Tag Archives: LynchburgVA

Back from the Road/TennVaMa Tour 2024

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Six years ago I set out on a musical journey that I had no idea where it would lead me, if anywhere. Tragedy was its catalyst and something necessary for me to pursue.

I can still remember my first few awkward open mic appearances, just me and an electric guitar, trying to figure out what it as I wanted to be as a performer. I certainly had bands and artists I aspired to be like, or allow them to inspire me through their music. I’ve recited many of them before: Neil Young, Guided by Voices, Swearing at Motorists, Lou Reed, Pavement, Polvo, Elliott Smith, and so on.

Moving to Lynchburg in some ways was necessary in order to get out from under a mortgage. The city is cheaper in terms of housing and other factors–the weather is considerably more moderate compared to the harsher climate of the Northeastern part of the U.S., particularly the winters.

In terms of music however, there isn’t any sort of underground music scene. I know gurus like Matt Bacon talk about connecting and building collaboration within your local scene, but there’s really nothing here to connect to. My few attempts reaching out to a handful of people playing original music have been rebuffed. For the past 18 months, I’ve been figuring out some sort of Plan B. Rather than play 65 or 70 times a year like in the past, I’ve managed a handful of shows, playing covers mainly, which I no longer want to do. Continue reading →

It’s a Wrap on 2023 (JimBaumerME Newsletter)

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Bunker Rock/JimBaumerMe

Movin’ On (A New Musical Home)
Vol. 3/Issue 2

I’m actually working on this newsletter on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I don’t love this time of year, where, at least in these parts, the days start out dark and the light fades far too early.

Dec. 20 follows Dec. 19, which this year would have been the 40th birthday of our late son, Mark. It was nearly seven years ago that he was hit and killed by an SUV along a desolate stretch of highway in Florida’s Panhandle while attempting his second walk across America. Many of you know the story, so I won’t elaborate.

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Movin’ On Down (RPM Sketch #1)

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It’s February, so it must be time to write some new songs. This year is a bit different, though, because I’m tackling the RPM Challenge.

The RPM is an annual creative challenge, seeking to motivate anyone to record original music during the month of February. Artists set their own length goals (EP, or full-length), and have until March 1 to complete their projects.

JimBaumerMe is tackling the RPM Challenge in 2023

Last year, I could have entered what became Living in Some Strange Days, my first full-length, but come midnight on February 28, I wasn’t happy with my final track. Instead, I wrote a new song the next day, “Kick the Darkness,” because I needed something more hopeful than the overly dark themes on most of the other tracks. I’m glad I did, as the song really became the “single” of the release and garnered some worldwide airplay.

This year, in January, I was intentional about doing RPM, properly. I even started writing a song before the challenge officially began.

I view some of these tracks as “sketches,” not entirely finished. I’ll probably come back to some or all of the five or six tracks that will make up the release when it’s completed. I’d like to add some multi-tracks on the guitars and bump up the vocals, but I’ll have to see how much time I have.

This song is about moving to my new home in Lynchburg, Virginia. I’m calling it “Movin’ On Down” as Mary and I moved “down” from the North to south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I really liked the riff the first time I came up with it. It didn’t take long to put the guitar parts together and the words followed. Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon laying down tracks and getting a “rough” recording of drums, vocals, guitar. I mixed it this morning and you now have my “rough mix.”

Not sure that the other tracks will be so “positive” in outlook, and that’s okay. But this one will likely be another one of my songs that gets lots of play in my live setlist. I really like that it captures the anticipation of a new chapter in one’s life, and figuring out the challenges of new geography, and finding some new people to hang with.

Here are the lyrics for those of you who like those things:

Movin’ on down to a brand new town
Gonna’ start a brand new life

Been talking about rollin’ out
Push away all that strife

Leaving the north, heading south
Lots of friends left behind
I touched down, looked around
Too much to process now

In a rut just hanging around
Find a new patch of ground

My new home in a brand new town
Picking up a welcome vibe

I touched down, looked around
Can’t process it all today
This new home in a brand new town
Enjoying it in every way
The old hometown, left in the dust
Place of birth not the same
Got so much I want to do
Before I go away

Movin’ on down to Lynchburg town
Gonna’ start a brand new life

I’ve been talking about rollin’ out
Push away all that strife

I left the north, I headed south
Toom many friends left behind
I touched down, looked around
New people to get to knowwww

Movin’ Movin Movin on down
I’m south of the Mason-Dixon Line

A New City/A New Home (JimBaumerMe Newsletter)

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Bunker Rock/JimBaumerMe

Movin’ On (A New Musical Home)
Vol. 3/Issue 1

November and December was music-free for me. Rather than playing music, I was immersed in holiday nostalgia via movies like Feast of the Seven Fishes and of course, the most nostalgic of all Christmas movies—It’s a Wonderful Life—while coming to terms with living in a new state and region.

In September, Mary (my wife) and me drove to Central Virginia to look at houses and scout out places like Roanoke and Lynchburg. Lynchburg is where we found a house we wanted to buy, so JimBaumerMe is no longer in ME, but VA. It may necessitate a name change. But perhaps not—Matt Pond PA never changed his moniker despite changing geography. Actually, Matt Pond PA is on hiatus until 2025/26 according to his website.

[New house, new city]

Here’s hoping that gigging in this area in 2023 is as good to me as New England was the past two years. I’m sure it will be.

I’ve yet to play an official “gig,” but I have been making it out to some local open mics. It’s been good meeting some of the local musicians. I also did a live stream on New Years Eve.

Given that my music is oriented towards indie rock and not just cover fare, I think Charlottesville and Roanoke offer possibilities. Then, I’m only two hours from the music hotbed of Raleigh-Durham and even Greensboro in North Carolina. We’ll have to wait and see how the booking turns out.

A resource that’s really meant a lot to me in 2022 is Zen Guitar, written by the late Philip Toshio Sudo. To say it’s a self-help book for guitar players diminishes the scope of the book. But that’s a good starting point. The author helps readers understand the guitar-playing isn’t just about virtuosity but infusing your playing with soulful spirituality. Or something like that. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be a better musician.

I closed out my playing dates in Maine (and Mass.) with fair dates in Fryeburg (for the second straight year) and Topsfield (for the first time). I also played the Bolton Fair in Bolton, MA in August. Overall, I played fewer dates in 2023 (about 40) than 2022 (when I crossed the 60 gig threshold), but I began figuring out where I wanted to play rather than simply accepting a date for the sake of having one. Some of my favorite places to play in 2022 besides the fairs were SoPo Seafood, Tumbledown Farm to Fork, Side by Each Brewing, and participating in Newton’s Porchfest in June.

[Rockin’ at the Topsfield Fair]

My CD, Living in Some Strange Days, got some radio airplay on MIT’s outstanding college radio station, WMBR. I also got an invite from Lorenzo at WMPG to play live at the station in May.

Stay tuned for the next JimBaumerME musical chapter. Looks like I will be participating in the RPM Challenge 2023. I’ve already got one song in the can.

Happy 2023 from Central Virginia.

-JimBaumerMe