Nashville and the Dampness of the Southeast

Back from our trip to the Southeast. We rented a cabin at Cheaha State Park in Alabama for a week. Cheaha is the highest point in Alabama, basically the bottom peak of the Appalachian Mountains, and the park is utterly gorgeous, a little slice of the Smokeys surrounded by hundreds of miles of the Talledega National Forest. I'll post a few pics when I get a chance. All the kids' grandparents rented cabins, as well, plus my sister and some delightful friends from North Carolina who we hadn't seen in far, far, far too long.

I took a side-trip to Nashville last Thursday, too, to read from Shoot Out The Lights at Grimey's Records. Let me first say that Grimey's is an incredibly fantastic place, with a killer selection of music and a supercool, super-knowledgeable staff. Let me also say that Will Kimbrough, who is a great guy, tore the shit out of some Richard Thompson songs. And I stammered my way through a reading somehow. I have a recording that I'm thinking I'll post when I get the chance! Let me also say that John Dougan, the scribe behind the awesome 33 1/3 book on The Who Sell Out, also showed up, and he is also a super-cool guy, and I very much enjoyed comparing notes about the writing of our respective books.