Everyone who was there agrees: New Orleans was the LeBron James of Songwriter Getaways.
It was our ninth getaway, so by this point we have a handle on what makes them magical; it was our first international getaway, so there was an element of the unknown; and it was New Orleans, a city that is an absolutely unique nexus of culture and history and music and food and community. So maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised.
(Did you know that New Orleans has over one hundred officially sanctioned parades every year, and another hundred and fifty unofficial parades? It’s a city that doesn’t need to be asked twice to throw a parade. As we sat in a bar on Bourbon Street on the third day, a parade went past the front door, and our world-weary server looked up and said, “Oh look, a parade,” with absolute sarcasm. So maybe they overdo it a wee bit with the parades).
We trooped down to NOLA/The Big Easy/Crescent City a couple weeks ago with ten songwriters in tow, camped out for four nights in a gorgeous Air BnB a few blocks from the French Quarter and let the magic happen. Most days went like this: communal breakfast at the house, songwriting lesson, songwriting (and sharing) in pairs based on that lesson, lunch, an afternoon of exploring New Orleans (Preservation Hall jazz band, Trème walking tour, St. Patrick’s day parade), nap, dinner at a mind-blowing restaurant, then a night of either seeing the sights or watching an amazing live band or a song circle in the backyard around a fire. What’s not to like?
Every songwriter on the first day was given their own songwriting prompt, anything from “write a song that sounds like a party” to “write a song about America.” On the last day, everyone shared those songs, which made for a bittersweet morning at the Getaway House – the simultaneous recognition of how good this group of songwriters was but also that we were about to disband forever, that the magic spell of the New Orleans getaway was over and we’d have to make do with iPhone recordings and Facebook photos after that.
Our Next Songwriter Getaway
From June 8-10 we’ll have our next getaway, in Castleton, Ontario. Many of the people from the New Orleans getaway will be there, and we know this because they’ve already signed up. And make no mistake, we’re all looking forward to it and it’s gonna be amazing and full of great songs and great meals and great community and it’ll be fantastic and memorable because they all are. But I think all of us need to bask in the fading glow of New Orleans for another week or two and give a long, satisfied sigh before we turn our attention fully to the next one.