Scott Kinnebrew from Truth & Salvage Co. here, writing from somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado.
We’ve played 11 shows in the past couple of weeks — started with the Pick Me Up album release party in Nashville, then Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson, MS, Mobile, AL, New Orleans, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and Dallas, TX. Last gig we played was in Santa Fe, NM. Next few shows are gonna be in Colorado, personally I must admit I’m very excited to be in one of the first states in the U.S. where marijuana is legal.
The gigs have been great, it’s lots of fun building relationships with our fans as we return to their town again and again. We have some devoted peeps carrying the Truth & Salvage torch. Gauging by them singing along to brand new songs, it seems the new record is going over well.
There are still towns where the word about our traveling show has yet to hit the streets, but it is clear that every show we play there are hardcore T&S fans in the audience. Fans who travel upwards of six hours and plan weekend trips to come see us play. And they dance and tear it up and make us feel loved. It is cool. We are grateful and we love them.
Highlight show for me would have to be at Gasa Gasa in my hometown, New Orleans, LA. New Orleans post Katrina has been going through big changes. Once-rundown neighborhoods are getting the breath of life back in them, and Gasa Gasa is in one of these spots. Two Loyola music students turned a dumpy old building into a shit-kicking little music club. All the walls are subbed out and built without hard corners to diffuse the sound. And the sound system rocks.
I’ve played New Orleans a lot. It’s always fun, but it always feels more about contributing to the city’s musical orb and less about putting on a performance of original tunes. The combination of the venue and having a new record and the support of WWOZ (forgot to mention that) made the show super-special, a unique experience. More than anything I bet it’s just that our music is spreading and that people are coming to hear the songs.
Anyway, to have a show on a Monday night in music city and to have a great crowd of people who I mostly didn’t know singing along made me feel like I’m finally doing something right…
In Dallas we played with a monster duo called Rise & Shine. Do you know the Texas-based band Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights? Well, these guys, Jordan Caine and Brandon Picknard, are in the Northern Lights, playing drums and guitar respectively.
They put together a side gig for when JTNL is not gigging. They are like Stevie Ray Vaughan with 1/2 of Double Trouble, without knowing that Tommy Shannon was missing…or if the Black Keys were from Texas. They tore it up, they were absolutely awesome.
The gig was in a part of town called Deep Ellum, cool part of town, neat people. There is something going on in Dallas, I keep meeting bad-ass players doing wild shit who are from there, I think Dallas might have its finger on the pulse.
To wrap it up here I have three things of note: we blew both tires on the passenger side of our trailer in Houston, unreal. And we left our organ player Adam at a gas station in Alabama, like if we were in the ’80s without cell phones it took us 30 minutes before we realized he was missing.
And lastly I have been taking absolutely horrible photos with my grandpa’s camera, but I’m gonna share anyway.
Alright, peace, I’ll write you again when we hit the Best Coast!
—Scott
