Weary Ramblers 4/25/25 Crossroads Hotel, Fort Dodge, IA

I was doing laundry and stopped into the coffee shop for the hot beef and got caught up in a conversation with Anita the drummer and the next thing I knew, Dallas and I were at Fort Dodge catching the Soul Searchers and the Weary Ramblers so of course I did guerilla recordings. Typical day.

I didn’t have time to do a thorough inventory of my bag because the laundry gobbled up some time.

I was at that motel a year ago, for the first fundraiser that Friends Of Byron held. I’m not nuts about staying in places like that because I can’t smoke in them (none ever offer an indoor smoking room) but over the years I had attended various things at the old Starlite. Some time in the past year the venue changed hands and is now the Crossroads Hotel & Event Center.

Once at the room itself, getting right up against the stage wasn’t going to work very well because there was a wide dance floor between the stage and the tables where the audience sat. Nobody was using the dance floor, but it was there. I positioned the audio recorder in the middle of the dance floor and it was happy enough to be there, but to do video I wasn’t prepared because the stage was raised and that would have required a tripod that was still at home.

The first hour was the Soul Searchers from Des Moines and nobody thought to move the tables closer to the stage. However, when the Weary Ramblers took the stage, Kathryn cajoled us to do that, and suddenly, I was within range. But I discovered that the SD card for my video recorder was also still at home, necessitating that I use my phone for video recording which meant I had to strap the phone holder thing onto the back of a chair with my broken bendy tripod.

That is not ideal. The sound system wasn’t completely cooperative and toward the end of the show, Chad and Kathryn left one of their two mics and sang into one together. Since I wasn’t on top of my recorder to swivel, that forced Kathryn partially out of the frame but I predict that it will become a regular thing with them and their audiences will see more of that in the future. It’s visually very pleasing and one less electronic thing to plug in.

rainy day rain drop
recording by RDM







Weary Ramblers, Double Album Release Party 10/26/24

Chad Elliott, Kathryn Severing Fox, Bryan Vanderpool, Stephy Graham, Elliott Art Studio, Jefferson, IA 10/26/24, double album release party.

performers
Set 1
Set 2







Chad Elliott, Weary Ramblers, Guests 12/3/23 Byron’s Bar, Pomeroy, IA

photo by Byron Stuart
photo by Byron Stuart
photo by Ree Irwin
photo by Ree Irwin

So a funny thing happened the other night. Byron had to cancel a show due to the performers backing out very late and he thought he didn’t have enough time to line up another act, and he posted that on Facebook.

Chad Elliott, who has recently moved to within striking distance of Pomeroy, replied, aw darn it, I was going to attend that show since I would be in town to deliver a painting. I was packing my bag, ready to walk out the door, and flashes of brilliant white light and loud classical symphony exploded around me.

Um, duh.

It took just a few minutes of classic social media exchange on Facebook and everybody put it together and there would be a show after all.

Super hardcore trooper Marie Farrell, who occasionally scares me 🙂 managed to coax her musician friend Walt Peterson into coming and he brought a case of harmonicas. This was promising to be a “different” kind of spontaneous night that can only happen in magical places.

Chad got started solo and unless he’d just written a bunch of new songs (inevitable) or wrote one as he played it on stage, I didn’t need to take a lot of notes, so I ducked into the back room where I can indulge in my dirty little tobacco habit. There was Kathryn. She has to travel farther than Chad, and was waiting for the right time to join him. Nobody knew she was there yet. Fun when that happens.

Except for the part where I had my input set for mp3 rather than wav (a reason for using two recorders) (and I think I got by with it anyway), the night proceeded to have its way with all of us.

Chad and Kathryn both took advantage of the situation by road testing some new stuff. And making a few mistakes. Human. Real. Priceless.

Without succumbing to the urge to review, here’s the night in three sets. Kathryn joins in set 2, Walt joins in set 2, and Walt and Marie join in set 3. This is the “raw” version, the edited version will eventually appear at Archive.org.

Hear Set One Here:

Hear Set Two Here:

Hear Set Three Here:

To access all of our Elliott recordings (so far, they’re not all up yet), click here:

rainy day rain drop
recording by RDM







Rewind: Weary Ramblers, Byron’s Bar, Pomeroy, IA 9/17/23

These are the “raw” recordings from my mics which may be edited for the Archive version. I used two sets of mics; this is from the pole up by the ceiling.

Hear Set One Here:

Hear Set Two Here:

Hear Set Three Here:

poster
Poster By Dave Hearn
Rainy Day Music Logo







Weary Ramblers 3/10/23 Century Farms Distillery

Weary Ramblers
Photo: Tom Brandt
Weary Ramblers
Photo: Tom Brandt
Weary Ramblers
Photo: Tom Brandt
Weary Ramblers
Photo: Tom Brandt

The Weary Ramblers, Chad Elliott and Kathryn Severing Fox, made their Spencer, Iowa debut on March 10, 2023 at Century Farms Distillery.

Listen to Set One at this link

Listen to Set Two Part One at this link

Listen to Set Two Part Two at this link

Rainy Day Music Logo







Rewind: Weary Ramblers 3/3/23, Byron’s Bar, Pomeroy, IA

Listen to set 1 at this link

Listen to set 2 at this link

Listen to set 3 at this link

Poster by Mark Gerking