September 21st, 2014.

ilyAIMY Tour Diary Day 11 – In which we herd cats in Nashville, embarrass Heather because we are 12, envision what would happen if a trio of cats covered “Crocodile Rock,” and drive a long ways to Jackson, MS where we play a show at the Iron Horse Grill.

Oh, it’s a long drive. I mean – in the grand scheme of things, it’s actually not – but this is probably the most brutal day we’re going to face on the whole tour. We got up in Nashville, left at noon. We rolled into Jackson, MS at 7.54pm, set up and sound-checked (many thanks to the marvelous soundguy at Iron Horse Grille – Paul – you were WONDERFUL!) and then kicked off the show at 9. We played till around 11.45 and got many accolades, but unfortunately sold no CDs. We wolfed down a couple of salads, piled into the Heathermobile and got on the road for New Orleans by 12.15 in the morning.

*Jackson, MS – here’s the Iron Horse Grill – a really nice venue that took a chance on us and seemed quite happy with the result.*

It’s now 2.14am, we’ve got almost another hour before we roll into our friend Missy’s house and by then I suspect we’ll be pretty damn fried. Heather’s a beast – or rather –Heather’s a machine. I’m impressed by her stamina – and though we’ll have longer overall driving days (well, one – I think there’s one day on the west coast where we’ll have to spend about 10 hours in a car) and we’ll have two days that come close (a 6.5 and a 7), none will be coupled with a three hour bar gig, and none will be at ALL so late. In total today we’ll have spent about 9 hours or so in the car. That’s quite enough.

Dane Cook and SuperBob have carried us over the Louisiana line and now Kristen’s iPhone is happily chewing through something soulful and rhythmic as we cross an elegant, huge, slender white cross. Kristen’s been working on the next vlog in her little nest, and I’ve been puttering from project to project, resting my eyes on the road, looking up to eye the highway for … whatever Lives out here that’s attracted to highways…. Checking on Heather every once in a while. I never worry about her falling asleep, but we can all zone out on these long drives, especially out here where there’s just nothing but the hypnotic flicker of the highway markers. Even strip malls are a welcome change just cause they mark the miles.

Orion is huge in the sky and if we had more time I’d want to pull over and take a couple of shots of the sky here in the middle of NOWHERE, Louisiana – but we just want to hit New Orleans and see what our sleeping arrangements are and craaash into them.

It’s 2.25am. 50 minutes to go.