Far-flung friends!
I've been struggling to get a Travelogue together for a while now, but the pace of tour down here hasn't left me much free time or mental real estate. I'm currently at the halfway point of a Festival of Small Halls tour with Folk Bitch Trio, who I only just met the day before tour started, but have proven to be wonderful road buddies. We've been riding around rural Victoria in style, with a superstar tour manager driving the band bus and a sound tech going on ahead in his own van to set things up. I haven't driven, booked a hotel, or made a single logistical decision since I got in the van. I'm really not used to this level of rockstardom.
Our first stop was Port Fairy Folk Festival, where the kind folks took home more CDs than I've ever sold in my life. From there we set off on a string of small halls in small communities, from two-pub towns on down to no-pub towns. I'll do my best to tell you about it in my next Hobo Travelogue, but for now I just want to mention some stops on the road ahead, both here in Oz and back home on Turtle Island. First,
the remaining Festival of Small Halls shows:
Wed Mar 29 • Clayton Bay, SA (~1hr from Adelaide) • Clayton Bay Community
Thu Mar 30 • Dunrobin, VIC (just over the SA border) • Dunrobin Public Hall
Fri Mar 31 • Narrawong, VIC • Narrawong Mechanics Institute
Sat Apr 1 • Glenorchy, VIC • Glenorchy Memorial Hall - LOW TIX
Sun Apr 2 • Caldwell, NSW • Caldwell Hall - SOLD OUT
Tue Apr 4 • Thowgla, VIC (near Corryong) • Thowgla Hall
Wed Apr 5 • Mitta Mitta, VIC • Mitta Mitta Hall
Thu Apr 6 • Talgarno, VIC (not far from Albury and Yack) • Talgarno Hall
Sat-Sun Apr 8-9 • Woodford, QLD • Playing for the campers at Lake Gkula Camping in Woodfordia - SOLD OUT
As you can see, tickets are going fast for many of these, but one we could sure use help filling is Narrawong, a big hall in between Portland and Port Fairy. If you've got people in the area, please let 'em know we're coming through.
After the Small Halls tour winds up they're flying me down to Canberra to rejoin my van Skippy (he lives!) and hang out for the last night of the National Folk Festival, before making my way over to Candelo and up the South Coast with a handful of secret shows along the way. This tour's got an exclusivity agreement, but they've made an exception for unpublicized house concerts, so these email Travelogues are the only place I'll be talking about them. All these shows are nearly sold out, so contact the hosts right away if you wanna join us; they'll save you a seat and let you know the address.
secret NSW house concerts:
Wed Apr 12 • Candelo • 7pm for 7:30 start with Pete Wild opening, contact Mike strelleymartin@gmail.com
Thu Apr 13 • Batemans Bay • 4pm for a 4.30 start, contact Denise denise.mckay@ozemail.com.au
Fri Apr 14 • Erowal Bay (near Jervis Bay) • 6.30 for 7.30 start, BYO & $25 cash at the door, contact Sandra tomerong.sl@gmail.com
Sat Apr 15 • Katoomba • contact Trish trishmob@yahoo.com
Aaand from there, I'm flying home to Canada to rejoin Pamela and get the van loaded up to hit the road southward. It feels unbelievable from way over here, but we'll be in Floyd, Virginia a month from now! Our first stop's at Calgary's Ironwood Stage, a beloved haunt I haven't visited in way too long.
We're still filling in dates (and we're all ears for ideas!) but here's what we've got so far.
our Southward Spin:
Fri Apr 21 • Calgary, AB • Ironwood Stage
Sat Apr 22 • Medicine Hat, AB • Casa Amigos, opening for Little Miss Higgins
Sun Ap 23 • Regina, AB • The Artesian, with Soil N Grass opening
Thu Apr 27 • Toledo, OH • Over Yonder Concert House
Sat Apr 29 • Floyd, VA • Americana Afternoons at Floyd Country Store
Sun Apr 30 • Roanoke, VA • 3rd Street Coffeehouse
Wed May 3 • Pittsboro, NC • Songwriters in the Round w/ Jonathan Byrd at the Plant
Thu-Sun May 4-7 • Black Diamond, NC • Southeast Regional Folk Alliance
Fri May 12 • Bluffton, SC • Music on Malphrus
Sat May 13 • La Grange, GA • Pure Life
Thu May 18 • Nashville, IN • Hill Folk In the Round at Brown County Inn
Fri May 19 • Bloomington, IN • Cosmic Songwriters Festival at the
Sat May 20 • Indianapolis, IN • Indy Folk Series
Sun May 21 • Effingham, IL • afternoon show in The Loft at Village Wine
Wed May 31 • Kerrville, TX • Kerrville Folk Festival
Wed Jun 14 • Buena Vista, CO • United Congregational Church
One of the stops I'm most looking forward to is Kerrville Folk Fest – it's the first time I've been hired to play there and will be Pamela's first visit to the Ranch. The whole thing's eighteen days long, but we'll be staying for about ten, swapping songs in campsites and just hanging out among the songiest throng I've ever found. Pamela's signed up for the songwriters school (a thing I loved so much I took it twice!) with Mary Gauthier, Steve Seskin, Johnsmith, Tom Prasado-Rao, Matt Nakoa and Sadie Gustafson-Zook, and with any luck we'll be bringing some new songs home with us.
As you can see, there are plenty of gaps in the schedule, so if you know of places we should play (including living rooms!) in NC, GA, TN, AK, OK, TX, NM, and especially CO, please do drop a line to scottcooksongs@gmail.com.
I'll do my darndest to put some stories and snapshots from this long journey into a Hobo Travelogue soon, but for now I'm signing off and diving back in.
With love and gratitude,
s