Mumbo Jumbo May 2015
MONTANA, MAINE & MILE ZERO
Dan Kaul, Governor Steve Bullock, and Scott Kirby at the Murray Hotel Campaign Kickoff
Greetings from the historic Murray Hotel in downtown Livingston, Montana. Last night I attended a reception here for Governor Steve Bullock, who I met at the Smokin’ Tuna in Key West last year when he was in town on vacation. The gentleman on the left is my friend Dan Kaul, the proprietor of the storied Murray, a place you must visit if you ever get to Livingston. I arrived in Montana on Tuesday to recharge my batteries, work on a new song, and put some finishing touches on tour dates, including the annual tour (September 10th to 19th) with Peter Mayer and his son Brendan. More details on that next month.
It’s struck me recently how many of you have been asking me after my shows, “Where the hell do you live these days?” I guess ninety percent of normal people can answer that question in a word or two. It’s a little more complicated for a hobo like myself, and I suggest that for those of you don’t really give a damn, please save yourself the agony and scroll directly down to the Summer Tour section.
I’ve always been closely associated both with Key West and my home region of New England, as much of my music is inspired by these two wonderful places. But a couple of my new songs—“Montana Morning” and “Mother Winter”—as well as some of my facebook postings have thrown people for a loop about where I actually hang my hats these days. So in these strange times of folks tweeting from their colonoscopy procedures, I’m perfectly happy to shed a little light on where I live.
I moved to Key West in 1988, and I still think of the town, and particularly the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon, as my winter home. “The Tuna” has become the premier music venue in the Keys, and we just finished hosting the 20th Key West Songwriters’ Festival, the biggest songwriter’s event in the world! The fact that I can perform outdoors in such a magical venue with perfect acoustics and appreciative audiences is a singer/songwriter’s dream, pure and simple. There is no better place to play in the hard months of winter when touring is difficult.
However, songwriting is a different matter and actually a very reclusive experience for me. Frankly I’ve never had much luck writing in Key West, and only a handful of my nearly 100 songs were penned there. The majority of them have been written in Maine and New Hampshire, mostly in the solitude and serenity of winter. There are many wonderful words to describe Key West. Solitude and serenity might not be two of them, unless you’re out on the flats far from Duval Street.
Our little blue boat, Defiant
For the last dozen years I’ve spent increasing amounts of time back in my native New Hampshire, and last year bought a sailboat with a friend on the Maine-New Hampshire border. I try to carve out as much time as possible from the summer tour to spend on Defiant. I’m also in the process of buying a magical little house on the coast of Maine, but don’t want to jinx it by saying too much. Travel author Paul Theroux recently wrote that Maine has one of the most unspoiled coastlines in the world, and I suspect that Mother Winter plays a large part in saving her from the masses and runaway development. Maine has more shoreline than California, and who knows what this unspoiled and rocky coast would look like if global warming created a balmy year-round climate and blew away the fog!
Montana is another special place under the watchful eye of Mother Winter. I discovered Big Sky Country about five years ago when I stopped to visit a Key West friend who has been summering in Livingston for forty years. I’ve been enamored with the American West since my first cross-country trip 20 years ago, but there is something about Montana that seems different from all the other beautiful mountain regions I’ve seen. The vast valleys and high plains here create an amazing feeling of space. It seems I’ve developed a bit of claustrophobia with age, and after a busy performance schedule in tiny Key West, Montana seems like the perfect antidote.
I was reading an article about David Letterman in Rolling Stone on the airplane, and he was commenting on his love for Montana. “On the Rocky Mountain Front, you just have this never-ending view. It’s like if your belt is too tight, and you can finally release it and breathe naturally.” Letterman probably says it better than I can.
So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it…about three fourths of it anyway. The other quarter of the year I live on the road, about 25,000 long miles of it. I hope to see you out there this summer.
GABRIEL DONOHUE ON DAVID LETTERMAN
Speaking of Letterman, my good friend and musical colleague Gabriel Donohue appears on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight with the legendary Tom Waits. I know what I’ll be doing at 11.30 this evening.
Gabriel Donohue
SUMMER TOUR
Here are the dates for May, June and July:
May 21: Private event – Burlington, NC
May 22: Private event – Lake Martin, AL
May 23: House concert – Fayetteville, AR
May 27: Corrales Bistro Brewery – Corrales, NM
May 28: Fini’s Landing – Tucson, AZ
May 29: Private event – Mesa, AZ
May 30: Private event– Mesa, AZ
June 13: Private event – San Clemente, CA
June 14: House concert – Chula Vista, CA
June 18: Embassy Suites – Sacramento, CA
June 19: House Concert – Boise, ID
June 26: Private event – Madison, WI
June 27: TBA– Omaha, NE
June 28: Private event – Minnetonka, MN
July 1: Timber Pointe Golf Club – Poplar Grove, IL
July 2: Brink Lounge – Madison, WI
July 4: Private Event – Conover, WI
July 5: The Pines – Mercer, WI
July 8: Gelsosomo’s – Lemont, IL
July 9: Private Event – Quincy, IL
July 10: Private event – Arlington’s Bar, Springfield, IL
July 11: Private Event – Chicago, IL
July 12: Private Event – Youngstown, NY
July 14: The Tuckahoe Inn – Beesley’s Point, NJ
July 15: Beverly Hills Tavern – Sinking Spring, PA
July 16: Knickers Pub – York, PA
July 19: Bracco’s – Freeport, NY
July 31: The Wyndham Oceanfront – Virginia Beach, VA
Be sure to check my schedule for details and updates. I’ll be posting August and September dates next month.
Thanks for listening!
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