Liv Lombardi Tour Diary – On the Road to New Mexico, Part III

by Alice Magdziak • July 15, 2017 • Music, NJ Beyond the Borders • Comments (0) • 1605

Liv Lombardi has a voice that you just can’t forget once you’ve heard it. She’s one of my favorite singer/songwriters in New Jersey and I’m lucky to call her a friend. She is touring her way to New Mexico to record a new album and has agreed to write a tour diary for us. Liv is funding the new record with an IndieGoGo campaign so please help her with a donation.

She’s traveling with Matthew Smith of Hodera who is playing solo sets on this tour. We first met Matthew through a show that Liv put on several years ago so if you know about Hodera from us, it’s also because of Liv.

They just made it to New Mexico and play a show in Santa Fe tonight. Here’s Liv’s third tour diary entry:

Days 5-10
Champaign, IL >> Rockford IL >> Wichita, KS >> Dallas, TX >> Austin, TX

Somewhere in Kansas…or Iowa?

These days are long. I wake up in one place, spend the afternoon driving to another, play a show, get back in the car for a few more hours of driving and finally, sleep in another place hours away and states over from where I woke up. We rise in the morning and do it again. It really is like living three days in one. To try and comprehend this use of space and time is blowing my mind a little bit. The movement across space, however, has me feeling so calm. It’s almost like there is so much going on around me all the time, I have to surrender to being in the moment, because if not, I’ll miss out on something exciting or begin to feel just as crazed as the schedule my day follows.

Either way, I am continuing to have the time of my life. After Chicago, Matt and I drive a few hours south to Champaign-Urbana, IL & then immediately back up north after the gig for a show in Rockford the next day. We played at a nature preserve in Rockford. It was such a slice of serenity and exactly what we needed that day. On our drive there, I found myself thinking over so many things from my the life I uprooted only a few weeks ago when I left New Jersey with most of my belongings packed up in my car. And I came to this: There is no other place I want to be than here, on the road and on my way to share my truth to a new group of people. I am at peace and sitting inside ease.

Polaroids of new fans and friends in Wichita, KS

After Rockford we hit Wichita, which I loved! Something about being in the middle of America, I could feel the pulse of this country in a way I haven’t before. I am intrigued. We had an awesome host, who put on a great show for us and we got to have a bit of rest and re-cooperation time the next day with a few hours hanging poolside.

Storytelling in Austin, TX at the “Pearl Street Co-op”

Now, we are here in Austin, Texas. We have one more show left of this tour and I’m already feeling nostalgic. Once we hit Santa Fe, it’ll be time to rehearse and get studio ready by the end of the month. I’m so ready!! I keep reminding myself that this journey has merely begun and I am humbled with gratitude…