we walked down the street to the Well-Bred Bakery. Then it was off to Marshall and Good Stuff. I decided to pull out a couple of songs that I probably haven't played since the old Cody band days of 20 years ago. "The Light in Your Eyes" was fun to play again, and the folks listening were really taken with it. I also pulled out "One Desire." I meant to strap on my harmonica for this one, but halfway through I realized that I'd forgotten to do so. Anyway, as I was introducing the song, I thought I might talk about the most striking image I have in my mind when related to this song, but I could feel myself getting choked up and went ahead kicked it off. The image: my father-in-law dancing with my mother-in-law on the dark dance floor of 45 Cherry. I don't usually play "Rain on the River" either, but I did last night and it went over well.

Thanks to everybody who was there. I had a blast!