It seems like we haven’t stopped since Cali….wait..we haven’t.
Kicked off this run with our friends at dulling hall in Jackson. Rob Baird opened that gig and Memphis.great clubs and Mr. Baird does it right. Great dude and great musician.
Stopped off in ozark Arkansas for thunder on the mountain. Same grounds as Wakarusa so it was familiar. Got to see Todd Snider with Reckless, Aaron Watson and my friend Clint. Pretty good start of the day. Todd was spot on as usual. Made for a good set for us. Nothing quite as Inspiring as a TS show. Closed out the music with a jam with Reckless Kelly. So yeah….that day kicked ass.
Gonna rest with the fam for a couple days. Check out our new departed app.
Peace
Cody

Oh California! That was fun! We promise it won’t be as long between tours next time. We’re shooting for 6 months from now. Thanks to all our friends out there spreading the word. Weather was great and so are the gifts you brought us. Lets keep building it. What do ya say? Couple days off and back to the grind now. We’re deeply saddened by the tornado tragedy in Oklahoma. I may live in Texas now but my Okie blood runs deep and red. We will make it our mission to raise awareness for shelters in schools. We have friends that lost loved ones and homes. Whatever we need to do to help, you know we will. Stay tuned for a benefit concert. Not a little one a big one. On another note Seth and I celebrate our birthdays on Friday at Billy Bobs and Saturday in Eufaula. So…..hangovers will happen. We will be taking donations for tornado relief at the office. Please contact 36D management for details. We will also be selling our new Oklahoma shirts with 100% going to the recovery efforts. I believe Jason Boland is doing the same. Please keep Oklahoma in your prayers good people. As always we love all of you.
Signed
I’m getting old
Cody

Headed West for the first time in over two years. I’d say it’s well past time. Lots of folks asking about certain areas that we aren’t making this trip, but we promise it’ll happen soon. Our old friends in Cali and Az…..been awhile. Cali holds a special place in my heart because of family but it also has a special place because bands from our area don’t make it out there that much. Robert Earl took us to the west the first time and got his crowd turned onto our music. If Robert digs it then you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting his fans to your show. Thanks REK. Forever in debt sir. With that all being said….we’ve got new songs, current songs, really new songs, old songs and some Todd Snider tunes we’re practicing live for our August Challis gig with him and we will have some new ones come out of our west coast run. So come on Cali and Az make this trip worth leaving home for two weeks.
Peace and Love
C

Great weekend with old friends! Bryan,Texas Grand Stafford is an excellent venue! We played with our friends, Folk Family Revival. Great band. Check it. Bryan/College Station always has a place in my heart. Great people there! Saturday brought us together with The Trishas, Thieving Birds and Robert Earl Keen and his band. Bill Whitbeck got up and played harmonica on the song he and Seth wrote, “Hobo”, and knocked it out of the park my friends. Plato and I stood by the trailer with some cold ones and felt like teenagers again. Always good for the soul to hear those tunes. Oh….and it was 4/20 so…..it was a happy holiday. Look forward to playing music with real musicians again soon.
Peace
Cods

This past week out had us braving 50 degree temps with 30 mph wind at the Central TX Speedway, to dust bowl-like conditions in a field in Midland, to an indoor/outdoor festival at a Burger Joint in San Antonio, finally coming to rest on the super lush green grass of a beautiful baseball stadium in Roundrock. It seems as though we hit 2 of the 4 seasons, without ever crossing the state line. All in all, we got to play with more than 20 different bands, hearing some good music, catching up with friends we haven’t seen lately, raising money for charity, and most importantly, we changed some lives for the better. As for the first show already mentioned, standing up on that stage looking at those folks standing cold in the crowd, was inspiring to me, that even as unpleasant the conditions were, and I’m sure it did keep some folks away, everyone had a great time and really had our backs on that one. The effort you all put in to us, such as the countless hours and many miles of travel to get to the shows, days of vacation taken-leaving those co-workers behind, and just simply spending your hard earned money to make it all possible can be more than overwhelming to us all. Those bearing gifts of food and drink- without metioning any names here, you know who you are, but you always bring a little of that ever needed home to us out on the road, and for that, we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. None of this is possible without you all. It’s the little things that can leave the biggest impact on our lives. See you down the road………elstevo

Ok ok I know its been awhile for Crew View so here it goes.
I thought I would take some time to share some history with you. As some of you may know I spent close to 10 years in the United States Army, after getting out and returning home I re-connected with high school friends for work and play. One of these friends, Scott Thompson, was a drummer so I started tagging along with him to gigs and helping out with gear. A short time into this Scott introduced me to his new friend, also a drummer, Chris Doege, the three of us worked and lived together in the very first house built in Leon Springs Tx. in the mid 1800′s, the tiny house was named The Drum Shack, even though it was so small we made room for the drums to be set up at all times.Chris at the time was playing in a local cover band called Ken Ryan and Crossover so I started tagging along to shows with Chris and found myself helping out with gear. This band had a bus, full PA and a light rig. Now at this time I was a straight volunteer until one night at a show the guy running lights just walked out, I happened to be standing there and the sound engineer looked at me and said I guess you just got promoted. Needless to say I became a paid member of the crew just like that. Now, as much as I would love to delve into the details I would have to change the names of the innocent to protect their identity but there isn’t enough time or space here, so I’ll just go on to tell you that this is my 6th musical project to work in with Chris not to mention the countless hours and feet of tile he and I have installed to support our music habit. I can’t even begin to explain to you the countless times over the last 16 or so years that we discussed working together on a project like this, and through lifes road led us to Seth James band and then here, proud beyond words doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel about this band of brothers.

The weekend started with bus trouble 15 miles from HQ.
We sat for several hours till we were rescued and made our way to Denton just in time to set up and jam. Great night with old friends. Now….onto Abilene….There’s a good handful of people/musicians that, no matter what is happening, makes the entire weekend better. The act I’m speaking of today is Shinyribs. Now I,like so many others, found Kevin Russell with the Gourds for the first time singing “Gin and juice”. I cannot tell you how much better it is when you dive into the entire catalog of this man and his bands. Not only is he the most positive and kind  person I’ve ever known. His art is incredible. Like nothing I’ve ever heard. I’ve been wanting to play shows for years with Kevin. I really thought “Man…Shinyribs in Abilene?? We have a hard time getting people moving in this bar” but guess what?!? He drove it home and set the night for one of my top 5 musical and hangout nights EVER! Only missed one thing….The girl that loves his music and his being as much as me. My bride. But after some Catholic whiskey and hours of tunes we agreed that it’ll happen more often. You can keep Springsteen and Petty (with respect of course) but I got Shinyribbed. Stay tuned for Shinyribs/Departed dates.

Now we move onto Alpine Texas with another break down. We’re back on our bus at this time. We get the oil changed in Ft. Stockton and make it just in time again to jam at The Railroad Blues. Been 9 years for Plato and I, and I believe 13 for Seth.
If you haven’t been there you’re missing out. They always take care of the bands and crowd. Even got a little heckling during soundcheck and our buddy Richard took the dude outside and scolded him. Don’t mess with a true music fan. You’ll be forced outside by the fire pit all night. In your face pal.
So after good beers some home made sangria we headed to the hotel to wait for another bus to pick us up. By the way I spilled sangria all over the office. Sorry for partying Richard.
We made it home several hours after we planned but good old Billy Goat got us back to our babes. Best. Bus. Driver. Ever.
Now, as we wait for our original bus or possibly a strange one, were gearing up for the “Prayer for the lonely” video shoot. Starting today at 5:30 and going till dark tomorrow. Then we’re east bound and down.
Keep the rubber down
Peace
Cody

I’m too drunk to taste this chicken

If free beer and shady hotels count, I’ve been getting payed to play music for seventeen years. During that time, I have managed to witness some of the most awesomely bizarre moments in the history of human behavior. This is one thing that most musicians have in common since our job allows us see a very diverse cross section of humanity. My intention with this blog is to finally get some of these tall tales down in writing. Hmmm…Where to start? Maybe the one where I had to fight off a rabid senior citizen and his cane while hobbling around on a cast, or maybe the one where the wiener dog takes a dump in the kick drum, or the time I played a bait shop in New Orleans and partied down with a Rabbi. So much to tell and so little time. Stay tuned to see how ridiculous it all can get. On another note, I did do something this week that was a first. I bought a brand new guitar right off the shelf at the Austin Guitar House. It’s called a Fano JM6 and I plan on bringing it to your town and peeling your face off with it.

Seth

Good times three nights in a row AGAIN! Started Thursday off with some good news that we will be headed west in May…and yes, that includes California this time! Thursday in Lubbock had good weather, good food across the street at JJJ, and the Blue Light delivered a great music-appreciating audience as always. Ryno said best merch sales he’s ever seen in Lubbock! Friday was the 1st of February, and some of the guys are doing “Black February” and not drinking for THE WHOLE MONTH!!! It was suggested that I do “White February” since I don’t drink anyway… So Friday was off to an early start with almost everyone at the breakfast table (a rarity in itself) at Eggs Etc. in Ardmore, OK. We will definitely stop there again, that is whenever we aren’t having Arbuckle Fried Pies instead! I also got a new trick bike to carry under the bus. I still remember how to do a few tricks, but somehow they aren’t as easy as they used to be…?  It’s also not as easy as it used to be to give your buddies a pump! I know, because I gave Brian and Seth a ride! Oh yeah, and Joel was the first one to wreck it in the parking lot! Friday night was a rockin audience as well! You know there will always be stories to tell when Cody’s dad gets up to sing “Big City”! The guys from Chad Sullins band were off, and came to hang out as well. Saturday, on the way to Weatherford, we stopped in Calumet to eat lunch at Johnnie’s Grill, where Jeremy worked as a kid! The burgers there are SERIOUS! I had to order the sausage, chili burger because it had my name on it, literally. Saturday night we had another good crowd at JC Cowboys. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to witness anyone jumping from the balcony to land on one of the hanging saddles…Jeremy’s parents and sister came out to support him, and it was great to see them. I have yet to see any of them without a smile. I heard Seth in the back of the bus writing a new song that had a strong blues/rock feel to it. It sounds like one that we might get worked up pretty soon. I have some lyrics that may fit with the riffs we were playing with a couple weeks ago, so maybe that one can be brought to life as well. “Inbetweener” keeps getting better every time we play it! Cody mentioned that he would like to get started in the studio before the end of the year! Many good things are happening, and new dates keep popping up, so keep an eye on our schedule. I hope to see you soon.-Chris Doege                                         P.S.: Please read Randy’s BLOG too! I will send a free Adventus vinyl record to the first person NOT living in Texas, that can tell me the name of Randy’s favorite song from “This is Indian Land”