‘Raising Bow’ - J Corley

There is a tree in our backyard that keeps creaking. It stemmed a conversation between Chris and I about exactly what would happen if all the trees in the world fell at once.

Voices: Chris Freeman, Jonathan Corley

Nebraskaland

Kearny. Elm Creek. Overton. These are names of the tiny Nebraska towns that we’re driving through. On Tuesday, Chris and I left Atlanta with the van and gear. We’re heading out to Salt Lake City where our brief, midwest tour begins. The first couple of shows are makeup dates for postponed shows on last year’s winter tour with Brand New. I’m losing count of the number of records we’ve stuffed into the stereo.

Andy called this afternoon stoked about a Neil Young record he discovered called Mirror Ball. In 1995, Young teamed up with Pearl Jam on a studio album. The two bands met at an Abortion rally in Washington DC. They briefly toured Europe (without Vedder) in support the record. Fans started calling the project “Neil Jam”. We haven’t passed a town large enough to sell a copy of this record in hours. Both Garmin and Google Maps have failed me- it seems there won’t be a Best Buy until we get closer to Denver. Where the hell do you buy find records in rural Nebraska?

For dinner, we stopped off I-80 in an old railroad town called North Platte. In the home of Buffalo Bill Cody and “Nebraskaland Days”, we ended up at Depot Bar and Grill. It felt like everyone in there was wearing a cowboy hat. A server who was entirely too stressed out by her small collection of tables brought us a locally brewed beer called Third Stone.

We spent the majority of today listening to records. Good records- the kind of music that makes you want to record an album. Before the tour, I bought a spindle of CDs and a one of those zip-up, leather cases. Admittedly, I have hardly burned any records since I bought that first generation iPod. Too often, I find myself skipping between records seeking that perfect song in the moment. iPods have made it way too easy to bounce between tracks and forget why records were recorded in order.

I’ve pieced together a playlist (above) of songs that we’ve played on the drive. The process became frustrating when I realized that iMeem no longer exists. Myspace acquired the company in another attempt to energize Myspace Music. After searching around, I found another music recommendation solution called Slacker.

I created a custom station using Slacker that you can access here.

Mobile/iPhones: (1) Download Slacker from App Store  (2) Listen