FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain Recording Session 1

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain has been in the studio most of June and July. Here is a rough cut video-slideshow of the tune - Dulcimer Jelly!
http://www.myspace.com/folklahomaappalachigroovetrain

Culley and Elliott - Amelia Island, Florida Sun. 7/5/09

I just got back in from a great trip down to Florida with the duo show. We played a great venue run by our good friends Donna Paz and Mark Kauffman called " A Night of Story and Song". The whole Culley family made the trip. We all loaded up in Gary's Tundra truck, Gary and Alison, with the boys (Tommy and Billy) and headed out toward Savannah, GA and then down to the Amelia Island, just above Jacksonville! I don't know when in my life 11 hours became a quick trip, but somewhere in the log of miles it lays easy. It seemed we got there in no time. We grabbed our hotel rooms, met up with Gary's parents there and then met Donna and Mark a couple of blocks away at a great beach bar named Sliders. The beach, the sunset, the margaritas and the bar tender (not necessarily in that order) were all beautiful.

The next day we hit the waves at an old history filled stretch of sand called American Beach. It was founded by Abraham Lincoln Lewis (the first black millionaire). He started an insurance company and bought up enough of the beach properties to allow for a black community on the beach at a time when blacks had little to no access to public beaches. This beach has a famous Sand Dune, revered - called the great "Nana"! We began the day by getting the 2- wheel drive Tundra stuck in the sand. After getting pulled out we hit the waves on boogie boards and I commenced to frying my white Scottish ass in the sun! So much for sunscreen that is supposed to be water proof! There were a couple of guys on the beach with backpack props tethered to kite glider wings. I tried my best to weasel into a chance at flying one (didn't happen). Spent much of the day watching them, watch each other try and get airborne - which they finally did.
Pretty cool contraptions. We made a short appearance at a neighborhood picnic of the concert promoters. It was complete a kids bike parade, a dog parade, firetrucks and beer - Americana all the way! We sang a few songs and tried to drum up a few last minute ticket sales for the show. Later that night we cruised the downtown port district of Fernandina Beach with the whole Culley Clan and Donna and Mark. We watched the fireworks from the docks - pretty sweet. Sunday morning consisted of more boogie boarding and white Scottish ass frying (on my part. This time we were further up the beach at Sadler Beach - next to my favorite beach bar with my favorite beach bar tender! Gary and I had a blast throwing the kids into the waves and swimming out to where the Dolphins were diving in and out of the blue. Later, Alison took over beach duty while Gary and I headed to the venue for an early sound check at 1:30 pm. We were thrilled to have around 125 enthusiastic people at our show Sunday night. We played two -one hour sets, made new friends and sold a lot of music - a good night for indie troubadours! We can't thank Mark and Donna enough for all their support and great efforts to make this concert series such a success - they are a real Oasis in an ever expanding desert! Here's a few more pics from the trip!