Tractor Tour

John Deere dept.

Last summer I did a weeklong residency at the “Art Farm” in northern Iowa.

The Art Farm

I got to exhibit some three dozen of my paintings, of famous Iowans.

Herbert Hoover

Bix Beiderbecke

Caitlin Clark

I did a few music shows there during the week, accompanied on bass by my daughter Lulu.

Lulu painted a mural while we were there.

I did a couple songwriting workshops there. Some of the people were from the area. Some came from as far as San Francisco, and Houston.

All in all, it was a great week.

Lulu and I played on the grass tennis court at All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club, a couple hours’ drive away. A guy built a replica of centre court Wimbledon, right in his cornfield!

We dropped by the Surf Ballroom, near the Art Farm, where Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper famously played their last show.

We stopped in, but we didn’t stay long. You can only stay so long in a place like that.

It was a grand time, but maybe the best thing of all was riding on a tractor. Steve Hanson, who runs the Art Farm, waved goodbye to us as Merle, Steve’s Dad, who grew up on the farm and farmed there for many years, drove us around the gravel roads surrounding the Art Farm.

At one point I drove the tractor myself. And Lulu—she got to drive the tractor too!

During these tractor jaunts, an idea popped into my head.

Wouldn’t it be cool to do a little tour around these small towns, and ride the tractor to each show?!

I mentioned it to Steve, in passing, as in, “Wouldn’t it be fun to do that!”

I didn’t think much more about it.

But a few weeks later, Steve, being the sort of person who does cool things and isn’t deterred by logistics, called me and said, “So….the tractor tour….”

And that’s how I learned that Steve was serious about the idea.

And, this June…we’re doing it!

The Tractor Tour.

It’s going to stop in five little towns, tractor-riding distance from the Art Farm: Fertile, Manly, Kensett, Bolan and Northwood.

And at the end of the week—another pair of song workshops at the Art Farm.

I’m telling you all this because if you’re not doing anything else, you should come to The Tractor Tour. And/or the songwriting workshops. Whether you’ve never written a song, or you’re, say, Paul McCartney.

And if you can’t make it to northern Iowa for these great events, at least it’s good to know that people like Steve Hanson exist, and when they hear a crazy idea, they don’t just say, “Ha, wouldn’t that be something!” and forget it.

They make it happen. That’s something right there.

So, June 23-27 will be The Tractor Tour.

Folks will no doubt be talking about The Tractor Tour for many years, and it could enter Iowa lore along with Herbert Hoover, Tristan Wirfs, Caitlin Clark, Lou Henry Hoover, The Flood of ‘08, Bix Beiderbecke, Dan Gable, Greg Brown, RAGBRAI, Mamie Eisenhower, KUNI-FM, Dick Peters, Bobby Feller, Kevin Kunnert and John Locksley.

—

Here is a song, “Liver,” which I composed at the Art Farm last year, and which was recorded in a very reverb-y silo at the Farm.

The song refers to a picture of a piece of Liver, which hangs in the kitchen at the Art Farm, and to the Tractor, which became the inspiration for The Tractor Tour.

Maybe see you there!

“Piece of Liver”

—

“Liver”: