7 and 7

It was probably sometime in '05 that I was driving down some highway when I reached down into the door compartment, pulled out a pen and blank notecard, and wrote the phrase "7 and 7". I put it above my head in the ideas file (or visor, as some call it) with all the rest of the titles, rhymes, road names, quotes, signs, etc. that had struck me as somewhat interesting prior to this one. The band and I were having the time of our lives playing any place that would let us in the door. We had a song called 'Bottle goes down' that was getting lots of local airplay and this whole music thing was still brand new to me. In '07 I moved into a cool upstairs studio apartment with 20 foot high ceilings, old cypress walls, a ladder to a loft where the bed was, a bar within rock throwing distance, and cool neighbors. There was a big table made of old cypress in the corner. I put all of my song ideas in the upper left hand corner of that table. I'd sit there with my Martin guitar and go through these ideas, waiting for a chord and a lyric to ignite. Sometimes it was a Sunday morning while drinking coffee, sometimes it was late Tuesday night while drinking a cold beer. It was a good place to write. It rained a lot that year, and a train passed 3 or 4 times a day. Drew Landry stopped by often to play me his latest tune. I think he must have written a song a day back then. He had rented the place before me, until venturing across the street to open up Bourque's. One night I came across an old notecard. I read it aloud. "7 and 7". The train passed. Long after the whistle was fading, the rumble of the last car gave way to silence, and as if on que, I hit the first notes and opening line , "early in the morning, I get up and leave your side. I throw my bag on the chopper, we take off and we fly". About a year later Travis Domingue and I were at J. Burton's studio, laying the ground work for what would become "Woods". It's hard to believe it was 2008 that we presented that album to you. It doesn't feel like that long ago, but so much has changed. I still had a PC then, I mean, I'm writing this on a phone! Someone posted a recording of 7 and 7 on YouTube a couple of years ago. The lyrics appear as the song plays. I'm thankful for this. I'm thankful that someone was so moved by that song that they took the time to do that. I recently saw that it had over 20,000 plays (or views, if you prefer). Congratulations, 7 and 7. You're bigger than me. Thank you for what you've done for myself and those who share their musical talents with my songs. I write this in anticipation of our new album, Middle Ground. I wonder which songs will come to life on stage, or which one I'll be blessed to hear by chance on the radio. Will there ever be another 7 and 7? It doesn't matter. There is one, and now there is Middle Ground.