We have had a delightful time driving through the Southeast this past week…we found red and orange leaves when we hit the Carolinas, thank goodness….Fall hadn’t hit Texas yet. The whole trip has also revealed that the stereotype of Southern Hospitality is alive and well.

We stopped at Waffle House in Baton Rouge. One of our rules is never to eat at Waffle House two days in a row, and if you can swing it, not twice in a week. Sometimes it’s the only thing open if you’re eating late, but trust me…ouch. But their biscuits! Oh, their biscuits.

Our first gig stop was at Sundilla Concerts in Auburn, Alabama. The series is hosted in an old Baptist Church (now Unitarian) that was built by freed slaves in the late 1800’s. Our hostess for the evening, Rachel, fed us salmon, quinoa, and Brussels sprouts. She could probably sense the Waffle House on us.

Our next stop was a house concert with the wonderful Stidham family in Winnsboro, South Carolina. The folks here are warm and inviting and…they also have the best Southern accents we have ever encountered. Texas has a Southern accent but it is clipped and short sometimes. South Carolinians seem to draw out their words and add syllables to make anything sound magical. We could listen to our hosts talk all day. They also sent us down the road with some biscuits and cheese. Awesome.

Then it was up to Elizabeth City, NC to the beautiful Museum of the Albemarle. Susan shared the show with Bobby Plough, who is not only a fine musician but hosted us at his fabulous restaurant. Grits and blackened shrimp were consumed.

Oak Island, NC was where we dipped our toes in the Atlantic and I avoided stepping on anything that would make me scream like jellyfish or the detached bloody hand of a pirate. Biscuits were consumed. There is a carb theme here.

The Liberty Arts Center nestled in the mountains in Liberty, TN was another one of those amazingly cool venues run by Taylor Pie, an amazing musician. The hospitality was flowing and check out the wood stove at Pie’s place.

The “In Search of Fall Tour” was a big hit…I think the Southeast in October will have to be a repeating tradition. We are on our way back now and a cold front is meeting us in Fort Worth. Better bundle up close with a biscuit or something.