When I pulled into my Air BnB, I noticed a band setting up and since I'm a curious cat, I asked the coolest looking dude standing outside what was going down inside. The dude gave me one of the most hilarious and excellent sales pitches about the funk I was about to experience, that I couldn't not check it out.

The next day I ran into the same cat in the Gospel Tent, and we talked about the show the night before and how much we loved this style of music. We talked about some other bands on the line-up that day, and I told him about this band called Hiss Golden Messenger that I'd started really getting into, so much so that I stopped my bike to play their song 'Heart Like a Levee' on my headphones while I rode through the bayou.

Turns out I was talking to the guitar player for this band, Phil Cook. Nice guy, his latest solo album rocks and remember that you read it here first that Hiss Golden Messenger are one of the best bands you can catch live going right now. Seriously, just look them up and give them a listen and know that their records do not do their live show justice.

I hope I can run into Phil again, buy him a beer and talk music with him.

For those of you who know me, you know that I like music. A lot. Seems weird that halfway through this trip, the first show I'd catch would be spent mostly sitting on the stoop of my spot in New Orleans. Vaughn's is a tiny bar, and somehow they packed one of the deadliest 8 piece funk bands I've ever heard into that space and let them blow the roof off the mother. I was pretty beat from a long day of ridin', so I took advantage of New Orleans liberal open container laws and enjoyed the show sitting on the steps of the shotgun. Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet, damn those guys can play. What a first day, and introduction to New Orleans. This photo was taken the next morning on my way to the Jazzfest, but seemed fitting for this yarn.