By Bobby McCullough
It feels great to be back home in New York City
after being on tour since mid-January. I had been touring with the band Benyaro, traveling through 10 states, performing 47 times in about 60 days.
Although I did not miss the loud horns and sirens,
the crowded subways or the lack of interaction between people in public, I do
enjoy not having to unpack my things every night only to pack them up again in
the morning. Now in the same place for a while, I’ve been able to spend
the last week recharging, seeing friends and stuffing my face with bagels.
The tour started mid-January in Utah, where we
performed at the Sundance Film Festival and saw people like Andy Samberg (SNL)
and Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation). The second day at the festival
was our first encounter with heavy snowfall, which we would end up dealing with
again the second half of the trip.
Next we went through California, starting with San
Francisco and working our way north through the beautiful wine country, playing
some good concerts accompanied by good weather. From there we moved north
through the coasts of Oregon and Washington where I saw some breathtaking
shorelines and one amazing sunset.
In eastern Washington, we had the pleasure of
staying with a local high school football coach in Colfax, and I managed to
pull my back out while working out alongside his football team. We then
headed east through Idaho and Montana, playing college towns such as Moscow
(University of Idaho) and Bozeman (Montana State University). This is where
our second bout with snowstorms began.
We left Montana for even more snow in Wyoming where
we spent a few days off around the Grand Teton Mountains. From here we
played some more shows in Idaho and Wyoming, at one point dealing with some
serious road closures in which roads were closed for days, causing us to have
improv some dangerous alternative routes in order to get to our concerts.
We headed south to do a long string of shows in
Colorado, one of my favorite states to both perform in and see. This
year, along with performing in our usual towns such as Denver, Boulder and Fort
Collins, we also saw a few new places, such as Lyons and Eagle.
After Colorado we played a couple of shows in New
Mexico and got to stay two nights in a small town called Cerrillos, which used
to be a mining town and now is home to only a few hundred people. I went on one
of my favorite runs here in the local state park, and explored the gorgeous,
mountainous desert landscape.
We finished the tour in Austin at the SXSW
Festival. I have never been so overwhelmed with great music before.
It was almost stressful trying to decide which acts to see because there
were hundreds to chose from. It was also crazy to be in 80-degree weather
when only two weeks earlier I had gone running one morning in Jackson, WY, and
it was only 5 degrees.
Keep an eye out for my next blog, as I share more
stories from my journey in music and wellness.
Bobby McCullough is a touring musician living in
NYC, who has recently refocused much of his energy on healthy and happy living.
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