We’re in the midst of our deep south fall tour, and I’m happy to report that all is well. We’ve travelled some long miles this past week, playing at three festivals in three days: The Albino Skunk Festival in Greer, SC, The High Country Music Festival in Boone, NC, and the Voice of the Wetlands Festival in Houma, LA. Thanks to all the folks that worked so hard to put these events together. We love to perform on outdoor stages, and we always meet new people and hear new music at festivals. The Voice of the Wetlands Festival was also an education for us about the devastating loss of wetlands that is occuring at a rapid pace in South Louisiana. During our two days off in Houma we got to get out in the bayou and witness the contrast between a healthy bayou and the flooded wasteland that is quickly inundating this precious environment. Ward, Wes, and Joel took a flight in a small plane over the wetlands, and it was a frightening glimpse at disappearing marshes and bayous. The channelized and leeved Mississippi River transports the sediment that used to nourish this wetland out into the Gulf of Mexico, while channels cut into the bayou for oil extraction and commercial shipping have allowed salt water intrusion into freshwater environments, destroying ecosystems that act as a buffer for hurricanes and tropical storms Additionally the removal of huge volumes of oil from beneath the Mississippi River delta is causing the entire region to subside. The end result is that vast areas that a few years ago were beautiful cypress swamps teeming with alligators, fish, and birds are now flooded wastelands, littered with the stumps of dead trees and little else. To learn more about this ongoing environmental disaster, and find out how to help, visit the Voice of the Wetlands website: www.voiceofthewetlands.org Or come to the festival next year in Houma and see for yourself!
What’s up Next?
We’ll be playing shows this weekend in Texas and Louisiana, finishing the weekend up in Conroe, TX at the Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival on sunday. Then we’l tour our way across the deep south with shows in Mississippi, Alabama, and Greenville, SC before returning home for the infamous Skinful Halloween Party. Then we turn south for a show in Miami before four nights on Key West at the Green Parrot during the annual Fantasy Fest, possibly the only party on the east coast that is wilder than Charleston’s Skinful Halloween. For the rest of the year we’ll be touring the southeast, look for us in Asheville, NC,
Savannah,GA, Wilmington, NC, Atlanta, GA, and more…. Just a reminder, we’ll be finishing up 2011 and welcoming 2012 with two nights at the Charleston Pour House. James Justin and Co. will be joining us on 12/31, and we’re excited to announce that Old You will be opening up the show on 12/30. A two night pass is only $25 in advance. Two day passes will not be sold at the door this year.
Thanks
