On the mystery ride: August has entailed filling up on another dose of Alaskan beauty and awe and inspiration and late sunsets time with family and fish, birds and art in and around Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula for eight days, then flying home to meet pals at Stern Grove to see icon Al Green — because “Love and happiness, yeah…” — before playing a run of shows with Bay Station.

Before I say more, though, a moment for Dolly Parton. DOLLY PARTON. Talk about icons and music and love and beauty and awe. What a human, what an inspiration, what an artist, and what a huge loss for us all.

“I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are, and to love who they love.” — Dolly Parton

I spent a good chunk of Tuesday watching and listening to her music and performance videos, being alternatively sad and wowed … and fortified in my belief in the power of art and music to make a better world.

Songs are a throughline in this household and we’re pleased to have new Bay Station music to share. Mystery Ride features 10 new songs that Kwame and I wrote together over the past several years. Produced with and mixed and mastered by Ben Bernstein Music, Mystery Ride is now available everywhere you stream music and at the shows. Speaking of which, we’ll be playing the record live in full this weekend at Down Home Music Store & Foundation in El Cerrito with a great band: Michael Capella on electric guitar and pedal steel, Jen Rund on bass, Andrew Griffin on drums, and Liz Stuart on percussion/squeezebox/backing vocals. We’ll be playing two sets: the first featuring Mystery Ride in full, the second, songs from our back catalog. Don’t miss it! It’s free, all ages, you can come anytime and shop for records at the same time.

Saturday, August 29, 2026 
BAY STATION at Down Home Music Foundation
10341 San Pablo Ave
El Cerrito, CA
2pm-4pm