Posted By Kort on February 20, 2009

After three days of driving, I am finally in Vermont! And though I am tired, I’ve managed a somewhat unusual but ceremonious ritual upon arrival: a dinner of New England clam chowder and a couple of Long Trail Ales. I know, it’s so New England-y, but how else do I physically and emotionally prepare myself for the rigors of studio recording in the days ahead? When in New England, do as New Englanders do, right? Anyway, studies have found that beer can reduce the levels of stress inducing compounds that build up in the body after hours and hours of incessant driving. Yes, and the researchers have pointed to this particular beer and chowder combination, since they work synergistically, as the most adequate for maintaining the overall sound and quality of studio recordings. Can we agree that there is a movement towards authentic, locally produced foods, driven in part by a yearning for authenticity and community? So there it is, my recipe for success in the Southview Arts recording studio. Maybe I should get some sleep……..

Tags: Americana Music, Americana Music CD, Americana Music Tours, Kort McCumber, Medicinal Americana

Posted By Kort on January 22, 2009

Happy New Year! 2008 was a great year for Lucky Nugget Records. We kicked the year off with a great show at the Boulder Theater, which was recorded and is now available as a live DVD. In February, I reached new audiences by playing a few gigs in Australia. The Lickskillet Road CD got a lot of radio play all over the country. And, I won my second songwriting contest at the Flat Rock Music Festival in North Carolina! But it’s been no bed of roses: On tour, we narrowly survived a gas crisis in north Georgia, a car wreck in north Florida, a breakdown outside Amarillo, and a national economic meltdown. This, despite how troublesome, is the stuff songs are made of. Already, plans are in the works for two separate recording projects. The first one, a duo project with singer/songwriter (and friend) James Moors, will start next week. We’ve co-written some great songs together and we are looking forward to laying some fresh tracks in the studio. The second will be a solo project to be recorded in February back in Vermont at Southview Arts with my buddy Jim Gilmour. While I think I know how I want to record these songs, I am eagerly anticipating the magic that unravels when the different perspectives of contributing talents come together in one place to interpret one project. I don’t deny that these are tough times of uncertainty and doubt. The shadows are there — home foreclosures, skyrocketing unemployment, and financial chaos, but I am also humbly hopeful and optimistic. Some of these songs feel bitter and angry and some feel upbeat and lighthearted. They are songs I think everyone can relate to and I am excited to share them.

Tags: Americana Music, Boulder Theater, country music, Flat Rock Music Festival, James Moors, Jim Gilmour, Kort McCumber, Lickskillet Road, Medicinal Americana

Posted By admin on October 31, 2008

The New DVD “Live Licks from the Boulder Theater” is now available and can be purchased at all live shows & online at www.cdbaby.com. Get a sneak peek and check out the “World of Judgment” LIVE from the Boulder Theater!

Tags: Kort McCumber, Lickskillet Road, live DVD, Live Licks from the Boulder Theater, Medicinal Americana

Posted By Kort on October 31, 2008

Joe the Unlicensed Plumber with Unpaid Back Taxes has hired a Nashville-based publicity team. I heard he intends to make a country music record. If not really being a plumber doesn’t stop one from saying they’re a plumber, then not really being a country music singer or songwriter shouldn’t stop one from calling himself that either. Sadly, this little trick has worked for many country music stars. But I digress…

It’s time for another wild Georgia-Florida football weekend! We’ll be kicking off the festivities tonight at the 10th Annual Cousin Catfish’s Pigskin Jamboree, the mere beginning of the fanatical football madness in store for the weekend. These people know how to party and take tailgating to a whole new level, an impressive accomplishment worth marveling at. At the game-day tailgating bash, it isn’t unusual to see folding chairs, drink holders, tents, grills, kegs, kegerators, generators, shirtless and body-painted fans, chicken wings, etc – but satellite dishes mounted in buckets of cement brought to provide reception to 42-inch plasma screen TVs? Of course! After all, this annual party will be talked about in the years to come. It’s a legacy to be lived up to each year at this time, and too much is never too much!

Tags: country music, Cousin Catfish, Kort McCumber, Pigskin Jamboree, singer, songwriter, tailgating

Posted By Kort on October 25, 2008

Slumgullion is a type of stew known to mountain men and made by throwing whatever was on hand into a pot. It is also the name of the mountain pass at the bottom of which lies Lake City, CO – which is where I played a solo gig last night, at the Black Crooke Theatre. Like many Colorado towns, it started as a mining town in the late 1800s. It withstood many booms and busts, but never grew to be very big. It did, however, see its fair share of legendary outlaws. Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Poker Face Alice, Bat Masterson, and Soapy Smith all road through and occasionally shot up the town. Another shady character from Lake City’s history was Alfred Packer, hired to guide five prospectors over the mountains from Ouray. Packer had no clue of the severe winter weather with giant snowdrifts and sub-zero temperatures. Game was nowhere to be found and the supplies soon ran out. So, legend says, Packer killed and ate the prospectors. (That’s taking Slumgullion Stew a little too far, don’t you think?!) He eventually arrived in town with lots of money to spend at the saloon, and several wallets in his pockets. I love the history behind many of these rugged mountain towns that I get to play. And I love to meet the colorful folks that live in these communities today.

Tags: Alfred Packer, Billy the Kid, Black Crooke Theatre, Jesse James, Kort McCumber, mountain music, Slumgullion

Posted By Kort on October 20, 2008

It’s been a busy week finishing up this leg of the Lickskillet Road Tour. We had a great time playing a house concert in Dallas… a special thanks goes out to John, Ellen, Mike, and Jessi for making us feel welcome! Yesterday we headed to Houston to help promote baygo.com at the football game. And tonight, the last gig of the tour, it will be an honor to play a private party for the Dallas Cowboys Superbowl hero, Roger Staubach. We have some time to kill before the party, so we plan to pay a visit to Dido. Dido is a very small town close to Saginaw, TX. It was once a thriving community with a post office and stores but has declined after the railroad bypassed it in the 1890s. Among the 1,000 graves in the Dido cemetery is that of Townes Van Zandt, the aforementioned songwriter extraordinaire. Steve Earle was once quoted saying, “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Later, Townes responded with, “I’ve met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don’t think Steve Earle could get anywhere near his coffee table.” Rest in peace, Townes.

Tags: Bob Dylan, Dido, Kort McCumber, Lickskillet Road - Tours, Roger Staubach, songwriter, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt

Posted By Kort on October 17, 2008

Joe the Plumber was a big hit in the third and final presidential debate. He was mentioned at least thirteen times! I wonder if Joe the Plumber knows Joe six-pack. And does either of them know Joe Blow? I’m not sure how the name Joe came to represent the hypothetical average man, but here it is all over the media.

Townes Van Zandt, on the other hand, was not your average Joe. He was a country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet affectionately remembered as “a songwriter’s songwriter” influential in the genre referred to as outlaw country. Van Zandt’s songs have been covered by many great musicians such as Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, Norah Jones, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Be Good Tanyas, Gillian Welch, and the Dixie Chicks – ¦to name a few. I mention him here not only because he is one of the best songwriters in the whole world, but because yesterday we drove through Van Zandt county in eastern Texas on our way to Dallas. The county is named for Isaac Van Zandt, a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas, and ancestor of Townes. Van Zandt County is one of 46 prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas. This is sadly ironic because Townes Van Zandt pretty much drank himself to death. He died 44 years to the date after Hank Williams, one of his main songwriting influences. We paid homage to Townes yesterday

Tags: country-folk singer, Joe the Plumber, Kort McCumber, outlaw country, songwriter, Townes Van Zandt, Van Zandt county

Posted By Kort on October 15, 2008

This past weekend we played two fun sets to an appreciative crowd at the Creekside Festival in Bunnell, FL. The event is located on a river at an historic preserve on beautifully maintained grounds with large, shady trees. It was there that I saw a food vendor with the sign ‘Home of the Deep-Fried Twinkie’.

On our Lickskillet Road Tour, we’ve been lucky to travel in our buddy Ray’s RV. It’s been great and it has allowed us to save a little money by avoiding motels and restaurants. The RV is painted bright orange and covered in large logos advertising his company, baygo.com. It’s almost impossible not to notice this rig on the highway. But, despite our large size and bright paint job, someone (a deep-fried twinkie?) drove through a red light and smack into the passenger-side door at an intersection on the way home Saturday night. Luckily none of us, nor our gear, was seriously injured

Tags: Creekside Festival, deep-fried Twinkie, Kort McCumber, Lickskillet Road - Tours

Posted By Kort on October 4, 2008

We are in Georgia’s second oldest and second largest city, Augusta. Downtown Augusta has got its southern charm, the beautiful Savannah River flowing through, and tree-lined streets. Last time I was here I learned that my dad, when he first started his landscaping company (McCumber Landscaping) in the 70′s, came to ‘The Garden City’ and planted many of these trees. I get a kick out of seeing them when I come through, now some thirty years later, to play my music. Tonight we’re playing at Still Water Taproom. And since we’ll be at a taproom, we might as well sample some beer!

Tags: Kort McCumber, McCumberland Gap, Savannah River, Still Water Taproom

Posted By Kort on September 30, 2008

This past Saturday I participated in the Flat Rock Music Festival Emerging Songwriter Contest in Flat Rock, NC. What a great festival and beautiful area! The community was named for a granite outcropping that was once used as an Indian ceremonial site. Anyway, I was one of 10 finalists chosen from 287 entrants, and I won! It was a very special moment for me, and an honor, especially because of the talent of the other participating songwriters. So, it looks like we´ll be able to play their main stage next year, and I will be looking forward to it!

Many of the gas stations down here in the southeast are still suffering from lingering refinery problems along the Gulf coast. At least half of the gas stations in Atlanta were closed when we drove through earlier today. At the places that had gasoline, people were waiting in lines 60 cars long, and running out of gas while they waited, ultimately having to push their vehicles up to the pumps to refuel. We´ve been lucky so far, filling up where we can. At times it has felt like we´ve been touring through a third world country. When we turned to Cletus for advice this time, he reminded us that we can do a belly flop into the water….and it´s fun! I tell you it´s these little gems of wisdom that keep us going.

Tags: Flat Rock Music Festival, Kort McCumber, songwriter contest, winning songwriter