Somewhere in Illinois...

On our way to St. Louis after a great show at the Belcourt Theater in
Nashville! We had an amazing home stay at Jen Gunderman and Audley
Freed's house. Jesse and I slept in a room that had an amazing grand
piano and a closet full of guitars that were all fancier than anything
I've ever ogled at in a boutique guitar shop. And their driveway is
shaped like a guitar headstock and they have a pool. And from their
yard you can see the river and the Opryland Hotel off in the distance.
We talked about funny little balding white men that do
ethnomusicological studies, and the Beatles, and the changing tastes
of American youth, and we downed a bottle more than we should have.
God bless Nashville...

House concert stage...

...to Georgia?

After a rousing Austin show, the Small Ponds split the scene to try and cover a few hours of our long journey to Georgia. In our humiliatingly sober state, we were pulled over in a town called Chandler, Texas due to a rear light outage. The officer was kind and only gave us a warning. He asked what kind of music we play, which Jesse's responded to with "Ummm…it's pop!" Then I immediately poked my head around and said "but with heavy country influences." After which Caitlin popped HER head around and said "plus violin!" The officer smiled and said, "All you had to say was violin." He totally genre profiled us, and we were on the right side of his taste-o-meter.

The Tyler Express Inns & Suites gave us a good deal on seven hours of blissful, bedbug-free sleep before we hit the road, headed for Carollton, Georgia, a mere ten hour drive. There we will play a well-attended house concert at our good friend Chris Laney's, followed by an evening show at a local spot where we'll share the stage with his band.

Texas was an experience. It's probably the most American place that you will ever experience. It's big, dumb, and beautiful. In a place where they execute the most number of people in the country, there's a church on every corner. And across from the prison, there's a prison museum, honoring the system. And they fucking hate government. Which I guess is somewhat understandable, except the roads are terrible, and because of a lack of signage laws in a lot of places, it looks like you let your drunk Aunt Tammy decorate the joint so it ends up looking like a cross between an Applebee's and a junkyard. The contradictions ARE the intriguing part. And a Texas sky is one of the most beautiful sights you've ever seen. Just like a rambling conservative Baptist, it goes on forever, and you're not exactly sure why.

Tour continues...

Houston. Holy shit, Houston. This short blog update is going to be dedicated to our good friend The Breeze. He blew in to our first show with Stephen Kellogg, and destroyed our minds and sensibilities as we raced around the town searching for the next cocktail and mishap. We visited both of the bars he owns: Grand Prize and Big Star. EVERYONE should go to these bars. Then we ended up at his friend Rachel's house for an evening of sing-alongs and weiner dogs. 5am came fast and wake up call came even faster. A great kick off to the Kellogg tour...

We have reached the promise land...Waco, Texas. I'm not convinced that they have music here, so that's why we just stayed the night. Last night was our 2nd show with Stephen Kellogg at the House of Blues in Dallas. Kind of a rough technical start to the show, but a strong finish involving mild insults to the crowd and me almost falling over from my momentary rock fever and attempt at snapping the next off of my guitar for reasons involving both drama and contempt. We booked it to Waco for some punch drinking with my close friend Will, who is getting used to Texas and their signage laws, or lack thereof. After playing a show at the House of Blues in Dallas, it feels strange to talk about post-grad level studies of the Federalist papers, Abraham Lincoln, and teaching assistantships, but refreshing. Goddamn Texas has a big sky. And we are feelin it.

The Lyric Theater in Oxford

Small Ponds on Tour!!

This is Day 5 of the Small Ponds Fall Tour 2010 Extravaganza!! We had
our CD release show in Raleigh on the 16th, an amazing show at the
Evening Muse on the 17th, an intimate throwdown in Birmingham, Alabama
on the 18th, a REALLY special release show at the Whitewater Tavern in
Little Rock, and an awesome experience in Oxford, Mississippi at the
Lyric Theater and in the true Faulknerian way I will write this entire
update as one continuous thought sentence feeling since we visited his
home this morning and I was inspired by his home and his quotes about
your environment and what it means to work at home and attach your
name to such work and how to live with a little paper and a desk and
whiskey and how mint juleps should be served cold in a metal cup and
how loneliness and solitude are very different and separate things
which makes me happy to know...

...and here's a picture of Caitlin and Skillet taking a picture of a
cow under a dock in a Small Pond...

New Small Ponds EP releases TODAY!!

This is an exciting day for The Small Ponds!! Our new EP Caitlin Cary & Matt Douglas are... The Small Ponds comes out on Little Rock, AR based label Last Chance Records. You can purchase it at www.lastchancerecords.com or from us at SchoolKids Records on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh today at 5:30 when we play an in-store show there, or tonight at the Pour House for our big full band show!!

Check the calendar for all of the Small Ponds dates coming up in your town!

Review:

The Independent
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-small-ponds/Content?oid=1667695

Interview:

The Daily Tarheel
http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2010/09/the_small_ponds_better_than_swell