by Theresa Carter

When we started this trip we had a big hole on Day 3. We were getting off the train in Carbondale around 2 in the afternoon and not getting back on until almost 12 hours later. While it’s a college town and there are lots of bars, we didn’t have any leads for a gig. Until Tuesday.

We were on the train to Champaign. Shortly before arriving David received an email from Travis Bean, a student at Southern Illinois University who wanted to interview him for their paper, the Daily Egyptian. David pointed out the irony to Travis that he was being interviewed in the one town he didn’t have a show and asked him for a suggestion. He recommended Longbranch Coffee House, I called from the hotel in Mattoon, and in a few hours we were set.

On Thursday we actually arrived in Carbondale a little early and made our way to Longbranch. It’s located right off the tracks - perfect. Lucas let us drop our bags off in the back and we headed down towards campus, where we had an impromptu photo shoot.

We made our way back to get something to eat and to get some work done. I had photos and video to upload and blog posts to write, and David had to write a song.

First we ate. Longbranch is a vegetarian cafe, so we shared some fantastic hummus topped with grilled vegetables and a portobello burger. Unfortunately there was no WiFi. Carbondale supposedly has free WiFi. It doesn’t. Global Gourmet next door supposedly had free WiFi. It didn’t. What it did have, though, was a quiet atmosphere, a spot at the bar next to an outlet, and a decent wine list.

So, I left David to get some work done. We both needed time to be creative and that’s easier solo. I ordered a glass of Gnarly Head Zin and happily began going through the pictures from that afternoon. Then a couple of ladies sat down and I couldn’t help overhear their conversation and we began talking. Ends up that Kristen is from Chicago originally. Her sister just moved here from the Windy City and knew The Local Tourist! On top of that, they’re both musicians and Kristen’s husband was playing a gig that night at a bar kitty-corner from Longbranch.

I left the two to set up video and shoot David’s show. Travis came out so we were able to meet him and thank him personally. Kristen and her sister also stopped by. One of the patrons stayed for the entire set and bought a CD, so we talked to him after the show. Turns out Kent had seen Travis’ article and was so intrigued he decided to come by!

Then we headed over to Tres Hombres to hear Kristen’s husband’s band, County Line. We were blown away by this three piece Bluegrass band. They had my heart when they played “Super Freak” on a fiddle, a banjo, and a standing bass. We also loved “Get Me Outta My Hometown” for obvious reasons!

Our final adventure for the day was the wait for the train. It was, oh, about an hour or so late, but we were entertained by our Conductor, Mike. He chatted with us while we ate our Wise Guys subs and I devoured the lemon cake Lucas had given us. (Video to come.)

What could have been a day of frustration turned into an amazing day of chance encounters, new fans, and new friends. Carbondale, we will be back!