Just finished 106 hours of driving with Goodall Trucking.  Tomorrow we head off again for a shorter run.

I'm on Killdeer Mountain with the folks today.  Grandpa's old paint horse, Shorty (pictured below, rear), has been sick for the last few days.  This morning the vet diagnosed him to be terminally ill.  We led him over a ridge on the south meadow just west of an old Lakota burial mound, and I used Dad's .30-30 carbine rifle to put Shorty down.  We said goodbye to Partner there last year, and before that Peanut, Topsy, Beaver, and others, when they were dying.

Goodbye, Ol' Paint

It's been emotional for all of us saying goodbye to Shorty.  Besides his being such a beautiful, gentle, and curious horse, he was Grandpa's.

Now, except for Freckles, all of Sandy Bob's ponies are gone.

Last night's Woody Guthrie birthday bash at historic Union Hall in Missoula was a success! Close to one hundred folks showed up to celebrate America's Great Folk Troubadour on the eve of his centennial birthday.

Organizing the show took a lot of work, and I've been feeling exhausted for the last three days. Yesterday's near 100-degree temperature didn't help.  Fortunately, union angels came out of the woodwork and volunteered in multiple ways.  Some brought water and ice.  Some brought floor fans.  Some helped take money at the door.  Some ran sound and lights.

It pleased me that the gritty and fun-loving crowd embraced the heat and sweated it out.  Some lasted the full four hours!

The hootenanny got great press from both the Missoulian and the Missoula Independent.

Thanks to all the bands, dancers, actors, artists, organizers, journalists, and everyone who showed up who helped make this event so memorable and inspiring!

Happy Birthday, Woody Guthrie.

ROC DVD-Release Party in Missoula, MT: this Friday!

It's almost showtime for the Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration I'm organizing (see details two posts down).  This show will also be the Montana DVD-Release Party for Roll Out, Cowboy.  DVD's will be going for $20 each at the show.  Call me at (360) 789-7684 if you'd like me to deliver 'em to your doorstep.

Woke up to this bird singing this morning.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

WOODY GUTHRIE 100TH BIRTHDAY BASH AT UNION HALL

Music by Fast Rattler, Dear Sister Killdeer, Chris Sand & the Big MT, Jennifer Combe.  Missoula's Bare Bait Dance Company to Perform.  More.

Artwork by Hana!

MISSOULA, MT, 7/13/2012 - Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday party will be held at Union Hall (208 E. Main), above Union Club on July 13th.  Portland's Fast Rattler, hot off of a West Coast tour, will join the ruckus.  So will locals Chris Sand & the Big MT, Dear Sister Killdeer, and Jennifer Combe who will lead the young-at-heart through a handful of children's sing-a-longs.  Bare Bait Dance Company will dance.  Actor Jeff Medley will recite one or two of Woody's writings to explore Guthrie's poetic core.  Show begins at 8pm.  Cost: $5-$15 sliding scale.

Show organizer, Chris Sand, is thrilled to announce that the late Utah Phillips' son's band, Fast Rattler, will headline.  "I met Brendan Phillips around 9/11," Sand says, "and then lost track of him.  I didn't realize he'd been traveling and performing with his father and learning his dad's songs.  It's fitting," Sand continues, "that two of America's most influential folk singers and champions of social justice, Woody and Utah, will both have a chance to be remembered and honored at a show like this at Union Hall."  To be clear, though, Fast Rattler is no mere Utah Phillips cover band.  This dynamic 4-piece string band performs mostly originals and beloved folk-classics. 

Bare Bait Dance Company is Missoula's newest professional dance company and is choreographed by Joy French. French's latest modern dance project, "Views from Grandmother's Porch," examines the grittiness of rural life from a tapestry of angles.  Her Depression-era-inspired pieces synchronize auspiciously well with both Woody Guthrie's stark, populist lyricism and the era that he lived in and wrote so much about.

Chris Sand & the Big MT is a three-piece country-folk band.  An award-winning feature-length documentary about Sand, Roll Out, Cowboy (directed by Elizabeth Lawrence), was shown at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in both 2011 and 2012.  The Woody Guthrie birthday celebration will also serve as Sand's official Montana DVD release party of Roll Out, Cowboy (www.rolloutcowboy.com).

Woody Guthrie is the writer of over 1000 songs ("This Land is Your Land," "Pastures of Plenty," "Hard Travelin'," etc.). Author. Artist. Agitator. Soldier. Sign Painter. Socialist. Sex Fiend. Patriot. Prophet. Punk. Hobo. Dad. His influence on U.S. Popular culture is immense.  This unique--and uniquely Missoula--event may become an annual one.

###

A few of my early CDs have been sold out for the last several years.  I've been wanting to re-press them, but given that I don't tour enough to justify making 1000 at a time, AND given that less and less people buy CDs anymore, I've kept putting it off.  It's been sad, though, to not have the CDs available for shows and online.

Available for purchase: Loner Records

Last week I solved the dilemma.  First, I hauled out my old trusty CD-burner, which burns quality CD-Rs four at a time.  Then I bought several spindles of printable CD-Rs and burned off fifty or so copies each of my both second CD, Love's Hangover Sale, and my third CD, Until the End of Time.  The white coating on these discs allows me to easily write or stamp my name and the album's title on them.

My little DIY record label is BACK on the MAP!!! See more here: LONER RECORDS.

You may listen to or download the songs here: Love's Hangover Sale.

This is what my upcoming Horse Graveyard CDs--the actual disks--will look like. Hana drew the horse and rider. That's her handwriting, too.

Hana is also drawing up a flyer for a Woody Guthrie 100th birthday celebration I'm organizing for mid-July.  I'll post more about this show soon!  Here's the Facebook link.

Stevie with her Farfar!

Happy Father's Day to my great old Norwegian pops, Rob Sand!  

He's Stevie's farfar ("father's father") in Norwegian.

Just drove 5,000 miles to Toronto and Calgary hauling fish.  In five minutes I do it all over again.

                                                                                                                                                        Photo by Senayit.
My new band:  Chris Sand & the Big MT.
(Arif Memovic - accordion, banjelele. Alex Nash - drums, banjo.)
FYI, Big MT is pronounced Big Empty.

My band and I just completed our first mini-tour--Big Fork and Hot Springs, MT.
We were joined by my dear and talented friend Senayit Tomlinson.

Last week I got word from Goodall Trucking that they could use me for a couple weeks of long haul.  I was able to hitch a ride with Senayit to North Dakota yesterday.  She departed this morning for New Hampshire to rejoin her family and horses.

Lilacs from your sleepy granddaughter.

Happy 43rd Wedding Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

My Oly adventure in bullet points:

• May 2.  Flew from Brooklyn to Seattle to be reunited with Hana, Stevie, and Gilda.  I befriended the passenger seated next to me, a horse vet from Long Island named Nancy.  Nancy saved me the hassle and cost of wrangling a shuttle south to Olympia by driving me straight to Zena and Amy's doorstep in her rental car.  It was heaven to hold baby Stevie and Hana again.
• May 3.  At Dub Narcotic Studios I recorded the final two tracks--"Queen Patricia" and "Typical"--for my upcoming album Horse Graveyard.  Ephraim Nagler played piano and Jen Grady added cello and voice to "Queen Patricia."  This song sounds gorgeous.  Ephraim and Jen are in this band: You Are Plural.
• May 4.  Created track order for new record.  Mixed down all the songs with producer Bob Schwenkler. 
• May 4, evening.  Performed an hour of music at my favorite Jewish Deli, Kitzel's, in trade for knishes, blintzes, latkes, and more good food.
• May 5.  Took three-hour tour, with Andras Jones as guide, of the mystical Kabbalistic Tree of Olympia.
• May 5, evening.  Joined Andras onstage at Olympia's historic Capitol Theater for a live episode of Radio8Ball.  This was part of the Oly Music Awards, and Andras ended up winning in the "Other/Experimental Music Category."  The five songs I sang may be viewed/listened to here starting at the 47:18 mark.
• May 9.  Drove to Missoula with Froseph.  Hana will remain in Olympia for another ten days.
• May 10.  Played show at Zoo City Apparel with my band, The Big MT (pronounced "empty").  Also on the bill were Breakaway, Butter, and Abe Coley.

Ever heard of Day Trotter?  Check out this link to some songs I recorded there in late January of 2011: Day Trotter / Chris Sand

And here's a paragraph from a piece--titled "The Strangulated, Heart-Breakin' Glory of the Road"--that Day Trotter's head honcho, Sean Moeller, wrote up about my music:

The Cowboy writes songs about good girls and bad girls and about the white highway lines that keep them separated. He writes about the hard luck and being without any luck at all. These are stories that barely have any glory in them whatsoever. They are without much luster, instead smacking of the simple strangulation that gets to us when we're just worked to death, when we're just unable to get out from underneath all the thumbs. They are stories about taking all kinds of lumps, then getting evicted on top of it. Sand sings, "But money don't mean nothin' when a poor boy's heart gets broken/Well, I tried to cook a meal/I burnt the bacon/I tried to frame a wall/But it's misshapen/And I tried to call her bluff/But she ain't faking/Go easy on me boss/My heart is breakin'." It's one of those moments where just a little bit of mercy will go a long way and this guy is asking for it from the one person who puts him through the most hours of suffering every week. It tells you all you need to know about how beat up this guy is and even more about how many additional beatings he's going to absorb before he dies.

Stark, bordering on macabre, right?!  My life is actually very hopeful these days, but I love the poetry that went into Sean's portrait.

And to be honest, the day I showed up to record I was wrecked.

A short video-interview I did in Brooklyn has been featured on today's NBC New York website!


I doubt many New Yorkers have ever heard such a slow-talking person before.  Most will probably scratch their heads after this one, unsure whether I'm a rural simpleton or country philosopher.

Kudos to the talented Mr. Oresti Tsonopoulos for creating the video!  More of his vids and pics may be found here.

And here's the full "PO Box 7" vid!  I lie about he population still being 120;  given the current oil boom, Dunn Center probably has close to 300 residents now.  In fact, Marathon Oil recently bulldozed my former across-the-street neighbor Vivian's barn, corral, and horse pasture to put up their slick new headquarters.  

Hugs & Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Mom, Mary Herak Sand!!!

I sent a card and a package of huckleberry-flavored licorice with Froseph Kujawa, who traveled 700 miles and delivered it directly to my mom, Pony Express style. He was on his way to Fargo to play a show.  (More on Froseph's Missoula visit & Zoo City show in my next post.)

Check out this EPIC 40-minute interview created by the ever amazing Bonnie Kenaz-Mara!

There's lots of great Hideout show-footage interspersed throughout.  I guarantee you'll dig Tony & his big band.  If your time is limited, skip ahead to the last two minutes to hear our live song collabo: "With a Beard."

Today I fly back to my sweetheart Hana and baby sweetheart Stevie.  Yes!

Here's to the "lovely, lusty miracle of life." Happy May Day!

This video, from Thursday's Hideout show in Chicago, was made by Bonnie Kenaz-Mara.

Please check Bonnie's impeccable ChiIL Mama blog.  She's the hardest working mom in show business that I know of.

Here are two of her most recent posts:
1. Roll Out, Cowboy DVD preview
2.  Sandman at the Hideout + CD review

Speaking of videos, I've been solicited to do a Brooklyn video shoot with this fellow: Oresti Tsonopoulos.  It starts in forty minutes, so I'd best start walkin'. 

Greetings from the community of Bed-Stuy, borough of Brooklyn, city of New York.  I'm at my friend Harreld's apartment digesting a buffet lunch of Jamaican food.

My last few days went something like this . . .

Last Tuesday's Missoula show--my new band's first show--went well and was a lot of fun.  Two other performers, Calvin and Evan from the Hive Dwellers, stayed with Hana and me that night.

The next morning Hana, Stevie, and I headed for Seattle.  We took lots of pictures (coming soon!) to document Stevie's first major road trip.  We stayed overnight with our friend Michael, who drove me to the airport early the next day for a flight to Chicago.

From O'Hare Airport I took a train downtown to my pal Tony Roger's office/recording studio, which is located in a Chicago skyscraper that's also headquarters to a multitude of major corporations.  Tony and I recorded a song together (he sang, I rapped) for a fundraising video for Septembeard.  We performed the song, "With a Beard," later that night when I opened a show for Tony's twelved-piece band at The Hideout, "Chicago's Most Loved Small Venue."  Super fun night, great turnout--Tony and the band rocked, and I cleared $250 in merch sales. 

Roll Out, Cowboy influenced artwork lined the walls.

Early the next morning I was Brooklyn-bound for the big Roll Out Cowboy DVD release party.  From JFK Airport I took a bus to Harreld's pad.  The next day, before the party, I took a side trip to the Manhattan Detention Complex (aka "The Tombs") to visit my unlucky old comrade, Damian.  After getting mocked by prison personnel about my cowboy hatbox and going through security rigamarole, I was allowed into the visiting area.  I hadn't seen Damian for three years and was sad to see that months of jail time have taken the sparkle out of his eyes.  In spite of the toxic setting, it was good to see him.  Now he heads to Reiker's Island for an extended stay.  Ugh.

Order yours here: ROC DVD!

That night I was back in Brooklyn to join the Roll Out, Cowboy crew for the big party.  The theater was so packed that people had to be turned away.  The movie was well received, and my live show afterwards was a blast, with lots of audience interaction.  Thanks to all my friends who showed up to join the celebration!

After the party, my buddy Nathan and his girlfriend Erica treated Harreld and me to a gourmet nightcap.  I crashed at their place that night.  In the morning, Nathan and I went to the Williamsburg Flea Market, where Erica was selling her stunning handmade jewelry.  We all got pleasantly sunburned in the dust and spectacle of hipcat utopia.  At day's end, Harreld came to get me and we walked back to his place.  I've been livin' good.

And the Roll Out, Cowboy Special Edition DVDs are now for sale online!  This has been a looong time coming, so if you'd like to buy one, click here:  http://rolloutcowboy.bigcartel.com/product/special-edition-dvd.  These copies feature much extra footage and a Director's commentary.  Recommended!!!

This Tuesday!!!!  In Missoula!!!!!  At Zoo City Apparel!!!!!  With my favorite band: Hive Dwellers!!!

Props to Anneke Ayers who made the bad-ass show flyer!

I'll be fronting my new joint, Chris Sand and the North Americans.  Arif Memovic on accordion and banjolele and Alex Nash on drums and banjo.  Me on guitar.  Bring your camcorders, it's gonna be weird!

After twelve days on the road, I'm home!  

Missoula, MT.

Home is where the heart is.  No doubt.

From the cab of a white Kenworth semi, I watched a giant orange, oblong moon rise over the eastern Montana horizon this morning. Its size and shape caught me off guard--it looked like a swollen

star from some 70's sci-fi movie.

After spending the last five days helping deliver live fish to Toronto and Calgary via Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, etc., I touched down this morning back in Killdeer, ND. Had just enough time for Easter dinner with Mom, Pops, and Grandma.  In thirty minutes I do the same drive again. Ten thousand miles in about ten days.

This is my creative way of paying bills--short spurts of long pay.   It's how I avoid the 9-to-5.

I sure miss Hana and Stevie, though. I can geek out staring at cell-phone pics of my daughter for minutes at a time. Stevie is, undoubtedly, the most fascinating, magical little gal on the planet. I'll never be able to endure steady long-haul driving again. Just now and then. Just now and then.

Half-way to North Dakota. Mom and I stayed with Earl & Susan last night.

Here's Earl reading one of his poems.

Breakfast is now. I think I can smell Susan's fresh-baked coffee cake.

For the next ten days I'll be on the road, away from my gals.  I'm sad about this.  Today I'm off to North Dakota where I have a couple trucking runs waiting for me--one to Toronto and the other to Calgary.  Gotta earn some dollar bills and see some hollers and hills and foller God's will and swaller some little white pills . . .

Until then, adieu.

One of the greatest things about having an office smack dab in the middle of downtown Missoula is that it's easy to network and collaborate with other artists.  In fact, I share my office space with Hana's and my friend, Joy French, who is choreographer at the Downtown Dance Collective.

Joy's modern dance company is called Bare Bait Dance.  Last Friday they began their full-scale production "Views from Grandma's Porch" which explores a tapestry of rural themes.  Hana and I--thanks to Mom taking care of Stevie--went last Saturday and were thoroughly enchanted.  Joy is a real story teller and she and her dancers, musicians, and stage hands, give it everything they have, physically and emotionally.

Here's a recent write-up by Joe Nickell:  New Modern Dance Company Steps into Missoula Spotlight.  Tickets for this weekend, FYI, are still available, but going fast.

When the weather warms up, Joy plans to take her troupe to some Montana ghost towns and record a video, and she may use one of my songs for the music.  If so, I'm thinking "Horse Graveyard."

I'm starting a little band.  More on this soon.

I couldn't help but notice that today's Missoulian front page picture closely resembles the Nikki McClure cover art for my record Chemicals in the Wheat.

Similar, right?

Better examples of synchronicity can be found in the brand-spankin' new book by my longtime friend Andras Jones,  Accidental Initiations.

If you're acquainted with Andras, you might know about his Radio8Ball Show, his acting resume, his music catalogue, or that he's not afraid of confrontation and controversy.  His no-holds-barred attitude and mystical swagger upsets the timid and/or prudish among us, including me at times.

If you want a true portrait of Andras, though, and his unique interpretation of Olympia, don't be afraid to take off your shoes and join him on the mossy little adventure that is his book.  From what I've read of it so far via his blog, it's going to be an excellent debut.  We might hate it, but we won't be bored, and that's how I define great Rock & Roll.

Way to go, A.J.!  I hope you sell a million copies.

Loner Records, my music label, now has an office, and I couldn't be happier.

I'm right in the heart of downtown Missoula sandwiched between a head shop and a barber shop.  Almost every great music venue in this city is within a two block radius of my Sand Cave.

Time to start again.

We found a leprechaun in our bed this morning!

We took Stevie on her first road trip yesterday.  Lolo Hot Springs!  

We think she liked it.