The more I travel north on Interstate 81 toward Rural Retreat, the more I fall in love with the hillside that flows like a carpet through this corridor of the Appalachian Mountains. Last week, I drove this small stretch of highway to The Davis Valley Winery and was memorized by the wildflowers and this time was no exception either.
It was a little early in the morning to think about playing music, but this was an unusual event. Rusty and the folks at The Davis Valley Winery had planned this afternoon concert with country artists T. Graham Brown and I was there with the full Reagan Boggs Band for this performance inside this new Southwest Virginia’s amphitheater. The 1.00 p.m. showtime was probably a little too early as the weather was hot, muggy and threatening rain, but I’m sure these folks are fine tuning their efforts for the future.
When we arrived, we set up our fear on the stage and I ordered a bottle of Cabernet Franc for $18.00 at one of the stands in the meadow. Some of the families that live around the winery had tents set up too selling buffalo burgers and they promised me a trip to the barn to see the real beats later on.
Rusty and his staff fixed the band up with a nice lunch (buffalo burgers, chips, brownies and yes wine) and we ate lunch in the tasting room on the hill.
Sometime around 2.00 pm, we started our first set off on a spacious stage. Evidently, they imported this unique band shell in from Canada and it’s truly one of the best outdoor stages in this part of the state. From my advantage point, you could look out over acres of green meadow. Unfortunately, not very many people were out in the audience. I may have counted 100 or so all across the grounds, but they seemed to enjoy our set. Only a few technical problems with the monitor, but for the most part a good set.
We finished up about 3.00, whisked our gear off the stage and T.Graham Brown took the stage. The audience was a little larger by that time and you could tell these guys had paid their dues on stage. Great band and great vibe. I was especially impressed with their keyboardist who had an old Hammond he had refurbished along with a Leslie cabinet that sounded great. His piano and blue tones were soaring and I really enjoyed their sound.
The afternoon in the winery was spent taking pictures and as promised, I got a ride in one of the ATVs with three generations of family. The only name I could remember was little Payton, a 2 year old that sat on his mother’s lap while his grandfather drove me down the hill to their family barns to take pictures of the buffalo.
Now, I had seen buffalo before, but not up close and after watching the series ‘Into the West’ on TNT over the past several weeks, it was cool and appropriate to see the animals that the Lakota Indians called…”Tatonka.” They were in the shade in a small barn and a little timid at the stranger with a camera jumping over the weeds and fence to grab a picture. There were 3 bulls and 5 heifers and eventually, I was able to snap a few pictures of these animals before heading home.
The Davis Valley Winery has plenty of potential in the future and I’ll be exited about attending and performing shows in the future.
Later that afternoon, I drove home (about an hour) and cleaned up for the night gig at The Stir Frye Cafe. This is one of the coolest places in the Tri-Cities region and serve a unique and special menu of Thai food that continues to spread rumors around our region.
We arrived around 7.00 to eat dinner and have a few beers. The stage was great too. They had us set up outside on a concrete platform surrounded by tiki torches and next to a waterfall display. We started the show around 10.00 and had a good crowd. They were for the most part the 20 something crowd, but they seemed to enjoy our set of original Americana music and the crowd stayed well into our 1.00 am show.
Now this was one busy day for a 42 year old musician hauling his own gear. I got home around 2.00 pm and was exhausted, but I can’t wait to play again. That will happen on July 15th when we perform in Saltville, VA for the Saltville Music Festival and the Clinic in Wytheville, all in the same night.