"Looking For You (A Travelogue Of Sorts)"

Recorded at Wolf Willow Sound in Edmonton on February 1st, 2005.
Produced by Mike Plume, Rob Malowany and John Blerot.

Mike Plume- vocals, guitar and harmonica
Lorrie Matheson- B3
Swifty- electric guitar
Greg Ferguson- drums
Greg Johnston- bass


In June of 2004, while Jenny and I were awaiting the impending arrival of Ruby Talluah Plume, I booked a last minute show down in the Distillery District in Toronto…
So last minute in fact, Jenny and I were the only ones there…
No one showed up.
Not a single solitary person.

Since we’d moved to Toronto, I’d played a couple of snowy, poorly attended shows at the Cadillac Lounge.
The shows were for no other reason to remind me why I didn’t play anymore.
I didn’t want to play anymore and no one wanted to see me play either.

Anyway, the show at the Distillery was just another reminder of what an epic waste of time it all was.

Jenny and I were sitting on the side of the stage.
I was miserable.
Jenny started to play my guitar.
She started playing chords I’d heard a million times before. G, D, E minor, C, D… but during the turn around she played a C minor chord…
It hit me like a ton of bricks.
I loved it.
It was the first thing that excited me musically in probably 2 years.
I did the gig.
Then we went home.

The next morning while sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee I pulled out my guitar and started playing the chord progression that Jenny had played the night before.
I ran through the chord progression and when it came around to start the progression over again I started singing “I started out on the east coast bound for God knows where…”

And with that a spark was lit.

I had no idea where the guy was going in the song.
And I had a hunch that it was gonna take me more than 3 verses to find out.
I’d never written a song that had more than 3 verses before.
This one had ten.
It just kept going.
I tried to wrap it up in Memphis but I couldn’t.
Austin? Nope…
The next thing I knew, the guy was crossing the border into Alberta then over the Rockies…
Every verse is bone true.
I lived every verse vividly.
Leaving the East Coast, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Austin, Sante Fe, Colorado, Cheyenne, Alberta, British Columbia and all down the west coast…
We actually spent the better part of a week on a beach in Santa Cruz. We’d do our gig at night, truck it back to the beach and park there.
Good times.

I didn’t realize until I wrote the last verse that I was looking for myself.

It was the first song I’d written since March the year before.

I wrote 15 songs that week and "Travelogue" was the one that kicked open the door.
Well, it kicked it open for that week anyway.

After Ruby was born the door was once again slammed shut.
Or maybe I closed it myself, I don’t know.
That's probably closer to the truth.

I wrote "Merry Xmas To My ExMiss" in December of 2004 and "Dance Ruby Dance" in August of 2005.
Then I wrote "Free" in March of 2006 and then "Bullet From A Gun" in September of 2006.

Regardless, I didn’t write much for another couple years.

But “Travelogue” is a good song and one I’m quite certain I’ll be playing at the last gig I ever do.

Looking For You (A Travelogue Of Sorts…)
Words Mike Plume
Music Jenny Orenstein

I started out on the east coast, I was bound for God knows where
With a worn out copy of “On The Road” and the wind in my hair
Chasing my shadow all the while the sun burnt off the dew
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

I crossed the Appalachians and down in to Tennessee
The I-40 into Nashville and the Grand Ol’ Opry
I spent the night in Memphis with some friends at the Rendezvous
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

I followed the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans
And down in the French Quarter for a plate of rice and beans
It’s a town of ghost’ and gypsies and jambalaya too
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

I cut across to Austin and hung out on 6th Street
For hot and sweaty music, cold beer and little sleep
Slept in my car in a parking lot beneath the Texas moon
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

I spent the better part of the next day crossing the Lone Star State
El Paso then New Mexico and on up into Santa Fe
My car broke down outside of town, had to sit for a day or two
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

Rolled into Colorado humming “Rocky Mountain High”
Put the top down on the Eldorado and just enjoyed the ride
I made Cheyenne by nightfall, left the next afternoon
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

Rolled into Montana, but I had to travel on
Crossed into Alberta, like an Ian Tyson song
The Wild Rose Country beneath a sky so blue
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

On the Trans Canada Highway I crossed the Great Divide
Coquihalla to Vancouver all along the mystery ride
When I crossed back in to Washington I picked up my first clue
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

From Tacoma to L.A. all the way on 101
Stopping along the way to watch another setting sun
I spent a week beneath the stars outside Santa Cruz
I don’t know where I’m going but I’m looking for you

This song ain’t got no ending, this song has just begun
And if you spend your time pretending you’ve won races you ain’t run
When all the while all you need is something to ring true
And with everywhere I’ve been, I was looking for you…

How do you do?