YES! The long awaited Knoxville leg of The Drenched Earth Tour is FINALLY ONLINE!
I wrote about this group of musicians back in the fall, and they came through here again a few weeks ago. Singer songwriter Chris Castle was on tour with The Womack Family Band, and they were coming through town again. After knowing Chris online for a while, I headed downtown to WDVX to catch his live show, and met them band that was touring with him. It was an instant connection with them all. So, when we said goodbye, I left a standing invite to hang out and stay over at our place and save some money on hotel bills. And they did just that. After eating peanut butter and jelly sammiches and trail mix for a while, a big pot of home made spaghetti, a couple of loaves of Italian bread, and some red wine hit the spot when they showed up on Sunday afternoon.
This is an amazing group of people, I love each and every one of them, like family. Actually, they’re all new members of our chosen family. Lots of great conversation, lots of laughs, lots of great music. It was funny on Monday morning waving as they headed down our driveway, then an hour later appearing live on Knoxivi streaming internet TV, then a few minutes later, they ran across Market Square to the WDVX radio studios and did a short gig live on the radio. When that finished, they ran back across Market Square and set up their gear for a show that night, in advance.
They came back here after getting their gear set up at The Preservation Pub, and I whipped up a chicken and veggie stir fry for 8, no small feat that, and more great conversation and laughs. We all headed downtown early Monday evening, and we met up with them at the venue. And that’s where I finally had a chance to see a full set of their music, and I’m telling you, it was THE best live show I have ever witnessed. The tall bearded guy, Tony, I swear, is a younger version of me. He plays anything and everything. And during the last set, they tore out all the stops and rocked the place. I mean, they ROCKED the house. Great times.
They’ve got a standing invite to stay over at our place, whether on tour or on the road on vacation or whatever, they’re great additions to our family. But next time, we hope to have a few days together, to break out the instruments and jam on the back deck, eat some BBQ, and savor the company of some very cool people.
Without further adieu, here’s the segment of the trip when they came down Sunday from Kentucky to our place. I met them along the road, and jumped in front and had them follow me home. It was funny, I was waiting at a light, where one light ahead, I saw the black van drive past, followed by the trailer. I hung a hard right and raced to the next intersection so I wouldn’t lose them. As I was racing through downtown Clinton, I could see them on the next street over, catching glimpses of them between buildings. And just as I pulled up at the red light, they were right there. I laughed my ass off at the comedic timing, if only I had a camera running so show how funny it was from my vantage point.
The fact that this was called The Drenched Earth Tour isn’t lost on anyone. There were serious storms coming through, and when they were on the air at WDVX radio, a tornado was bearing down on downtown. Record rainfall and record flooding made the trip one they won’t soon forget.
Chris Castle is the first guy in the video, he opens the show, does a couple of solo songs, then one member from the band joins in, then another on the next song, until they’re all on stage together. It’s a show in three acts. Oh, and none of The Womack Family Band is named Womack. They just thought it’d be cool to have an old timey sounding band name.
So here they are, Chris Castle and the Womack Family Band.
It was the visit from these guys that re-ignited the musician fires in me and made me break out my guitar again. It was SO hard to sit in the audience with my hands folded in my lap, and not grabbing one of a dozen not being played at the moment instruments on stage and join in.
You can catch more of their tour here.
