Way back in the day, like decades ago in the high school days, my friends and I went to a concert together.  It was one of our first overnight road trips, head to a concert in Stevens Point, stay over at James’ grandparents’ house, and then head back.  While the main act is pretty embarrassing to mention, please keep in mind that it was in Stevens Point…  Anything was better than nothing.

When we got to the show we found our metal folding chairs in the middle of the gymnasium (yup, that’s how tiny it was) and waited for the concert to start.  The warm up was a band we hadn’t heard of before, Billy Pilgrim.  It was two dudes with acoustic guitars and microphones.  That was it.  No supporting cast, no anything, just them.  Prepared to be completely underwhelmed we were absolutely shocked when they started playing.  My mind was blown, they were AWESOME!  The songs were great, the lyrics fantastic and the way they were just enjoying the hell out of jamming out was very memorable.  Needless to say, they completely destroyed the headliner.

It took a while, but eventually I was able to track down their albums.  Ever since they have been either in a CD binder in the car or downloaded on my phone.  So many of their songs have resonated with me at various times in my life and it seems like I pick up something new every once in a while or see things in a different light.  There’s just something relaxing and soothing about listening to their music.  It’s like snuggling up under a warm blanket on a cold rainy day.

And that’s why they popped into my brain today.  Between running around seemingly non-stop for the past couple of weeks with another busy couple of weeks ahead of us my nerves have been feeling a little frazzled.  Soccer, cub scouts, work, and everything in between I caught myself having to take a few more deep breaths tonight than I’d like.  Driving home from scouts I heard a lyric in my head that made me smile, hit the brakes, whip a U turn and head to the store to pick up a little something…

From their song Halfway Home (great song to chill to by the way!) :  “Son just sit a while, and let the whiskey dull the edge”

And that was all I need to hear in my head.  I poured myself a little, turned on that song, sat on the couch and started typing this blog.  It was the music my soul needed to hear today to help me chill.

I’m so thankful that we happened to stumble onto this band way back in the day!

Thanks!!!

Interesting side note #1, I’m pretty sure this was the same road trip when Chris rolled down the window (literally) and joked about throwing his Hootie and the Blowfish CD out.  One second he’s laughing and joking, the next it flies out the window and his jaw drops.  “I didn’t mean to do that,”was his response as the rest of us laughed.

Interesting side note #2, Billy Pilgrim is no longer around.  Kristian Bush is no a part of a pretty famous country band, Sugarland!