Photo credit: G Laura Partain
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We sold our 1999 Ford Shuttle bus that ran on waste cooking oil and diesel about a year and a half ago, and we bought a real nice, candy red, high top, extended cab 2015 Ford Transit. We had all sorts of problems with the veggie bus, and Josh learned a ton about the system in the process. It was loud and squeaky, and didn’t have the smoothest shock absorption, but it had bunks and room to stand up, and I loved it. Plus zero carbon footprint as long as we could find the oil, which we usually could. We could hold up to 100 gallons and get around 1000 miles down the road on a full tank! But the time came for a more reliable rig, so the boys took a trip to Georgia and came back with Big Red. All seemed well, until we took her on her maiden voyage: Nashville to Merlefest to Northern Michigan. We left right after our set in North Carolina to drive to Short’s Brewery Anniversary Party and didn’t make it far before there was a collision, which left Big Red totaled. As quick as we could, we loaded up a rental van and hightailed it to the next gig.
Eventually we bought the rig we have now. I think it’s 2015 again… Ford Transit again… but white and with a medium high roof instead. So it’s ever so slightly smaller, but still feels spacious enough for now. No problems as of yet.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I had a friend once tell me that we’re limited not by our resources but by our resourcefulness. It’s all about thinking outside the box and planning ahead when you can. I try to pack a cooler and make sandwiches for longer drives. I like rice cakes with nut butter and bananas for a tasty, hearty, whole food snack. I do my best to eat greens when I can and avoid a full day of beige colored food, which can sometimes happen.
I do also find that the culture of the people I’m on the road with changes what eating patterns I fall into. A tour with The Sweet Water Warblers or solo is different, for example, than a tour with my band. This is mostly because of an emphasis in the latter on getting breakfast food that qualifies as “breakfast food” and having meat as a staple. That sets the tone for the rest of the day. When my focus shifts to eating only when I’m hungry, and only foods I want to eat, everything changes.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Luckily I don’t break strings more than once every few years. I don’t play with a real heavy hand. Also, we’re sponsored by D’Addario and they help us a lot. Josh takes care of ordering strings, so I don’t actually even know how much we spend on them.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
The first song I wrote was a mash up of “mary had a little lamb” and some other nursery rhyme songs. I use to sit at my grandparents piano and plunk around making up songs with pieces of songs I knew when I was 4 or 5 years old. I wrote a song with my 5th grade teacher for our DARE graduation ceremony and by the time I was in middle school I had a couple proper songs I wrote on the piano that were inspired equally by Operation Ivy and the Indigo Girls. I didn’t start writing on the guitar until I was 13 years old.
Describe your first gig.
I was three and I asked to sing Happy Birthday, solo and on a stage, for my great grandpa at a big party. I guess that may have been my first public performance. Growing up, I sang in church, for weddings, funerals, school events, and community gatherings. I sang a song that my Uncle Stucky wrote at my high school graduation, and I sang the Star Spangled banner at sports events.
The first gig I remember after high school was at an Earth Day event at a local cafe called The Green River (or something like that). I played at farmers markets and taverns, and I started jumping in the van with The Flatbellys towards the end of college. I would sing harmony with them on a few songs for their gigs around Michigan.
I think the first gig booked under the name Lindsay Lou was at a festival called Spirit of the Woods in Northern Michigan. We also played The Woodtick Music Festival in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that summer.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My last day job was working in a lab that studied pollinators at Michigan State University. I was also substitute teaching around Lansing, Michigan. I liked being in the fields and learning about bees, and I liked the one time I landed a long-term sub position teaching music. I also liked working in Doug Schemske’s lab studying evolution and adaptation. He started something called “Music Mondays” where someone would put together a power point presentation on a band or genre they liked with audio examples, photos and videos. That lab was so fun.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
You know… the number on the page has more than doubled, but my quality of life has pretty much been constant. I hope that in 5-10 years from now I can rise to be a proper member of the middle class… on paper and everything!
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
Don’t be discouraged by mistakes or by someone telling you that you’re doing it wrong. Everyone has their own journey and the things they say to you are more a reflection of their own journey than of yours. Don’t let their hang-ups become yours, too. Keep practicing! Center within yourself! There are cultural and societal hang-ups that you will break through.