After a few days off, I headed to Vermont, the promise land for us granolas. The first night I performed at Big Jay Tavern, a quaint ski lodge up near Canada! I had an incredible maple whiskey, got to whip out a few tunes I haven't in a while and was able to stay in a beautiful room over looking the mountain.

After a full day of hiking at Smugglers Notch and parts of Long Trail, I performed at The Radio Bean in Burlington in the evening . A band called Copilot opened up the evening. They are an awesome acoustic duo that features perfect harmonies, some percussion and a little harmonica too! Check em out here. Here is the duo covering some Dave Matthew's Band.
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A few days later I drove about 5 hours to play in Rochester, NY at Press Coffee Co. I got to share the stage with one of my dearest fiends, Jon Lewis, whom I always try to see/play with when I come to the area. He opened up the night with some older tunes, but played mostly songs off of his newest release, "Panic Rock." The album sounds AWESOME by the way. So sparkly and clean! I like "Let It Slide." Listen here.
I played in the middle of the show and I was pleased to discovered that an incredible grand piano was waiting for me! It was perfectly tuned and all of the pedals were working! I closed my set on guitar, ending with Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." 
The headlining band was an absolutely mind-blowing duo called Tart Vandelay. The duo consists of percussion and vocals on a looper pedal, sometimes having four different vocal parts at once! There is also a guitar player, who looked like he was having the time of his life and shredding acoustic style. The duo had one song about how our generation is obsessed with computers, which really struck a chord with me. I invited the duo to come to Massachusetts so you all can see the magic for yourself this winter! 
The show was truly one of my favorites of the journey. Jon and his wife Rachel sent me home with a bag full of apples they picked and some tea to get me through the rest of my travels. They are some of the kindest folks in all of New England! Photos courtesy of Jon and Rachel! 

A few days later I arrived in New York once again, Harlem to be exact! I was playing at Silvana, which had a really sweet restaurant on the first level! In the basement was a music venue. The walls were white brick, there were really cool color-changing lights on the stage and the most beautiful woman I had ever seen behind the bar. There were a few tables in the front and couch-benches in the back with screens playing what was going on on the stage for those who couldn't see! 
An unbelievably tight latin-jazz trio opened up the night. I love bossa music and I truly felt like I was transported to a much warmer place! 
So many of my New York friends came, including my good friend Caitlin Shea, who took this video of my set. It's nice to see a familiar face when you are far from home. Here's some "Bang Bang."

After a few days of rest at home, I headed back out on the road on Sunday with my dear friend, and Honeycomb Suite bandmate, Jake Clough, also of Father, Misty and The Big Rock. 

​Our first night was in Boston at The Burren, where were shared the stage with a lovely folk duo called Cosby Gibson. The headlining act was an incredible band called Stains of a Sunflower, who absolutely blew my mind. 

I sat on two beers (I have no idea how that happened), got to see so many of my Boston singer songwriter friends, and got to enjoy an incredible amount of awesome music. Below is my Boston BFF, Yona. She has a song she wrote about Cheese. Check it out here. First night of tour: fucking awesome. 

The next night, Jake and I played at a Kava Bar in Ithaca NY. Kava is a "sacred root" that is ground up and consumed as a cold tea. It is said to have beneficial properties. It made me feel SUPER RELAXED.
The bar had a beautiful bronze tree that was built into the bar and had branches that stretched to cover the ceiling. If you look in the photo of Jake, Molly and I, you can sort of see it!  

The next night we headed to the good ol' OH, where we played at Scribbles Coffee in Kent. We played to a packed room that consisted mostly of the local knitting club, who was knitting hats for the homeless. It was nice to see the cute little ladies bopping their heads to the beat while pearling! 
We stayed with the Allens, who we gave a little concert to on the porch in the morning before we left. Here we are cheesing to the Max. That's Buddy next to Jake, one of the wildest, friendliest dogs I've ever met! 

The next night we played in Michigan at an awesome coffee shop in Ypsi called "The Ugly Mug." Some of the nicest folks I've ever met to date. We went out for beers with the baristas post show. 

We hit Chicago next, where we played at The Elbo Room. There was a nice chunk of people there. Jake played the cajon and sang on "The Road," which was magical! The bar had a pac man table, which is my weakness, and I proceeded to drop mad money into the damn machine. Despite that loss, we can be seen cheesing in the photo below with our Chicago friends! 

The next night we played in Pittsburg, where we got to play outdoors on a beautiful patio.
After we checked into our quarters (we rented a dope house on AirBnB) we walked around and found a bar with music and a walk up beer window. There was an UNBELIEVABLE band playing in the bar called Three Car Garage and I got to sing "Me and Bobby" with them. You can smoke in bars in PA and beer is dirt cheap. We had an amazing fucking time even though our clothes smelled disgusting the next day. 

​Next came Philly! The pope was taking Philly by storm that weekend, (pope-pocolypse) so the show was ill attended, but we still had a great time! We made friends with a badass singer songwriter named Dave from Cleveland who plays in a band called C-Level. He did a dope cover of Aretha's "I Never Loved A Man," You can check them out here. 

Our next night, we drove to New York City to perform at Rockwood Music Hall, where I've dreamt of playing for a long ass time! We played what I believe was our best set of the whole damn tour to a very attentive audience. I got to slam on a grand piano and enjoy A GREAT OLD FASHIONED. 

We played a homecoming show at Bishop's Lounge the following night in Northampton, which was to be Jake's last show in our hood before he moves away. We were joined by his FMBR band mate Sam, who has the one of the most incredible voices I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.

Sharing music with Jake all over the country has been a blast and I'm so proud of the songs he's been writing and all that he has accomplished. I fucking love you, man. Go check out his stuff in Father Misty and The Big Rock as well as our project together, Honeycomb Suite. 

The morning after the Parlor Room show, Maddie & I headed up to New Hampshire to begin our tour! We were booked for a date at The Red Door, which is a super rad music lounge in Portsmouth. I had a dope burrito below the venue and I got to hear Maddie sans band, which was really beautiful. I always like to hear the paired down version of full band tunes. We met up with my beautiful cousin Carol, with whom we enjoyed some classy drinks. Carol had the strange, pink mystery beverage in the photo below. As always, I got a bangin Old Fashioned. 

We weren't scheduled to be in Portland for a few hours, so we got to walk around by the water and met a badass dog named Cappy. Best. Dog. Ever. 

We played at Local Sprouts Cafe in Portland Maine that evening, which was one of the most wonderful spots I've visited to date. We had delicious tempeh salads and SUPERB beers. I also got to bust out my guitar at this show and Maddie & I got to sing "Goodnight Irene," together, which is always a blast. 

Our next stop was in Rhode Island IN A VINTAGE SHOP. We were joined by Maddie's band, Street Change, for this show, which was such a treat, as I got to borrow Tom Lebeau, who added some badass surf guitar to my set. We each got to take something from the shop home with us. Maddie got a sick velvet jacket, Tom got a delightful 70's dad shirt and I got a badass faux fur coat. But in all honesty, Nate walked away with the most amazing find of all: 90's geometric multi-colored pants. I'm seriously kicking myself for not getting a picture. 

Here we are post set. Can you feel the friendship?

So it's been one crazy fucking month, that's for sure! 
I turned 22, released my 7" vinyl "Sweet Moon," at the Parlor Room and have been on tour sense the release! 

Where to begin?
Well, I arrived for soundcheck at The Parlor Room and Signature Sounds around 5pm on Sunday, September 13. I was absolutely jittery with nervous excitement. The moonshine helped. 

Lisa Marie Ellingsen was scheduled to open the night and we had some beautiful moments in the green room together before the show. We both whipped out our guitars and ran through  "T For Texas" by Jimmie Rodgers and our nerves melted away. Lisa got the nod from the sound guy and it was time for the madness to begin. 

She played a beautiful set, probably one of the best I have ever heard her do. Nobody plays like Lisa. Her solos are slick, bluesy and straight badass. Nobody sings like Lisa either. I love the way that at times, it sounds like she is whispering her stories; telling tales of love gone wrong and nightlife adventures. I'm always hanging on every word. 

I have never in my life played a set that I am more proud of than the one I played that night. Being able to play with the True Believers was an honor, a privilege or more fun than you could possibly imagine. I play solo a lot, so when I get to play with a band, ESPECIALLY one as talented, hard working and straight up TIGHT as these guys, it's a party. The True B's consist of Aaron Borucki on guitar, Aaron Knapp on bass and Mike Benoit on drums. 

There were so many amazing moments that night it's hard to single out a few. I will say that "Sweet Moon" was filled with delicious latin flair that night. "Jim Dandy," a tune I don't play very often, was treated with amazing cotton candy guitar and soft, thoughtful bass and drums. The band also added a new intensity to "Hotcakes," which was so fucking sick. Having drums, bass and guitar behind me made me feel like super woman! 

I also got to play MY NEW GUITAR for the first time in front of people. I received a beautiful, Luna acoustic for my birthday, appropriately and unoriginally named "Luna." I played a the first half of the set with the band and took a break to play a few tunes solo in between. I reached for Luna and performed my new tune "The Road" totally solo. It was nerve-wracking, as I don't usually play guitar plugged in AND in front of people who were PAYING ATTENTION very often at all. I am happy to report that it went swimmingly and Luna shall become a fixture in live shows! Also during the solo portion of the show, I busted out "Twins" another tunes I never get to play. Before the band came back up, Aaron jumped joined me for "Can't Help Falling In Love," the Elvis classic. Our two voices sound really great together and it's always such a blast to sing a sappy tune with one of my favorite people. 

One of the highlights of the evening was getting to bust out "Lovesick Woman." The boys NAILED all the weird stops. I think I am going to start including it in the set more too! 

We closed to evening with the Beatles classic "Oh Darlin," which I have performed 1,000+ times in 1,000+ bars. Never in my life have I enjoyed playing it more. There was something in the air that night. The True Believers absolutely BROUGHT IT. 

Seriously, thank you to everyone who helped make the release so awesome. Tour has been going amazingly well and will be writing about that very soon!