Neither rain, nor heat, nor threat of night will stop Mile of Music from its appointed rounds

The U.S. postal service has nothing on Levi Parham. Neither rain, nor heat kept him from his appointed round at Mile of Music.

Ironically, midway through his song “Gonna be a long day,” the skies opened up, winds blew, rain poured down and, not just unfazed, the singer/songwriter from Oklahoma actually turned it up a notch.

He played his entire set, stopping every now and then to re-tune his guitar. Huddled under the canopy on the patio at Bazil’s Pub with a bunch of other hearty music fans, I enjoyed every note.

Mile of Music, Appleton’s four-day music festival, only comes around once a year, and Molly and I don’t like to miss a note. Molly saw a dozen sets yesterday, including last night’s artist tribute to David Bowie and Prince. So intent was she on soaking in as much music as she could, that she skipped dinner and ate a sub sandwich on the Mile of Music bus, while she caught her friend Jack Russell’s debut performance.

Yesterday’s inconvenient storms forced a few adjustments to the schedule, but, mostly, the show went on. Nowhere was that can-do more evident than on Bazil’s Pub Patio. Parham whipped his long hair into the wind and ripped through his set, including “Held in High Regard” “Love Comes Around” and “Ruby”.

He just released his third album, “These American Blues,” which he recorded at Music Road Records in Nashville.

The weather is supposed to be perfect the rest of the weekend and Levi Parham is playing five more sets. If you’re anywhere near Appleton, come on down and give him a listen. Download the Mile of Music app and treat yourself to a great weekend of all original music from cool folks like Parham and more than 240 other musicians.

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The weather was reasonable when Levi opened his set, and we all settled in for a nice show.
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But the skies opened up.
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And Levi played a little harder.
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Until it seemed like the summer storm energized him.
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Like this smart couple, who thought to bring an umbrella built for two, we all took whatever shelter we could muster…
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…except my friend Rae, who sat calmly through the storm and enjoyed the whole show. Rae might love Mile of Music even more than Molly and me…
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This is her on a sunnier day during the very first Mile of Music, four years ago.

Enjoy this clip of Levi Parham picking up steam as the weather turns nasty. What a trooper and a talented guy!

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