Round Mountain

Mouth of the Klamath

roundmountain — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:54:26 +0000

We came here on our day off and were blown away. We saw whales blowing, heard seals barking, felt ourselves at the continuing end of some movie – credits rolling like waves. Here’s Char playing a new composition of his on the pipes in the midst of this majesty.

Little Applegate / Wilding

roundmountain — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:34:34 +0000

Today we came down to the Little Applegate valley, and played a really fun, intimiate show for some new friends in an intentional community called Wilding. We felt the land and the sun open for us today, and the cold frowning thing blossomed into a million shades of sunlit green. We get to stay with the dear old friends Ben and Kristina who were our witnesses in our first days at the Farmers’ Market in Santa Fe, and who know our songs much better than we do.Char was a mad genius tonight, he was able to summon some wild Jewish ancestry and Calypso inspiration during the raucous portion. Later people were some intimately immersed they stopped clapping, and goodnight animals was never better.

Corvallis

roundmountain — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:32:47 +0000

After a long ago, ill-publicized first visit to Corvallis, we were eager to come back and try again. This time it blew our socks clean off. (Or at least off.) The instant we walked in the Troubadour, we asked our gracious host Kent if he had ever been to the Folk Music Center in Claremont where we have played and sadly weren’t able to do this time. He replied that he’d learned the luthier trade and gotten his start there. Magic! He is of a great lineage of darn good people and treated us like royalty. There was this article in the paper that was so big, it looked like the the headline “Round Mountain” was the name of the newspaper. Most of the people who came saw that article. It was a nice full house, super receptive, really sweet to play for. We got to go catch up with Leigh Ann, Steve, and their sweet little girl Lola. They also made us feel like the kind of wanderers you’re happy to see, and we were happy to be.

Portland

roundmountain — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:32:04 +0000

The next day in Portland, we were reunited with our recent collaborators Swansea, this time on their turf. It was such a treat to be with Ji. Rebecca, and Kyleen at their Portland CD release at Alberta St. The place was warm and sweet with listening, the wooden pews, the funkiness of it all. The music felt good, in a different way and with some stabs of sonic trouble, as though my voice were being sent through about a hundred noses. Somehow it still registered and was received by our lovely audience, and we came away so psyched, ended up talking to our dear friends until 4 in the morning about things like the Beatles. Then we got to get up and have breakfast at Sanborn’s. the breakfast place of light that illuminates the landscape for miles around, and which provides the secret motivation behind every PDX visit. After enjoying beautiful coffee at a place called the Cellar Door, we decided to go looking for the roses that were on parade in portland that day. So on our way our of town, we followed Google maps to the Rose Garden and found a parking place in a vast empty garage. Then we wandered forlornly past these huge empty buildings looking tor the roses until we realized that the Rose Garden is an arena! A bit humbling, that. But a good laugh, and there were a couple of roses as part of the landscaping. As some ancestors said, “Dayenu”.

Seattle / entrance

roundmountain — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:31:30 +0000

I’m regrettably just now getting my writing rhythm on, but here we are! I’ll try to give you something of a lowdown from the last few days, the beginning of Round Mountain’s 2012 tour. Our sole tour this year, we were hard pressed to choose where to go, but it’s felt great to revisit the Northwest where we hadn’t had the pleasure of arriving for a goodly while. Musing on tour themes – the “Where’s the One” tour? (You can take that seriously if you want). The great friends tour.

We were afraid we’d run out of sage shortly past NM – no such thing – it basically fills the space between home and the Cascades) – at Char’s urging we stocked the dashboard with sage we picked from every state, which we’ve been handing out as hostess gifts. After plodding across open these expanses all the way from New Mexico, reconstucting places we’d written songs in the past, musing and working on our new album, getting our road chill on, as Jon used to say, we arrived in the incredible verdure of Seattle. Our friends Keni and Esther, along with their lovely offspring Jonah and Sophia, took lovely care of us. We breathed in a lot of rainy air, and noticed the sun coming out has the effect of rain in NM – it brings out all the smells A good show at our longtime Seattle place – Egan’s. Kane Mathis started the night with the kind of stellar matter he always brings airborne. Some gorgeous oud, some kora waterfalls. Not only does he complelely understand the the traditions, they ripple off him in the the kind of delicious way you can still love even if you don’t understand them. I was proud that, after 6 previous times in Seattle, we’ve finally gotten to the space where we can complelely adore that skill without feeling cowed. We had a great initiatory show.

Werner Herzog’s Helper

roundmountain — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 06:22:48 +0000

Char didn’t actually hop the Werner Herzog freight car, but if he had I’m sure it couldn’t have been more fantastical or amazing than the journey that brought us here to water’s edge. So pleased by the distance and the expansion, and the realization that sagebrush extends pretty much all the way from New Mexico to the Cascades.

We listened to Iarla O’Lionnard coming over the mountains just west of where this shot was taken, a place called Solduer Summit, Utah. We’ve felt the soil changing, and are asking for this place with its abundance of rain to embrace our raw roots as we sing.

For the Solstice

roundmountain — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:09:32 +0000

Found this in my journal from 2007. Char and I are looking at it in terms of a song:

Oh, my darkness.
Be welcome.
You’re in me, aching there.
Be welcome.
Stir in me shadows of tempest
to stream against the blazing light.
Foxfire against the dark mirror of a yawning soul.

The Path of 60%

roundmountain — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:43:54 +0000

We are home in Albuquerque, grateful for a great tour and pleased to be back. It’s good to tread on the strange path music demands. At the lovely Valley Stage festival in Huntington, VT, which was heartbreaking to drive away from before sunset yesterday, we saw this sign, which tickled me. It was nice to follow that path through the woods and come out in the place where people are.
You know, another great tidbit from the tour I’d be remiss not to tell you about came from Tom, the neurologist gentleman on the flight out. When we asked him for advice on maintaining a limber mind, he relayed the magic success rate for real success: 60%. If you find yourself consistently mastering a higher percentage, say 75 or 80%, you’re not trying enough new stuff or taking enough risks. Let’s just say I was happy to hear that. On now, into more risks and more growing!

A New North

roundmountain — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:32:16 +0000

Last time we were in NY we saw Laurie Anderson. She was amazing, poetry of challenging beauty, supple and unnerving. One phrase she used was “a new North” , about clocks spinning like compasses trying to find what happened to the magnetic field, or something along those lines.
After a lovely time showcasing at the amazing Brooklyn community eccentric musos’ hang – Roots and Ruckus, we drove North into VT. In Rutland we caught a jaw-dropping concert by Village Harmony, an organization that has been important to some of our favorite musicians ever. So inspired by that, we lit on today into Shelburne’s Bread and Butter farm to play for those guys during their wonderful Burger Night event. There was a beautiful big crowd there in the gorgeous long light of late summer afternoon. The burgers were fantastic, the place was too. Here it is…

What then followed…

roundmountain — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:14:02 +0000

…was also quite good, delicious in fact. Great show at Passim Sunday – we got to have my teacher from Bamako, Moussa Traore, sit in with us. We had time on our way North to go up to the Byfield cemetery and see our great grandparents’ grave. We had a sweet show in Portsmouth, where the craic was again mighty – loved the Farthest Forest, and Mike and Allan’s awesome music. Tristan and the listening folk took tremendous care of us, and then today we came all the way down to New York in the rain. What a lovely night at the living room- Carrie Elkin and Anna Egge were both bright with beautiful, quality songs and great backup. People really seemed to love RM – and the sound was absolutely pristine. Afterward, the city was alive and awake… it felt so good to come into our own in New York.