BACK OUT ON THE ROAD

So after two weeks off around Easter, we've finally gotten back out on the road. I did have a short trip "home" to Shreveport for a day to see my friend Scott who now resides in London. It was a surreal moment seeing all the changes to that town. Scott and I drove out to the lake where we used to park and drink, as well as ate at many of our old haunts. We capped the night sitting on his mom's lakefront porch eating fresh Louisiana crawfish and drinking beer. It felt great to be back in Louisiana.

We started this weekend on Friday in Greenville, SC. We played a kicker bar called the Blind Horse. There were massive thunderstorms all day and I was a little worried about turnout, but we ended up with 1542 paid. And of course the bar pulled the old "keep the air off so they drink more beer" trick until about halfway thru the show, so it ended up about 110 degrees in the building until late in the evening. We've always had good shows in South Carolina. They've also got some great BBQ around there. We chowed down on some roasted pig that a guy had cooking all day outside the venue. His smoker was about the size of my house. The line at this thing looked like African refugees waiting on a humanitarian drop. It was unreal how many drunks will pay $5 for some BBQ at 1 a.m.

We rolled from there about two hours down the road to Columbia, SC for a show with George Strait on Saturday. We toured with George in 2006 but haven't played with them since. It was a good turnout, especially considering these two shows we're doing with him are make-up dates. It's a challenge for us because the stage is in the round, so someone is always looking at your ass. Well, not mine, but everyone elses. My cousin Lindsey came out and hung with me for a while. She's 21 and it's weird to see her all grown up. She lives in Charleston about 100 miles from Columbia. After she left I walked down to the green room to check ont he guys and found a jar of moonshine being passed around. This was the site I saw when I walked in...





Today we're in Jacksonville, FL. We've managed to hit every bit of rain that has been in the air all week. It just finished pouring and now the sun is coming out. It always rains in Florida, I don't understand the appeal of this state.

I fly home to Nashville in the morning. I'm on Southwest and I've got to bitch about their new program. They have a Frequent Flyer program that anyone who flies 60 times in a year gets automatic "A" group boarding. I've flown them 86 times in two years, but I can't seem to get my 60 flights to fall within a a calendar year. So tomorrow I get stuck in "B" group and will have to sit in the middle, most likely next to the lady with the screaming sick kid. I'm gonna boycott if they don't give me the damn automatic "A" soon.

I'm gonna go home and prepare for the beatdown Texas shows we have next week. And probably get a few Xbox games under my belt.