It was an Eastmountainsouth kinda day.

I revisited some old friends yesterday evening.  Eastmountainsouth.  Yesterday started out dreary with rain and a hint of a thunderstorm.  Reminded me of my college days back in Tennessee where the surroundings are eternally green from the rainstorms. It also made me think of the drives I would take in the country. Drives that would lead me down still, quiet two-lane roads with thick, beautiful forests on either side of my car. Most of the time I would listen to melancholy acoustic music on these drives, much like the group Eastmountainsouth.  On these drives, I used to dream about actually singing for a living.  Being a performer – whether or not people loved me wasn’t really what I cared about.  I just wanted to perform with likeminded individuals.  Alas, I was in school for a Music Education degree.  Teaching music is what I started to do.  ….though it didn’t last long.

You see, I used to live in the greatest city on Earth.  That’s right.  Austin, Texas.    In 2003, I moved there after a very rewarding, amazing, completely insane year in Ennis, Montana.  It was there that I lost my teaching virginity.  This was my FIRST teaching job.   I absolutely LOVED my students, but my heart was not in teaching.  I wanted to perform.  So off I went to Austin, Texas.

What was in Austin, Texas?

#1 It is the Live Music Capital of the World!

#2 Pretty much everyone there is a musician, or is a music enthusiast, or knows a musician and so on and so on.

#3 My future.

As soon as I got to town, I put an ad out in the local “cool-kid” newspaper, the Austin Chronicle.  I met up with several peeps and met this one dude who had a recording studio.  He pulled out an album by a fairly recent group called Eastmountainsouth.  He was hoping to put together a group similar to this group.  They were a duo with acoustic/country/folk/Appalachian influences.  He played half of the album for me.  I was stunned by the musicianship and the production of the songs itself.  What I was hearing was so BEAUTIFUL.  I’m not gonna lie, I’m a sucker for good, heartfelt, mellow-tastic music.  This was something that sent me  sent me swimming a sea of emotions and memories from the first strum of the guitar.

Eastmountainsouth was comprised of Kat Maslich-Bode (http://katmaslichbode.com/)  and Peter Bradley Adams (http://www.peterbradleyadams.com/) . They only put out one album out before they decided to part ways and strike out on their own. Kat grew up in Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains.  Peter is a southern boy and actually graduated from the University of the South- Sewanee (my BFF’s alma mater!) — nothin’ like a good ole southern lad.

Peter’s solo work is excellent. I love all of Peter’s albums. I just downloaded Kat’s latest album.  I sometimes fantasize about being the other half of eastmountainsouth.  I always felt like Peter, Kat and I would make the most beautiful harmonies together—and we do (in my car, at home, in the shower, when I sing to my bay-bay.. you get it.).

Shameless plug:  Peter/Kat, should you ever stumble upon my page – send me your songs, I will record harmonies and back up vox for you!  All I want in return is to sing and record with you.  I promise I do not disappoint.  We can get the band back together.. kinda, sorta… it will be eastmountainsouth 2.0.

Anyways, here are couple of youtubes of some of my favorite songs by eastmountainsouth , Peter Bradley Adams and Kat Maslich-Bode.

On Your Way by eastmountainsouth (ignore the cheesy video—just listen to the song.. delicious!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fwjipy7g8o

Keep Us by Peter Bradley Adams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udmoKfofTwE&feature=related

You Dance by eastmountainsouth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwmSEbvA5o&feature=fvst