Meade Sings

I really enjoyed a beautiful fall weekend in Loudoun County. Friday night I played at Market Street coffee in Purcellville- one of the coziest coffee shops in the region. I love the acoustics. They got some softwood floors which just seem to bring all the sound to life. Its not a big shop, and usually there aren't a whole lot of people. But I have been a regular there for the past 6 years, and its always a pleasure. I have even composed a few tunes in that place- including "Coffee shop Country"-which I dedicate to struggling small time musicians everywhere. The drive around the area was spectacular. I stayed over night so I could get in an early morning show at The Middleburg Community Market in Middleburg- Loudoun County's horse country hot spot. The market was awe inspiring. The fall foliage was just near its peak, and I could see a backdrop of post rail fencing and the bull run mountains. I made a heaping amount of tips- because those Middleburg folks tip like...

I had a wonderful time entertaining for An Occassion For The Arts in Colonial Williamsburg. I had a nice well rounded set doing some of my most requested songs- and some of the much newer songs. I always open with "Fat No More"- a real toe tapper, and then I try mellow it out with "Love Your Neighbor" so people don't think I'm a bigot. Then I try some of my other peppier songs such as "Me and My Horse" and "Sweet Tea". The weather was really lovely, although a tad chilly. Here is some video of the event. I was at the very end of the day, so the audience was dwindling at the point. But I did get some of the brave folks to listen!

A wonderful tune from "Godspell" I sang this in church.

Last night I played Singer-Songwriter showcase at The Camel here in Richmond . It was one of the most enjoyable shows I have been too in a long time. I could sit and listen for hours at all the talented singer-songwriters playing last night. Its just my kind of music. I think some of them have obviously been performing for quite some time. All of them were good, but the one that stood out to me the most was a man that played a song called "Western Civilization Blues". It was so poignant and well played. I enjoyed this because I felt the show wasn't over kill. I just did about 25 minutes of all my best and most popular numbers. I got to sing to tracks as well- and it sounded swell in that superb sound system that they have. But really listening to other songwriters (particularly local) is obviously the kind of show I want to go see - and something I need to do more often. Because I often feel most inspired by these types of performances. There is something wistful about ...

I'm really trying to watch my weight. Now that I turned 35 years old this year, I am finally am an adult and ready to take on responsibility. One of the reasons I need to get rid of extra flab is because I just sweat so much. Even when I am lighter, I just sweat like a hog in a butcher shop! Setting up equipment, hauling in my keyboard (Bessie is no light feather), general anxiety,  and then I tend to wiggle my fanny around during performances. This all adds up to a very sweaty Meade Skelton! It gets so uncomfortable. The extra weight doesn't help keep me dry. But I think its partly because I would sweat even if I were a thin person. So losing some extra weight does help. I do put on a lot of water weight in the winter. Mostly when I go on my cookie binge. But through trial and error, I have learned my "trigger foods". That includes cookies (of all kinds), cakes, pies, donuts, and yes, sweet tea. I do weight liftin' 3x a week and I run, bike, and walk my way ...

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Last year when I was debating on  which format to do for  "Coffee Shop Country", I was sort of in a quandary  in many ways. I was in a hurry to get it done because I had it all played out in my head, but the production wasn't going as smoothly  as I had hoped.  Some of the songs the band and myself had only just begun to play. We had to do several takes in the studio because we had not really even played the songs before in a live atmosphere. I also wanted to add fiddle and pedal steel to the project. This translated into more and more money. Still, I was holding out on my vision of a prefect Vinyl/CD format release- with creative art work and liner notes and photos!  I was thinking that this might be a break through for me, not really counting on it being a hassle . However, because of financial issues and going back and forth to fix things in the studio, the idea of cutting another Full Album release  seemed highly unrealistic. I talked to the studio...