carry me back to virginia

I started writing this last week in downtown DC in a railway station one toke over the line, waiting for the train back to charlottesville: my hometown.

of course there’s the holidays—it’s always special to spend time at my folks’ place, a house we’ve been lucky to call home for nearly two decades. but central virginia holds much of my musical heritage too, as well a little more space to experience music than nyc.

there’s more room for sound to take place in virginia; the hum of life vibrates a little less intrusively. the air hangs a little less heavily.

it leads to a vastly different relationship with music. in the city I consume music to power me forward. I never feel like I have the chance to really listen because my attention is being pulled elsewhere.

back home, there’s space for sound to expand and reverberate—to breathe.

last june, I recorded my first (and only) album in virginia because there was less background noise to overcome than in the city. this is what that felt like.

central va is also home to favorite bands of mine such as kendall street company and sisters and brothers, not to mention the ever-loving dave mathews band.

it’s not so south as to really identify with country music, but southern enough that everything has a folksy twang to it. the same goes for its residents, who can often lean more toward a crunchy hippie jam than a polished nashville sheen.

this leads to a different market for music—smaller, but high quality—and, for me, more of an emphasis on the music itself rather than the context around it.

in a few weeks, it’ll be back to the city grind. there’s a lot this next year will have to offer, and I can’t wait to bring it to y’all via this newsletter. but for these next few days, life is good and slow again.

first, a quick correction—the link to new music I intended to send in the previous email was broken. here you can listen for real.

also, a new show!

if you’re in central virginia next week, shoot me a note—it’ll be another friend, Andy Tichenor of the aforementioned sisters and brothers, sitting in with me and we’re going to have a grand time.

past that, look for something in the city heading into the spring, and maybe even something out a bit further west ??? idk stay tuned

Fred