The new Humming House album Revelries gained its title from a lyric in our song "Carry On." "Carry On" has its roots in two bands and actually took about 4 years to finish. From 2007 - 2010, I was in a project called "Quote." My friend Jamie Bennett and I formed a duo around the concept of using the medium of story in multiple disciplines. He was a literature major in college, and I had studied music and business. We wanted to combine our two passions into one project. As a result, we wrote songs that focused on often-fictional narratives. Once we had compiled 10 finished songs, we recorded our first album with producer, Mike Odmark. We then gave each song to an author and a visual artist and had them interpret each narrative in visual mediums and prose or poetry. The result was a 150-page book titled The Pace Of Our Feet that featured the album, lyrics, visual art, and stories in one compilation. It was an ambitious coming-of-age project for two wide-eyed college grads in their early 20s. We had no real sense of how to tour, market a book/album, or get our project into the hands of those who might appreciate it.

So� in our blissful ignorance we dove headfirst into booking our own tours. One of the most epic of these tours took place in April of 2009 with Daniel Ellsworth (now of Daniel Ellsworth and The Great Lakes). The tour was very aptly titled The Fools Of April Tour as the three of us piled into the front seat of Jamie's Ford F150 pick-up to travel 3,000 miles. It also should be noted that the truck, affectionately named Beulah, had a manual transmission, which made shifting very awkward for the dude sitting in middle of the bench seat. The first line of "Carry On," "April made her way from south of Tinsel Town," is a reference to Jamie's and my childhood in San Diego. The second line talks about how the tour took us all the way North to Kennebunkport, Maine.

Baltimore was one of our favorite stops on this grand adventure. Our host was the amazing Baltimore troubadour, songwriter, and community encourager Caleb Stine. We played a cozy gig at a very inviting coffee shop called El Rancho Grande in the Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood that has now sadly gone out of business. Its proprietor Peter was a kind and weathered soul, steeped in old stories and overflowing with kindness. I distinctly remember his moving, slowed-down country rendition of "Border Radio" by The Blasters to open the night. Our Baltimore evening was spent passing songs, whiskey, and a home cooked meal around at Stine's inviting row house. From Baltimore we traveled North to the Big Apple. I remember sitting in the back of Beulah (it was a covered truck) with Daniel and peering out the window at New York in blurry wonder as we rode over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was that same night in Bushwick that we played a loft party at a community dinner gathering called One Big Table. Bushwick amazed me� The juxtaposition of the exterior and interior was baffling. The graffiti covered streets felt like a rundown warehouse district while the lofts were filled with vegans, artists, musicians, and folks who were to become dear friends. From New York we made our way to Kennebunk Port, Maine. It was my first time to Maine, and I was bewildered by the natural beauty of the coastline and rugged nature of the state. We watched the tide recede 150 yards outside our host's home and witnessed the daylight fizzle against a grey sky. As my good friend Daniel Bailey says, "It's like Narnia up there." Our northernmost stop in Maine was the pivot point of the tour, and from there we headed West. Another particularly revelrous stop on the The Fools Of April Tour was in Columbus, Ohio. We played Ruby Tuesday's Live with The Floorwalkers, an incredible funk/soul band based there. The Floorwalkers had a weekly standing gig at Ruby Tuesday's on Wednesdays and this particular night was sold out. The evening was packed with OSU college students and ended with a bar-top dance party at 2:00 AM.

When I arrived home from The Fools Of April tour, I sat down and started the song "Carry On." The lead instrument on the song is a Cherango that I picked up while traveling through Peru in 2007. It was one of those songs that seemed to persist. While I never felt like it was finished, I really enjoyed both the composition and the story behind it. It was some time in 2013 that I played it for Joshua Wolak in Humming House. Josh really dug it and we started messing with the chorus a bit. We re-wrote some of the verse lyrics� and one day Josh sent me the full chorus completely re-written. It was brilliant. It perfectly captured what I'd wanted to say all along:

From the stage a moment dances and quickly passes
Still the spirit carries on� carry on, carry on
The promise of tomorrow lingers in the curtains dreaming
Her silhouette sings move along� move along, move along

Our experience traveling and touring with Humming House has resulted in similarly epic adventures, mystical characters, and life changing moments. Josh's words say it very eloquently that those moments dance brilliantly, but seem to pass quickly. The traveler's lifestyle encourages those moments, and although they are quick, their spirit goes with us and drives us to the next gig, the next experience, the next moment, and the next Fools of April. Touring, performing live, and entertaining is a part of our job that we as a band really love. Bringing joy to the stage with which people can participate is very fulfilling. So I guess "Carry On," and in turn the album Revelries, is an ode to traveling, embracing life, and cherishing the experiences we are fortunate enough to enjoy.