The rain arrived about 45 minutes before our 1 pm start at Edison’s Gastropub, which is excellent timing if you are a cloud and less useful if you are carrying instruments.
Fortunately, the spacious canopy was already in place. Edison’s open doors and wide flip-up bar window also gave this outdoor show an indoor route, with the live mix carried into the building. The weather kept switching between rain and less rain, but the tent did its job and we started on schedule.
Our voices took a little time to warm up. That happens sometimes, especially during an afternoon set when the vocal cords apparently expect a written invitation. Once they were fully clocked in, we brought back Bittersweet, a song that had been away from the set for a while.
Three Stops Across America
The middle of the show included an unusual three-song America run: Lonely People, A Horse With No Name and Ventura Highway. Most trips across America require fuel, snacks and several arguments with a navigation app. Ours required a guitar, piano and a careful count-in.
We also debuted the Statler Brothers song Flowers on the Wall. Add Margaritaville, which has been turning up more often in our summertime sets, and the afternoon covered a fair amount of musical geography without either of us leaving the canopy.
The intermittent rain continued through much of the set. By the final notes of Tiny Dancer, the weather had supplied nearly every variation available between damp and slightly less damp.
Karaage!
The day also had a strong food subplot. Before the show, karaage from Edison’s new menu handled the pre-performance meal. Greg ate plenty of Lawson’s karaage-kun during his 10 years in Japan, and was happy to see a similar item on the menu here.
Back at Edison’s, the post-show stretch included a quick conversation with manager Jewel and owner Paul about dates for next year. That brought the afternoon neatly back to where it began: under a well-planned canopy at a venue built to keep the music going when August weather ignores the forecast.
We finished packing up the last or our items, and Tom set off for his immediate next gig. That’s true endurance!
If you are planning an event and could use a piano-and-guitar duo with songs, stories and weather-tested equipment, take a look at our booking page. We would be glad to hear what you have in mind.
Then Greg and Payton performed Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. A few nerves showed through, but the performance was sublime. Payton did great on both songs, and she is looking forward to learning more material with us and making more appearances.
Before we left for this private party, we ran through A Horse with No Name one more time.
Once the sun was out of the way, the lighting setup got to do its part. Greg does not simply run one sound-synced program and hope for the best. He has different scenes arranged for different kinds of music, so he rotated the lights throughout the night.
Sunday afternoon shows are starting to grow on us. There’s something about loading out while there’s still daylight that feels like we’re getting away with something.
When we arrived, Lisa welcomed us, recorded a quick pre-show welcome video (Tom handled the talking; Greg did his usual “stand there and try not to look awkward” routine), and showed us where to pull the cars around back so we could unload right next to the performance area. We will never stop appreciating an easy load-in.
We’d played the night before, and Greg’s voice had already taken a beating. He’d slept badly, got up around 7:00 a.m., and by the first song at Tres Rojas, it was clear his voice was mostly air.
Tom also took a few solo turns, including “Heart of Gold” and an original called “Our Time,” which Greg hadn’t heard him play in ages. There’s a different kind of focus in the air when we play an original. Covers tend to trigger shared memories; originals ask everyone to lean in and listen to a story they’re hearing for the first time.
We’d heard about Tiny Acres out near Monmouth, but driving down that long country road for the first time felt a little like we’d taken a wrong turn into someone’s private farm lane. Then the trees opened up, the pond came into view, and suddenly there was this whole little event world laid out in front of us.
The place itself is impressive. There’s the 1850s ceremony barn up on the hill, looking over the pond, with rows of chairs set up like it’s permanently five minutes before a wedding. There’s an overnight cabin, outdoor spaces with grills and picnic tables, and the main event building where we played. You can tell somebody actually thought about how people move through this place.
Once we got set up and sound‑checked, we realized this room was built with sound in mind. No weird slapback echo, no dead zone at the far end. People could be standing at the bar and still hear the music clearly, but we never felt like we were blasting anyone out of their chairs. It’s rare that a long, rectangular room feels that balanced, and this one did.
Somewhere later in the night, someone tossed out a request for “Gin and Juice.” Not exactly in the Bell & Field standard catalog. I gave it a shot anyway—one verse, acoustic, very tongue‑in‑cheek—then stopped, laughed, and admitted that was probably as far as I could responsibly take it. That one verse got a bigger reaction than some full songs, and it reminded me how sometimes you don’t have to nail a request to make it fun; you just have to meet people halfway.
We packed up through that magic load‑in door, said our goodbyes, and headed back down the long road to Monmouth. On the way out of town, we hit Taco Bell, debriefed the night, and started game‑planning our show at Tres Rojas Winery the next day. It’s hard not to feel lucky when your “work meeting” is about playing songs you love and eating bean burritos and tacos.
Late November in Iowa usually means coats in the car, short days, and people deciding whether they’re ready for winter yet. A Friday night at a winery and distillery sounds like a pretty solid way to delay that decision for a few hours.
Going into this one at Coal Creek Brewing in Princeton, we honestly weren’t sure what we were walking into. A Tuesday, 5–7 PM, a private group Jim was hosting, and a room we’d never played before. We didn’t know where we’d set up, how loud we should be, or if people would be listening closely or just chatting over us.
One of those musicians was Payton Schott, who owns West Main Coffee & Books in Toulon. I used to play music with her a few years back. Our side project never totally found its lane, but it ended on good terms, and I’ve always thought the world of her as a person and as a musician. She’s also the one who helped connect us with Jim for this Coal Creek date, so this gig was kind of the Toulon–Galva–Princeton triangle closing a loop.
Between sets and after we wrapped, we worked through that beer flight Tom had ordered, comparing notes like we actually knew what we were talking about. Tom eventually settled on a full 16 oz of a blueberry/blackberry wheat draft called “Plot Twist,” which pretty much nailed the whole night in one phrase. Neither of us expected a Tuesday at Coal Creek to turn into one of our favorite recent gigs, but there we were.
Sometimes you pull into a town, start unloading gear, and you can just tell it’s going to be a good one. That’s how it felt rolling into Monmouth for our Market Alley Wines show on July 11.
Once we kicked off the first set, it felt like the whole alley kind of clicked into place. There was that low hum of conversation, glasses clinking, and then this slow shift as people started actually listening. By the time we hit “I Feel Fine,” Greg was sneaking in some extra piano runs and Tom just looked over and grinned. Those are the little moments that make a live acoustic duo performance fun for us.
We wrapped up, packed the gear, and then hung out a bit with Sarah and Jeff to catch up. They’re the kind of venue owners that make Market Alley Wines entertainment feel like a collaboration instead of just a booking. Monmouth’s got a good thing going with them anchoring that alley.
If you’re the kind of person who likes a low-key Saturday night where you can have dinner, catch up with friends, and still hear the words to the songs, this one is right in that lane.
