It was unseasonably warm this past Friday. The day after Thanksgiving felt more like Easter and I’m glad I took the day off too. It was nice to know I didn’t have to go to work – I could sleep late, get up, take some time and travel to Damascus, Virginia for a performance with Clear at The Old Mill Restaurant and “Convention Center.” This popular mountain outpost on the Appalachian Trail has a population close to a thousand. Along with the Virginia Creeper Trail, Damascus has the Old Mill which is a popular entertainment destination with a cool stage I’ve played several times – the last time with Reagan Boggs in the Spring of the year. I couldn’t wait to get there either. This time we were treated like welcome guests, with rooms for all the band on the second floor and dinner and drinks for the night… a good night for entertainers.
I got up feeling a bit rough as a cold was setting in my head, but I gathered a change of clothes, some Nyquil and packed up the Jeep with all my gear and headed Northeast on Interstate 81 toward Abingdon late in the afternoon. I’ve played lots of stages in this part of the country over the past couple of years and the road seems to get shorter everytime I go, but I love this part of our region at the corner of Tennessee and Virginia. The windows were down, the sun was setting behind me and the speakers were turned up loud with Vedera . Turning off Exit 19 at Highway 58, I followed the Crooked Road into Damascus and like most small towns, Christmas lights hung from the lamposts as I arrived around 4.30 in the shadows of Mount Rogers.
When I arrived at the Old Mill, the first thing I realized was the fact I had forgotten a coat. I was so euphoric over the temperatures in Kingsport I failed to realize this mountain valley was about ten degrees cooler. My cold was settling in with a irritating cough, but nevertheless, I was there first and despite the ache – ready to play. I unpacked my gear, got to know Ken (the manager) a little bit and he seemed excited. “I’ve been answering calls all afternoon – sounds like we’re gonna have a good crowd.” I was glad to hear that too.
Jared Bentley and his girlfriend Stacy arrived with Greg Smith (guitars) shortly after I got all my keyboards settled on the stage. The Old Mill has a separate listening room where bands perform and it has easy access to load in gear, so it didn’t take us long to get everything into place. We laughed at the amount of gear we brought – we’re always prepared with more than we need (OCD alert) and that worked out well for the night, especially when Greg blew his Marshall amp on stage.
Bassist Lance McCloud showed up a little later and Willie Simpson (drums) was there shortly thereafter. The stage at The Old Mill is a bit small to fit an electric band like ours up front, but me and Willie decided to park all our hardware up top and the guitarists were on the floor. We were locked and loaded – ready to go and by 7 o’clock, the stage was set and we were focused on … food, drink and friends.
Clint Miller was opening a set in the bar tonight at the Old Mill. The bar separates the restaurant and the listening room and it’s a good setup for the listening experience and perfect for this solo performer from Abingdon, VA. Greg introduced him to the band a couple of weeks ago and his dark skin, hair and thick beard played well into his folk prescence. His voice is extremely eclectic and worth hearing again. I passed by him in the hall, but he seemed eager to get on stage, so we made our way into the dining room for dinner with friends.
There’s one thing for certain, we had lots of friends with us tonight – even thought it was technically…a holiday weekend. Jared had his parents, his brother and plenty of other people in his pose’ including several folks that used to work with him during the early days of Clear at Bella’s Pizza. Willie was with his charming girlfriend Angie and we shared a bottle of Rosemont Shiraz together. They had just started enjoying good wine and we had fun talking about our cork collections as we poured glasses before dinner. Lance’s brother Scott and his wife were there along with his wife Heather. I didn’t get to talk to her tonight, but I couldn’t help but see her dance later during our second set. She’s always a highlight of our audience and a treat watching her have a good time.
Kevin Jackson, local fiddle icon and his girlfriend where having dinner tonight and they both seemed completely right for each other. Ira “Scott” Stone had told me earlier in the week that he was bringing three women to the show. They had dinner early in the evening and it was a delight to meet one lucky guy with plenty of company tonight. He introduced me to Leslie, his sister, Rhonda and another friend acquainted with someone I worked with on my first job at Captain D’s in the late seventies – Kerry Durnin. I was thrilled to see Abbi Strickler with her boyfriend Eric too make the trip to Damascus and their friends including Aaron Buschong. Jonathan French was even in the crowd too and my good friends Danny and Tracy Strickler made the trip after the performance of their gospel quartet at Natural Tunnel for the “Lighting of The Tunnel.”
The food was ok tonight. The wine was the best part, but the place was so busy it took some time to get our meal. I ducked out after the salad by taking the elevator to our second floor rooms. Just inside 206, we were treated with a spacious room with an outdoor porch that looked over the river and awash with the roar of the waterfall just outside the Mill.
It was almost 9.30 before we made our way to the stage for our our first set. The place was crowded and several people had made their way to the front to get a good seat and the first thing we played was ‘I Bent Down’ one of Jared’s original songs recorded by Yukon several years ago. It was extremely comfortable to turn on the Clear set list and get the band going. We’re still settling in to our full set and although most of he songs are committed to memory, this was only our fourth performance as a band, but it sure feels comfortable and this new music has more free experimentation than any act I’ve played with this far. It’s completely refreshing to culture something unpredictable.
Clear’s original music is a mixture of jam band vibes and soul passion. Greg’s background is soaked with The Grateful Dead and Phish and he seems completely at east jamming along extended chord progressions and never seems to run out of ideas. Throughout the night, we swapped center stage with Jared singing out front and me and Greg tossing around melodies and solos held up by the brotherhood of Lance and Willie driving the rhythm section.
We played several cover songs that we toss around different ideas on including Al Green’s ‘I’m a Ram,’ Stevie Wonder’s ‘Living in The City,’ Frank Zapp’s “City of Tiny Lights” and an ultra-fast jam song from Phish, but tonight I felt most comfortable with the original music. Jared’s new song ‘Forgive Me’ went over great tonight and the audience responded with a warm, unsolicitied response.
We took a break around 11 and went up to the room to relax a bit and have a drink with Scott and his friends, but it wasn’t long before we were back for the second set and it was great to see a number of people dancing in front of the band as we continued to experiment with the original songs and avant-garde jams. That’s funny too because evidently, that’s the message people are getting from the band. The Bristol Rhythm and Roots website lists Clear as an “avant-garde jam funk band.” Now that’s a mouthful – big beefy and bouncy.
I’m very pleased with our show that night. It’s really starting to feel like a band as we learn each others nuances and I love playing with Willie and Lance. Of course, Jared’s voice and original music is still the best I’ve heard around the Tri-Cities in the past few years and his passion is unpredictable on stage, but that’s easy to do with Willie and Lance in the background.
We finished up the set around 12.30 with a couple of encores and a crowd favorite ‘Bouncin’ Round the Room.’ Lots of folks were still hanging around and not long after our late conversations, we were turning out the lights in the hall to head up the elevator to the party room. We had lots of people in the room celebrating including Maggie, a 13 year-old lab who seemed quite comfortable in the late night ruckous. Around 3am, I decided to duck into my room, pour my last shot of alcohol (Nyquil) and crashed till the morning.
Saturday was another warm day and it was nice to wake up and have plenty of time to tear down the gear and head back to the house. I had planned on attending the Mike Maheffey Benefit at Gatsby’s later that night, but the energy and my cold symptoms had worsened so that the best I could do was watch Matt Mahaffey with Beck on Saturday Night Live. It was most ironic that he was playing the stage at Gatsby’s that night and I sure wish I could have been there. Tad called on Sunday and reported they had raised over $2,000 for the education fund for the kids and the performances were great.
It was a good weekend though. Despite the fact I slept all day Saturday, but looking back it was an incredible performance and I’m proud to think I’m playing with these guys and even more eager to spill out this chemistry at our next performance in downtown Bristol on Saturday, December 30th for the Bristol 150th Sesquentenial Celebration at The State Line Bar and Grill.