Buffalo and Pittsburgh

Our last show in upstate New York was a great way to bring that leg of the tour to an end. We saw dear old friends, had a wonderful dinner at Merge where we played, enjoyed the surprisingly good mango parsnip sorbet, and performed two long and fun sets. We had a request for “Not Guilty,” which we dusted off for its Buffalo debut, and David tested out a song for the first time, tentatively called “Look What You've Done to Me”.

Pittsburgh, PA

Our trip out of upstate New York was not as pleasant as our trip in. We pulled off a trifecta and were awarded three tickets in 12 hours by the New York police force (none of which involved speeding). It made a dent into our earnings but not our morale.

We played our first house concert of the tour at Erika May’s new series called Grandview Music (www.grandview music.blogspot.com). She has a lovely home and we were honored to be the first band in this new series. We got a chance to visit with old friends and family and left Pittsburgh with plans to return again soon.

Ithaca, NY

The next day as we were packing up to head to Ithaca, Suz realized she didn’t have her wallet. But we weren’t too worried as our car is so chocked full of gear that we assumed we’d find it after a thorough search. But the post office found it before we did as it ended up in a mail box on Westcott Street, depleted of its supply of cash, but fortunately, the credit cards and license were untouched.

We made our way quickly to Ithaca and after a great quick home-cooked meal with our friend Giffen, we played in the most unusual stop yet on our tour -- a tattoo parlor/coffeehouse called The Shop. It was our smallest audience yet, but we had a great time nonetheless and had an appreciative crowd. Although our earnings were meager that night, we got a great deal on new tattoos and now each have Alec Dempster's band portrait tattooed on our upper arms!

Syracuse, NY

2nd Story Coffeehouse has definitely been one of our favorite venues on the tour so far. Tucked away in the Westcott neighborhood, 2nd Story is a beautiful space with wonderful art on the walls and a cozy feel. Alexis runs the coffeeshop and Jeff books the music (and hosts the wayfaring bands).

We played one of our best sets of the tour, finishing with an acoustic version of “Give Your Love,” which gave our friends in Auld Lang Syne license to play their entire set acoustic. And what a set it was! They stepped out in front of the mics and played a truly breathtaking collection of some of the most tender and gutsy music we’ve ever heard. Their amazingly beautiful song “Tree on Fire” was our personal favorite. Jason Cimon joined again for a fantastic encore of one of his songs.

The crowd at 2nd Story poured over into a neighboring bar, and the conversations and the start of new friendships carried over late into the night.

Rochester, NY

Saturday morning ended up being a stressful morning, as we prepared to leave home for a month. We had the longest drive of the tour ahead of us -- 6 hours to Rochester, New York -- and cut it about as close as we could. But the drive and the packing rush were well worth it, as we found ourselves with old friends in upstate New York. Our friend Tom Combs coordinated his visit back home to Rochester with our tour stop, and having him in the audience helped us feel right at home.

We set up the Rochester show with Auld Lang Syne -- another band that has opened for The Avett Brothers -- and were fortunate enough to have two shows in a row with them. They’re a fantastic band that we highly recommend you check out.

Timing worked out the next day such that Suz was able to visit the newest member of her family -- a 13-day-old baby that she almost packed in her suitcase to take on our tour with us.