Chi McClean

Every good performance involving air travel starts with Southwest Airlines. These guys make traveling with my Taylor Guitars so much easier!

A little while back, I got a call from my buddy Mark Okrusko to see if I might be interested in performing at a showcase night he was putting together at SOhO in Santa Barbara, CA as part of the Durango Songwriters Expo event. Santa Barbara seemed like a long way away from Nashville, TN for a one-off, so I got to work on putting together some supporting shows to build out my schedule, etc. I was fortunate enough to land five other dates from San Diego to Santa Barbara and back and made a nice little run out of it for a few days.

Lestat's West in San Diego, CA is one of my all-time favorite venues. You just can't beat the sound or the vibe.

So, after wrapping up four full, straight days of recording at The Bomb Shelter with Andrija Tokic (engineer), Greg Thompson (engineer), Jeff “Shakey” Fowlkes (drum kit/percussion), Audley Freed (guitars), Jimmy Wallace (keys), Robert Kearns (bass), Joe Spivey (fiddle, mandolin, banjo), and Rob Ickes (dobro), I barely made a 7:00 AM flight on Friday, June 7th from Nashville, TN to San Diego, CA and arrived with just enough time to rent a car and drive up to Westfield UTC in La Jolla, CA to play a two hour gig from noon until 2:00 PM. It was so tight, but thanks to Southwest Airlines and the folks at Thrifty, I made it in the nick of time for a fun, outdoor set under the sun.

Later in the night, I drove down for round 2 at my favorite venue in San Diego, Lestat’s West. I shared the bill with some terrific female songwriters and just had a blast. As always, the sound was killer, the ambience was great, and the crowd was awesome. Big thanks to Lou and the crew for putting it all together!

Performing at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, CA on June 9th.

After a long day of travel and gigs, I enjoyed a day off a little farther north surfing with my buddy James at Pt. Dume in Malibu. I probably shouldn’t say anything (surfer’s code, I suppose), so all I’ll allow is that it was a sick, sick, SICK day of surfing a darn near perfect right hand point break with head high + surf. Woah. Insane! The wave tank at Opry Mills in Nashville doesn’t really compare… Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at this cool little country saloon somewhere in Malibu Canyon for the hugest steaks ever, then enjoyed a lazy night of food coma catching up with the help of some sweeping SoCal views. Not bad!

A meat lover's dream... Our waitress called this the "Yabba-Dabba-Doo" cut. I didn't get it until the plate arrived. Woah!

After a super fun, classic California day with some buds, it was back to work with a performance at my favorite Los Angeles listening room, Room 5 Lounge, on La Brea – but not before a pre-show meal at Canter’s with my friends Steve and Katz. I went head first with some corned beef, cabbage, chicken soup and a root beer. Soooo good, but soooo bad right before a perfromance! Ha!

My Los Angeles ritual... Note to self: do NOT eat at Canter's BEFORE a performance as dining there may induce food coma.

Back to Room 5: This joint always sounds so good, and the vibe is outstanding. If you haven’t ever checked it out and you live in or near LA, do yourself a favor and check out a show there sometime. There’s always a great line-up of talented writers and artists, so you really can’t go wrong. The night I played, there were so many awesome acts, but my buddy Dave Yaden of David & Devine stole the show. Absolutely phenomenal… check his band out here when you get a second. These guys are taking LA by storm and are doing great things.

Feeding the chickens while taking a break during a writing session with my buddy, Dave Yaden, in Los Angeles, CA.

Speaking of Dave Yaden, before I left the LA area for my Santa Barbara performance, we managed to get together at his house on Tuesday, June 11th to wrap up a song I’d been working on for a while. He and I came up with this idea some time ago and, frankly, I think I had to live the thing before finishing it, so that I did (several times over, actually). And, to be honest, I’m pretty stoked on the results. I’ll be testing it out as soon as this week, so come on out and check it out! Anyway, about half of the way through the session, we took a break and fed Dave’s chickens who’d been clucking all morning in his back yard. I’d never actually fed chickens (or any birds for that matter), and it was pretty hilarious. Surprisingly, these little gals had discriminating taste! I had a handful of chicken scratch and feed and they ONLY picked out the corn! Impressive… not much going on upstairs, but pretty accurate beaks!

Will Champlin (on keys) closing out the night at SOhO in Santa Barbara, CA after my set on Tuesday, June 11th. Amazing...

After capping off a successful writing session with a few tacos in the park near Dave’s pad, I high-tailed it up to Santa Barbara, CA to load in and sound check for my performance at the Durango All Stars Showcase at SOhO. My buddy Mark Okrusko put this thing together with a select group of writers and artists who have participated in the bi-annual Durango Songwriters Expo in both Santa Barbara, CA and Boulder, CO and it was huge success. We played to a packed house on an otherwise sleepy Tuesday night and just had a blast. The closer/headliner, Will Champlin, blew the doors off the place. So much talent… definitely check out Will’s music when you get a chance here. This guy is on the verge of doing some pretty amazing things – all very well deserved!

After a killer show at SOhO in Santa Barbara, CA on June 11th, I crashed at my buddy Mark's pad on a mountain top above town and woke up to a sea of clouds.

The next morning, I woke up to an awesome cloud (fog?) show that swept up the coast into the mountains framing Santa Barbara. So cool… After a few long days, a late night bed time the night before, and a 6:00 AM wake-up call, I had a tough time driving south to my day-time gig in La Jolla that Wednesday morning. After repeatedly nodding off at the wheel of my Ford Focus rental, I succumbed to my need for caffeine and threw down a large Double Dirty Soy Chai. I always love ordering these things, because it just sound so hilarious. That, and the baristas always get a kick out of my name… “Chai for CHI?! What the whaaaaaat?!”

The only thing that kept me from becoming another roadside statistic on the I-5. Thank you for keeping me alive, Starbucks!

I finally made it back to La Jolla to play a mid-day gig at Westfield UTC from noon until 2:00 PM and had a killer time for my last of six gigs. The audience was superb, so supportive, and just a heck of a lot of fun. Plus, they were buying up my albums like crazy, which always feels good. All in all, it was a terrific close to my Southern California performances.

Later that evening, I met up with my buddy Mark and paddled out for an evening sesh at his favorite break up in Cardiff-By-The-Sea. Not too much size that night, but on a quad fish with a gigantic swallow tail in warm water (we trunked it!) in front of a huge sunset, those waist high waves were a little slice of Heaven. We wrapped it up with some sushi, sake, and a little conversation before calling it a near-perfect day and hitting the sack.

My travel rig, a whole heck of a lot lighter after selling a bunch of merch over the course of six SoCal performances in six days.

The next day, before my flight back to Nashville, I swung out to El Cajon, CA to visit the folks at Taylor Guitars and get a little work done on my two work horses – my 814ce’s. I’ve got two of these babies: one is from 1999 and the other is from 2009. They travel with me everywhere and have never let me down, but they needed a little love. So, on short notice, the gang at the Taylor Guitars Factory Service Center totally styled them out, gave ‘em the royal treatment, and got them back to playing at 110%. Big thanks to Robin and Dave over at Taylor Guitars for taking such good care of me that morning! (You guys rock!)

All good things must come to an end. Departing CA and heading back to TN to get back to the grind.

After wrapping things up at Taylor Guitars, I sped over to the San Diego airport, returned the car, and scrambled to my gate to make my flight back to Nashville. Despite multiple tornados and severe weather around the east coast, we made it back with a few minutes to spare, safe and sound. (Not everyone was as lucky with their travel that day, it seemed.)

BIG THANKS to my buddy Mark Okrusko for lighting the fire to get me out to California for his showcase. (I owe ya, Mark!) Big thanks, too, to all the clubs who booked me on short notice and, especially, to all my friends and fans who made the effort to come out to my shows, support the dream, and hang for food, surf, and conversation during my trip. Loved seeing every one of you and I hope to catch up with you all again soon!