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This is a love letter to my buddy Jeff Snow: "My friend had a kick, snare, tom, cymbals, and van". There were many vans over the years and he was always the one that owned the van as his personal vehicle and kept us out on the road. And really, Jeff's parents too, who were tireless supporters of us as we started out on our trip through America. Jeff's first van in fact was a hand me down from John and Claudette. It's a thankless thing to be the guy in the band who owns the touring van that doubles as your own personal transportation when you aren't touring. I guess this song is my way to say "Thanks, Jeff. Would've never seen all the places we've been without you."

Started demoing this one on piano in 2007 at Elegbaland with my man Marc Ward. In 2009, I picked it back up with Jeff adding drums (again at E-Land). It stayed just drums and piano for a long time. Somewhere along the line, I ditched the piano.

Last week the song finally started to feel finished. I added some keyboard parts with Val's direction using my Alesis Micron for the fake brass/flugelhorn. Susan Snow added the violins you hear. The dabs of harmonica were added during mixdown, though mostly they sound like add'l violins.

When we decided to "tour" we didn't know it would turn into almost 2 decades of making music and living on the road. To quote Robert Hunter, "What a long, strange trip..."

lyrics

LYRIC SHEET:
Ten years ago we were making our plans to ride into the world. My friend had a kick, snare, tom, cymbals and van the color of a pearl.

So, we packed up to leave the city of our birth and our family trees. And what a long, lovely road for you and me!

I took some pictures - you took pictures too. But you can't fit this in a frame. I tried - and you tried - but no one gets it quite right. No one ever gets it quite as right as your own eyes.

So, we packed up to see the country you can't find on books or TVs. And what a long, lovely road for you and me.

credits

from Golden Greats Vol. 5, released May 15, 2015
Drums: Jeff Snow
Violins: Susan Snow
Gtrs/Keys/Vox/Bass/Harmonica: JR
Add'l Production: Valerie diValentin
Engineering: Marc Ward

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John Ralston

“I live my life in ever widening circles, each superseding all the previous ones.” -Rilke

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