Nat Hussey's Island Time

Up this morning with Eleanor, listening to a friend of mine on the "radio," Nat Hussey. I've got his whole discography on shuffle. Thinking of Nat because he's on his way out to Matinicus Island -- a little bit of rock and soil 20 miles off the coast of Maine. Lawyer, songwriter, father -- on his way out with his wife and 3 kids to take a stab at a new kind of living. Maybe by now he's got a job as a stern man in a lobster boat -- that was one of his options, and he had a boat lined up. He stopped by a couple weeks ago to drop off a banjo on a kind of long-term loan. "Just don't sell it or give it away without asking."

Nat is just about my favorite songwriter anywhere. When I think of Nat's songs, I think of splitting wood. You can go at it with a little wedge and a hammer, tonking away at a piece over and over -- knocking the wood off the block and re-setting it up over and over until you've got it split right down the middle. Nat's more about heft and swing -- he's one of those guys who sends the two halves flying off the block and has a new piece of wood up there before they've stopped rolling. The wood splits along the grain and tells a story that's half about the tree and half about the axe. That's Nat's songwriting. I'm looking forward to another cord of songs from Matinicus.

George Washington Bridge by Moonlight

News news news... new baby, new album, lots of travel... Did I mention new baby? So no time and/or energy for bloggings, precious (gollum, gollum), but I had to say thanks to everyone who made it out to the Hillside cafe last night. It was a turning point for me, knowing I can -- under extreme circumstances -- hit the road at 10 in the morning, play a show in or around NYC that evening and -- here comes the crazy part -- jump back in my car, armed only with Sobe Energy Drink (2 bottles: highly recommended for late-night travel) and make the sojourn home.

Now of course, my schedule is flipped so it's 1:00 and I just came up from the studio where I'm laying some guitar tracks over the basic rhythm section work I did with Josh Caron and Sam Sherry last weekend. Drums, stand-up bass and guitar. And I have borrowed a beauty of a guitar for recording -- Tom Williamson, a long-time friend and seriously accomplished luthier -- has graciously let me nab a beautiful koa OM cutaway of his own creation. You just point microphones at it and roll -- it's amazing. And very much geared toward fingerstyle playing.