Release Parties = Awesome

Posted June 30, 2009

First off, a rousing thank you anyone who joined us for any of our four release parties over the past week and a half. The Atlanta, Raleigh and Richmond shows were all a blast and we got to catch up with a lot of good friends and do a fair amount of celebrating. However, the prize must be awarded to Friday June 19th at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, for being one of the awesomest nights of our lives. We can’t say “thank you” enough to everyone who joined us that night, both on the stage and in the audience. Thanks to our loyal and loving fans, we sold out a room that one of our musical heros, Mr Steve Earle (albeit a few years past his prime, but still riding high at #1 on the Americana charts) could only fill halfway three weeks earlier. It meant so much to see you all there.

But we haven’t even mentioned our Guest Stars. They were indeed stars. In case you missed it, here is a quick rundown of the friends who helped make this night one of the most special evenings any of us have ever spent onstage. Jim Waive & The Young Divorcees opened the show, with Divorcee Charlie Bell re-joining us to lay pedal steel on a few of the new tracks, and Jim making it back up to sing with us on the encore two and a half hours later. Brian Chenault lit the front row’s hair on fire, closing the first set with a positively searing solo on “Far Cry”.

The second set is where we really turned up the heat. Peyton Tochterman stole James’ verse on “Whispering” (it’s now his song) and then the Queen of Folk Music (at least in Central Virginia) Miss Terri Allard got her Emmylou Harris on, stealing the spotlight on “Savannah Rain”. Following her were our old friends (they’re not old, but we’ve known them since they were pre-pubescent) the Honey Dewdrops, who had just released their brand new (and excellent) debut album the night before across town. This is when the shit really hit the fan. Some of you may know our Master of (Averting) Disaster, Mr BJ Pendleton. The Pendletrain has been our Soundman for several years now and – though everyone knew he could mix a mighty fine set – most SoB fans had no idea that BJ has a set of golden pipes hiding behind those pearly whites he loves to show off. BJ took the stage to thank everyone for coming and promptly stole the show, busting out by far the finest version of “Ballad of a Middle Aged Heartache” that anyone ever even imagined hearing.

At this point we had to take brief respite and play some songs with just the boys in the band, so that no one would get swallowed up in the backdraft of BJ’s honky tonk inferno. But after the dust settled, Nick Cordle proved he was up for the challenge. An old friend of ours, Nick is currently touring with a nice easy-listening act called Arsis. Luckily for us, he was off the road long enough to join us for affably brutal take on Metallica’s 1987 classic “Fade to Black”. Truly an awesome experience. Abe particularly enjoyed it. At this point, there was nothing left to do but close the night, so we decided to call up the only man alive who could possibly have outshined all these luminaries, Mr Bill Wilson himself.

Bill earned his namesake status with a beautifully stately version of Steve Earle’s “Ft. Worth Blues” and then tore the house down with rousing verse on “Six Days on the Road”. It was a night to remember, to say the least. For those of you that missed it, visionary Red Light staffer Brian Stowell happened to tag along with his camera (and unnerving eye for quality shots) and he’s been so kind as to post a bunch of pictures on his flickr account. Enjoy those, and we’ll leave you with the teasing whisper that the show was recorded, so somewhere down the line you may catch bits and pieces of it popping up. Keep your eyes and ears peeled and, as usual, keep an eye on the Tour Dates. More are being added literally every week. Thanks again to everyone who came out to all four shows and we can’t wait to see you again soon. If you missed them all, at least make sure you’ve got a copy of One Town Away to console you. Pick one up at the Sons of Bill Webstore, or on iTunes. I’ve been told it sounds even better live. Come see for yourself. We’ll be out there looking for you.

Sons of Bill