THE BOOK: On The Bus: Photos From The American Tour 2011-2021
PUBLISHED IN: 2021
THE AUTHOR: Max Abrams
THE EDITOR: Nancy Marion
THE PUBLISHER: The Blackwell Press.
SUMMARY: I started touring when I was 22. Like most musicians just starting out, we got where we were going in a van. The end of one gig meant hurtling towards the next gig as quickly as possible. Free time was spent sleeping, eating, or practicing. This went on for a few years.
In those early days I truly resented the time it took to travel. There was no joy in getting from, say, New Orleans to LA. It was an obstacle to be overcome. A task. A burden.
That changed when I joined a band with a bus. Someone else did the driving. Suddenly there was time to look out the window. I began to notice how the country was a million small places, each offering up something singular and beautiful. I started to take pictures.
Some of those pictures became this book. In many ways the meditation of looking has become a joy equal to music. Thank you for sharing it with me.
THE BACK STORY: I have so few photos of my early carreer in music. There were so many beautiful moments I deeply regret not capturing. When I joined The Mavericks in 2011, I made a mental note to record the journey. I began posting pictures from our tours on social media. Friends and fans began asking for a coffee table book. So, I thought I’d give it a go. Thankfully my friend and editor, Nancy Marion, was able to help me find form in the chaos of the 66,000 images I’d shot.
WHY THIS TITLE?: “On The Bus” is a quote from American author Ken Keasy. In his cliqe of mid-1960s psychonauts, known to the world as The Merry Pranksters, you were either on the bus (in this case a literal bus, Furthur, a 1939 International Harvester school bus that they drove across country), or off the bus. No one but the band is allowed on our tour busses, so I felt like this was a way to incude people in the journey we take when we head out to play America.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? I travel 170 days a year. We are literally on tour every other day. Part of that life is seeing the entire US on a very granular level. We play Manhattan and LA, but we also play Kansas City, and Muscogee, Oaklahoma. America is really thousands of small beautiful moments that shift and change and transform into a country. I tried to get the beauty of every part of the journey, the cities, the giant empty plains, the truck stops, the people, the old and new, all of it, on film.
AUTHOR PROFILE: Max Abrams is a Nashville based saxophonist who has recorded and performed with a variety of acts, including The Mavericks, Widespread Panic, Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton, Taj Mahal, Little Big Town, Frankie Valli, Sir Cliff Richards, Brendan Benson, Dara Maclean, Big and Rich, Kid Rock, Luke Byran, Lionel Richie, Ben Rector, The Royal Southern Brotherhood, Jeff Cohen, Colbie Caillat, Dave Barnes, James Slater, Randy Houser, Jake Owen, and Yo-Yo Ma. Max played on two #1 records in 2021 and has appeared on the Grammy Awards, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers, PBS Great Performances, and the CMA, CMT, ACM, and AMA awards.
AUTHOR COMMENTS: The book was just an attempt to capture America from a tour bus window. We live in a beautiful country. I tried to get it on film.
WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: The book is available signed and numbered by the author at: https://maxabrams.bandcamp.com/merch/on-the-bus-photos-from-the-american-tour-2011-2021-3
PRICE: $30
CONTACT THE AUTHOR: maxabrams.bandcamp.comfacebook.com/maxwellabrams
instagram.com/maxwellabrams
Snowflakes in a Blizzard 