Jack Kerouac-Inspired Live Ukulele Session

I know I’ve been calling these live ukulele sessions “spontaneous” since I started doing them a few months ago, but this one really lives up to the title because: I didn’t plan the date I would do it, didn’t practice any of the songs until an hour before I went live, and certainly didn’t tell anyone in advance that I’d be playing today!

Except my husband, to whom I said an hour ago, “I think I’m going to do a Kerouac song-themed ukulele live!” and he… just quietly absorbed my enthusiasm, like he always does.

So this is a short set dedicated to Jack Kerouac, my favorite writer, on his birthday — and to James Taylor, whose birthday it is as well.

The three songs in this set are:

• 10,000 Maniacs, “Hey Jack Kerouac”
• Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar, “California Zephyr”
• James Taylor, “Fire and Rain”

There are so, SO many more songs that mention Kerouac, but we’d be here all night if I tried to cover all of them! And I mentioned a few other things in the live:

Here’s the documentary One Fast Move or I’m Gone, which Ben and Jay’s album was created to accompany:

And if you’re curious about the Great Northern Railway, here’s a little history courtesy of the Glacier National Park website.

See you for the next session, whenever that may be!