New Blue Eras

(Final 'Bad Debt' shows etc)

Yesterday I drove west through North Carolina, up and over the mountains into Tennessee. Through Asheville, Marshall, Hot Springs, routing around the portions of highway 40 that are still blown out almost exactly four months after Helene plowed through this region. It’s a little hard to tell what damage was caused by the storm, and what has been wrought by the slow grind of poverty in a remote places. The temperature didn’t rise above 20 degrees, but there was a beautiful sunset over Knoxville that no picture could do justice. I missed my exit admiring the sky.

I woke up in Nashville. The last time I was here was at the very end of October doing some writing. During that trip, I got a call from a friend organizing an 11th hour rally for Kamala Harris in Raleigh asking whether I could perform. I rearranged my schedule and flew home a day early to play a few songs for the crowd. It felt nice. People were hopeful.

I’m now back in the same hotel in Nashville, looking at the same ever-changing skyline, and October of 2024 feels so far away. We’re in a new era now. Onwards.

Sorry to ruminate, folks! What I’m doing here in Nashville is playing the first of the last three Bad Debt shows currently on the calendar! The first happens tonight at the Blue Room in Nashville, and there are a few tickets still available, but not many. My friend Rich Hinman will be joining me on pedal and lap steel and Stratocaster, and my pal Rosali will be opening the show, and in general we’re going to have a beautiful time despite—or perhaps because of—the heaviness of the times. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of these shows, I’ll be playing my album Bad Debt in its entirety. It’s kind of a loner record but there’s something to it. Having done many, many of these performances, I feel like I’ve come to understand this music in a way that I didn’t when I wrote the songs many years ago.

On Friday night, we’ll be playing in Asheville, and that show is sold out, and we’ll be finishing out this run of shows at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC. Like tonight’s show, there are just a few tickets left, so I urge you to grab yours while they’re still available. At the Cradle show, Lou Hazel will be opening the show. Here he is helping me paint my studio.

I intended to keep this short and sweet, and I somehow can’t help but turn it into a meditation. That’s fine. A few weeks ago, I was in Washington DC with my family and when we visited the gift shop at the National Museum of the American Indian, I picked up this anthology, which I couldn’t recommend more. What a beautiful collection. The poem is by the great Luci Tapahonso. I find poetry, like music, so helpful, particularly in these times. But in all times, really.

Peace and love to all. See you around.

From Nashville,

Michael Crow Taylor

22 Jan 2025