18 Wheels & A Dozen Roses

Wut sup?

I honor and cherish the part of me that thought I would do this weekly right out of the gate and stick with it. She was well-intentioned but delusional (suggestion for my headstone).

Anyway, spring has sprung, y’all. I’m feeling good. I don’t know about you but I feel like my head has felt very cloudy the last couple months, and this week I can see more clearly. I’m finishing a record I made last August in my house, and I can’t wait to share it. I “self-produced”, which means I picked people who are incredible at their instruments & skills and asked them to play & record my songs and they did a great job! haha. Excited to share more about it soon!

I just got back from playing the incredible Bluebird Music Festival in Boulder, CO. It was a dream! Dom Billett + Paul Defiglia joined me and we got to play two sets for the Sunday crowds. Got to reunite with Gregory Alan Isakov who I hadn’t seen since our tour together in 2024, and I am always just blown away by his performances and the sound quality of his shows. I got to meet his sweet manager this time and was also surprised to learn that they have worked together for around 20 years, and he is her only artist. It’s so cool to learn about the different ways people approach their careers and his approach just seems very steady and grounded to me. It’s amazing.

Loved getting to be on the bill with him, Ocie Elliott , Kid Reverie (Steve Varney from Gregory’s band), and Mon Rovia. Great great great.

Okay! So, my friend Matthijs met up with The Deep Dark Woods and I last September on the road outside of Utrecht, NL, and we captured a video of the song we recorded together, The Banks Of The Lough Erne . We ALSO got a little solo session recorded. I chose to sing “18 Wheels & a Dozen Roses”, made famous by the great Kathy Mattea. I shared a bit about her early influence on me when I was just beginning to pursue music here on The Influences blog. Many, many thanks to Matthijs for having me and always making time for us on our Europe tours!

I put a little playlist together of some good ole songs about trucks & driving. There seems to be something really romantic about truck driving to musicians, myself included. Driving makes up about 75% of our job out there, we just get to play songs at the end. Sometimes, people are there to listen! haha. I get really inspired by strange things like truck driving company fonts, mud flap designs, and the color of faded painted metal shipping containers. So anyway. Here’s that playlist!