Key to the Highway: Blue Water Highway

Americana Highways’ Key to the Highway series

Fans always clamor to learn more about their favorite, most beloved musicians and those who travel with them. There’s such an allure to the road, with its serendipity, inevitable surprises, and sometimes unexpected discomforts. This interview series is a set of questions we are asking some of our favorite roots rock Americana artists to get to know more about them and what they’ve learned and experienced on the road. We are sure they have key insights to share and stories to tell. Here’s one from Blue Water Highway:

AH: How do you like your coffee or other morning wake-up beverage?

BWH: We all drink black coffee, except Catherine, who often foregoes coffee in the morning for a diet soda—unless she can make lattes at home with her fancy espresso machine. We’ve found that Pilot and Flying J have the best truck stop coffee, because they have bean to cup machines. I personally don’t care about the quality of the coffee as long as it’s extremely hot.

AH: What’s the most interesting or strangest motel/hotel or place you have stayed (while on the road?)

BWH: We’ve stayed in our fair share of sketchy motels, and some nice ones, but the coolest place we ever stayed was an Airbnb at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. It was an old log cabin, formerly owned by a soldier who died in the Civil War.

AH: If one CD is stuck in the player in the van for the entire tour, what do you hope it is? And why?

BWH: Funny you should ask, we actually did have a CD stuck in our player for an entire tour. After a gig in New Orleans, we wandered into a bizarre curiosity shop called the Abita Mystery House and were given a CD by the owner. The name of the artist is Bobby Lounge, and the album is called “Ten Foot Woman.” There’s nothing else like it, and listening to it is pretty much just like walking through the curiosity shop.

AH: What’s one personal item you must have with you on your road trip?

BWH: Zack always has a good book, Greg needs his fly fishing rod, Kyle brings his coffee tumbler, and Catherine has her pillows that no one is allowed to touch.

AH: What is your relationship with food? How do you handle this on the road, and what’s your favorite dish on the road, (or restaurant, and what do you order there)?

BWH: We do our best to eat as healthy as possible on the road—not always easy—and we like to eat at cool local places. Trying unique food all around the country is a big part of the touring experience for us.

AH: If you could pause your life for a few weeks and spend some time living in a place you only have passed through, which would you choose, and why?

BWH: There are several places we’d love to spend some time living, but one definitely sticks out. We played a festival in France in 2018, and we stayed in this beautiful town called Le Puy-en-Velay. It’s a place that none of us would ever likely have gone to if it weren’t for this festival, but it was incredible. Basically, picture yourself dropped into the middle of the provincial town in Beauty and the Beast, complete with people opening windows and greeting you with, “Bonjour!”

AH: What quote or piece of advice have you gotten from someone on the road that has really stuck with you?

BWH: We spend a lot of time trying to grow our fanbase, write new songs, practice our music, and constantly pushing to that “next level.” The best piece of advice we’ve heard and always try to take to heart is to remember to stop and smell the roses. Living in the present moment and enjoying the ride is an important reminder.

https://youtu.be/sxHXH8yiPhc

Find all things Blue Water Highway here: https://www.bluewaterhighwayband.com/

See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Ben Nichols Bruce Cockburn Charlie Musselwhite Nicki Bluhm Jim White Danny Barnes Patterson Hood Jerry Joseph BJ Barham Rodney Crowell Todd Snider Elizabeth Cook Tommy Womack Eric Ambel, Dan Baird, Robbie Fulks, Malcolm Holcombe Jon Langford Steve Poltz, Lilly Hiatt Sarah Shook & the Disarmers )