Every gig is a learning opportunity.

On Saturday I played an annual event I've been involved with for years, an Amnesty International benefit hosted by my friends Annie and Eric, who live on a small farm in Loudon County, Virginia. In years past, I've always wrangled up a group for a sort of pick-up jazz event with at least a drummer and bassist, if not also a guitarist and a few horn players. This year, nobody was available, so I did a two-set headliner performance all by myself. I and my friends were all a little worried about having a solo artist in the main slot (there was a trio before me and a duo afterward), but it turned out incredibly well.

As much as I love playing with a band, there was something very interesting and intimate about sitting up there on stage by myself, playing and singing and telling stories. It reminded me that what I do these days is not so different from what guitar-playing singer-songwriters do, and that therefore I should try to get more solo gigs.

But more importantly, it reminded me that I have a good deal of self-sufficience as a musician. I don't need a drummer to keep my time honest or a bassist to hold me to the harmonic form. I'm on top of it, all by myself. Playing and interacting with a band is nirvana, for sure, and I would never give it up. Rehearsing these past few weeks with Sandcastle, putting some of Billy's and John's and Chris's collaborative ideas into practice, has been terrific fun.

But playing solo for people is a kind of interaction, too. Their claps and cheers and laughter, and even just their silent sitting and listening, are part of a give-and-take. What a privilege to be able to do it, to be offered the chance to communicate with old friends and new ones in this manner....I hope to do more of it.

On a practical level...now I'm not nearly so nervous about the solo performance I'm doing at the New Haven Lounge this coming Saturday...