And so began another journey with The Bon Ton Parade, Ben, Alec, and Matt…This tour started November 5th, 2009, in the hills of West Virginia, home of one of my favorite hauntings, The Purple Fiddle. We carried on, played music, drank local moonshine, and called it a night. It snowed.
The next day we drove seven hours to Salisbury, NC. The good thing about long car trips is that you have plenty of time to practice harmony vocals with your backing band while enjoying some lovely fall scenery.
Then came Asheville, another one of my favorite places. Such a cute little town nestled in the mountains of North Carolina. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a musician there. Another perk is you can iron your suit jackets on the large iron in the middle of town. 
Tonight we played at a cozy spot called Jack of the Wood and had a great time! Ben & Alec were really excited for the gig.
After a day off in Asheville, we headed to Charleston, Party Town USA. I must say the crowd at the Pourhouse can consume a healthy amount of alcohol on a Monday night, including the guy that kept yelling “You’re hot!!”in the direction of the stage. Thanks, I love that. After the gig we went for a dip in the ocean, and on the way back our friend got pulled over and taken to jail for a busted headlight. Watch out for police state in SC! That might be the last time he hangs out with Miss Tess & co…
I’ll be honest. Sometimes touring is the pits. You drive all day to some random town, play for nobody, make no money, and have no food, and no place to sleep. But at least you have your band, who you spend 24 hours a day with, to keep you company.
Other times, people let you stay in their houses, that just happen to have a screened in pool and a jacuzzi In Gainesville. Sometimes people donate their beach houses in Mexico Beach on the gulf coast for the band to stay in on their days off.
Holy shit is this nice
Sometimes you have days off on the beach in Florida, in November, to play ukuleles, eat raw oysters, and look at shells, and you think silently to yourself “everybody in Boston right now is a sucker”.
This is real sand
Miss Tess & Matt Meyer
Tour is rough at Mexico Beach
Ben & his ukulele
Sometimes your host has a trampoline in their back yard.
After-gig trampoline time!
And sometimes you come accross the most awesome Elvis impersonators ever.
What a hunk!
Welcome to America
The King lives! Happy Veteran’s Day!
Next, you realize you have to get back to work and drive to Mobile, Alabama. We always have a blast in Mobile. We usually play at a neighborhood venue called Callahan’s Irish Social Club (where we’ll be playing in February), but this time we were at The Alabama Music Box, a late-night hipster bar.
Art at the Music Box
It was a lot of fun for a Tuesday night. Also, I learned that bars in Mobile can stay open 24 hours.
The next day we headed right back to Jacksonville, where we’d just been a few days before, and played at a place called Jackrabbits. As a result of a bad job of band-matching by their booking agent, and our failure to have a fan base that wanted to come to Jacksonville’s hottest metal bar, there were 5 people there for our set. We played one song for each person, then promptly left and drove to a hotel in Savannah.
Savannah is a gorgeous city with a wonderful hint of a seedy undertone. We got to lallygag around downtown all day, walking along the river and wandering in shops. Alec bought a guitar today, and Ben played his ukulele with some musicians in the park. It was a good day.
Next we went back to The Stillwater Taproom in Augusta, GA, home of James Brown! We even got to hang out with one of his back up singers of 15 years. This town also knows how to party…
After playing a swing dance in Huntsville, and a house concert in Louisville, we headed up to Columbus and played at a 90-year-old’s birthday party. It was super cute and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a sweeter expression on anyone’s face. She said we could come back and hang out anytime we wanted.She also gave Matt a lesson on the snare drum.
That evening we played in a bar called the Treehouse. The room was complete with, yes, a large tree trunk growing in the middle of it. We had a blast and then drove until six in the morning to try to knock some hours off the drive to Boston. Funny checking into a hotel room in the morning when the sun is shining…
Our last show before thanksgiving was a lunchtime engagement at Mechanic’s Hall in Worcester, MA. This was a beautiful room and a great way to end our three week November tour.
Mechanic's Hall
Here are some more random pics. Until next time…
A crazy big leaf bug...
We found Matt's twin in Tampa!!
Our first show sponsored by pbr, Matt's favorite beer!
Ybor city, Tampa
Where's our bass player?
Miss Tess & The bon bons – Vintage Bluegrass with a Modern Egde.
