After nine albums of sterling folk/pop/rock, Eleni Mandell had no need to alter her creative methodology. A chance stroll through the history of country music in the cradle of its development gave Mandell the blazingly clear vision to simplify her process on what would become the new Dark Lights Up. Mandell will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. What she will be writing about: “My kids are four-and-a-half years old (twins). We travel with my ex-boyfriend (not their father), who helps out as the ‘nanny.’ They have toured across the USA many times, but now they’re older and have opinions. The tour lasted five weeks, and we had a blast looking for fun things to do. Two places to avoid: Walmart and Cracker Barrel unless you want to listen to your kids hassle you to buy them stuff for hours on end!” Read our recent feature on Mandell.
Mandell: I had never heard of this amazing town before, but luckily I have well-traveled friends and like making small talk with motel owners in the middle of nowhere. Our first night was spent at Willow Springs Motel Trailer Park right on I-394. Staying there was fun in itself—like we had our own little cabin. The old woman running the place told me that she’d grown up there; that her folks had opened the place 50 or 60 years ago and that we absolutely must go to Bodie. It’s an abandoned mining town that was booming in the 1880s. It’s like walking through history. My kids loved it as much as Rob and I did. They say there’s a curse if you take any souvenirs from there, Luckily, we didn’t.
Video after the jump:
