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Thanks to Jordan Harman Band's keyboardist, James Pace, for this post on the act's trip to Tarrytown, N.Y., to open a show for Robert Randolph:

We began our drive of 8 hours at 6 am, heading to Tarrytown NY. I planned the route to include the G.W. Bridge so young Drew [Lawhorn -- read about how Lawhorn got this gig for the band -- ed.] could see Manhattan from a distance. He has never been in NY state up until this point. We arrived up at the venue and loaded in, but had to wait for a couple of hours before we could set up b/c Randolph's band was still yet to sound check.

The show had sold about 600 tickets. When we took the stage at least 400 of them were in their seats with listening ears on. The place [Tarrytown Music Hall, in Westchester, N.Y.] reminded me very much of the Jeff Center, set up as a not for profit and carrying very similar acts. The folks at this show were there to really hear some music, and not just party. This was a nice relief for Brad [Taylor, bassist -ed], Drew and Jordan [Harman] as they have spent most of their musical lives on stages in bars where the $3 beers seem sometimes to be more important than the talent in front of them.

Prior to going on stage we gathered from the program director that in the past the opening acts were not well received. Some of the folks working at the theater told us that in general the opening acts don't see much of a response from the crowd.
Knowing this, we took the stage after our introduction and a warm welcome from the crowd. You could feel a "what the heck you gonna do?" vibe in the air. So we started our first tune and away we went. Crowd cheering after after our solos, laughing at the goofy stuff Jordan was saying in between songs. We played our 35 minute set, thanked the crowd and they thanked us. Walked off and up to the merch area. I have been touring with Ana [Popovic] for the last 2 weeks, signing autographs is just a thing that we do.( I still don't get why people want a signature of the person they just heard). But for Jordan Drew and Brad being in a town where nobody knows you, and having folks come up to shake your hand, $buy your CDs and T-Shirts$ , and get an autograph was a very cool thing. Maybe its that I am 8 years older than the oldest member in the band, but for me it was more enjoyable to watch those guys get the respect and attention they deserve.

Then we drove the 8 hours back throughout the night.

A lot of work just to open for Robert Randolph?

Yes. But really opening for Randolph (who's show was kinda boring to me really) was not nearly as important as was being Johnny on the Spot for Red Light Management. They had called Drew asking if we could do the gig. Our hopes are to build that relationship and maybe find our way to a stage opening for Drew's favorite band, the Dave Mathews Band. Red Light would be exactly the folks to make that happen. First Agents of Good Roots, and maybe JH Band next?!?