Cousin Eddie, of Christmas Vacation fame, didn’t get it quite right. That there’s not just an RV. At least not for Season Ammons and Allen Rayfield, the partners behind bluesy Americana outfit The Wide Open.
For these two, that there RV is home.
Allen and Season have been racking up the miles in their house on wheels, logging some 200 shows a year and spending a lot of time pointing their Winnebago towards the great wide open and far from their Texas home.
Right now, duo is out on the road in support of Long Road Home, their brand new record that dropped last week.
I recently caught up with Allen and Season to chat about life in the wide open and their brand new record.
BRO – During your travels and touring, have you discovered your own favorite wide open?
TWO – Yes, we have found a few, but one that we really love is a place we dubbed Captain’s Cove in the panhandle of Florida. There’s a big bridge along US 98 going over St. Joseph Bay in between Mexico Beach and Port Saint Joe, and underneath the bridge is a beautiful secluded beach. There are no signs and nothing to indicate that there is access and it was purely a happy accident that we found it.
BRO – The opposite of wide open is the Winnebago you tour in. What happens when you two have a dust up?
TWO – When things get hot and heavy, so do we! We are passionate people who fight like all couples, but we have learned to pause, go to our respective corners of the bus, and then – when the dust settles – we kiss, make out, and make up! And then, like all great musicians, we write a song about it.
BRO – Finish the following sentence. “The best part of making music with my partner is . . . . “
AR – . . . the moments of time on stage when we’re so connected in time and we are in perfect harmony and perfectly in sync and time slows down and we disappear into the groove.
SA – . . . the all encompassing vision of true love I experience when we play music and the life that we’ve created together on the road is a complete expression of who I am.
BRO – We are featuring “Long Road Home” on Trail Mix this month. What’s the story behind the song?
TWO – This song is a fun twist on taking the long way around and choosing your own path, even if it means doing the wrong things for the right reasons.
BRO – Most exciting mile . . . the first mile of tour or that last mile before the exit home?
TWO – For over a year now, our home has been a 32 foot Winnebago, so we’re always somewhere between homes since we live and tour full time on the road. We did 44,000 miles in our home and it’s been the best and most exciting time of our lives.
Allen and Season continue their album release tour with two shows in Florida this weekend. After that, the Winnebago gets a break for the rest of the month before hitting the road to Texas and Missouri for a run of shows through the middle of February.
For more information on The Wide Open, their tour, or how you can grab a copy of the new record, check out the band’s website.
And take a listen to “Long Road Home,” along with with new tunes from the likes of Jonathan Vassar & The Badlands, Hellen Keller Skelter, Ron Gallo, and many more on this month’s Trail Mix.
