Scott Toepfer : Revival Tour 2009

Scott Toepfer has returned from a week long expedition with Chuck Ragan and friends on the second annual Revival Tour. The following is his account and some photos from the edit.




All the planning in the world would not have helped me on this trip. I’ve found that putting together a tour of musicians is quite the undertaking, and jumping onboard midway can be a bit complicated. Without any assurances, I boarded a plane from LAX to SFO to spend a week driving around California with some of my heroes. Upon arrival, I received a phone call… “are you coming to meet us?”…that was all I needed. I hopped a train to meet them.





The few days I was with them ran together like a blur. California tour dates include short drives and lots of downtime to wander the streets, and lots of time to practice. This tour was unlike any other. There was no traditional lineup…the musicians started together and ended together, and the stage was never empty for a moment. They played each other’s songs together, spending sound checks learning new songs to play each night. Needless to say, it was a departure from the norm, and a refreshing one at that.





To describe the music…I would call it roots. Everybody on the tour has a background in acoustic music, regardless of how they’ve chosen to use it. Bluegrass gospels from Possessed by Paul James and the Anderson Family Bluegrass Band, mixed with blues ridden introspectives by Audra Mae graced the stage alongside the giants of Chuck Ragan, Jim Ward, Joey Cape, and Frank Turner, with the occasional harmonica solo by merch handler Matty. The crowd never left, and never stopped singing along, as the brothers and sisters of the Revival Tour traded off time under the lights.