Ocassionally, 315 Music hits the road to visit music hotspots and experience neighboring areas. This week we ventured to Burlington, Vermont to check out MJ Lenderman and The Wind at Higher Ground and visit some local breweries and eateries. Here’s our experience.
Music is almost always the destination. But it’s not always the totality of the journey. Sometimes the side quests and the paths taken are what makes the trip. Behold, the 315 Music travel blog of a trip to Burlington, VT, centered around a sold-out MJ Lenderman and The Wind show at Higher Ground.
Thanks to my pal, Bob Peterson, I was gifted two tickets to see one of the hottest tickets going right now, MJ Lenderman and The Wind at the legendary Higher Ground in Burlington. I quickly reached out to my friend, Rome expatriate Bob Larkin, who now lives in Burlington, to see if he’d like to join me at the show. This turned into a whirlwind two-day trip up and back, with music as the center.
The four-hour drive from Rome, NY to Burlington, VT winds through the Adirondack Park, traveling through tiny mountain hamlets with borrowed names, Ohio, Russia, Essex, Charlotte; past beautiful lakes, Eagle, Paradox, Schroon, Piseco, and along rivers and streams that became traveling companions for much of my journey. I’m looking at you Sacandaga River and Mill Creek.
Typical early spring weather in the northeast is anything but, especially in recent years. Heavy rains in the past week have turned these rivers and streams into intimidating torrents with whitecaps waving at passers-by. It really is one of the most beautiful trips you could take.
Crossing the bridge over Lake Champlain also has you crossing the New York-Vermont border. If it weren’t for the highway signage changing from black and white to green and white, you may not even realize you have entered another state.
The Champlain Valley countryside is dotted with dairy farms and fancy houses facing the mountains, particularly, New York’s High Peaks, across the lake. The first big town you encounter is historical Shelburne, just outside of Burlington. As in most bigger cities, the traffic becomes more congested the closer you get to Burlington.
Burlington this time of year is bustling. Students from UVM, Champlain College, and St. Michael’s College finishing up finals, prepping for graduation, meeting up with visiting parents. This is also a very active bicycle-friendly town.
Upon rolling into town, I decided to stop at a familiar spot, Foam Brewing, along the banks of Lake Champlain. A cool little spot that makes very fine IPAs and is fond of musical references in its beer names. This will reel me in every time.
When traveling, there are two hard and fast rules:
1. Find local breweries
2. Find local record stores.
After that, everything else is improv.
With rule number one already off to a good start, I went to meet Bob at Burlington Beer Company. This place is huge, and gorgeous. The reclaimed brick building was once home to the largest producer of photographic dry plates and paper in North America, and where the first color photographs in North America were produced.
I enjoyed a delicious smash burger, Bob a hummus plate and we downed a couple of drafts ranging from a dry-hopped lager to a helles lager, and a New England-style IPA, along with conversation about growing up in Rome, Then we were off to Higher Ground to catch the sold-out show.
Lenderman is a hot name on the indie-rock circuit right now. His album, Manning Fireworks, was on many 2024 year-end lists. The Asheville, NC native has performed with such indie-rock darlings as Waxahatchee, Indigo De Souza, and his band, Wednesday.
The show’s opener, This is Lorelei, was highly-entertaining and complements Lenderman’s music well. I’ll surely be checking out more of their material.
Lenderman and his fantastic band took the stage and the packed house was enraptured, many singing along with every song. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not completely familiar with Lenderman’s catalog, but the songs I am quite familiar with were played. Particular faves included “Wristwatch,” “She’s Leaving You,” “Catholic Priest,” and “Hangover Game,” a humorous song that discusses Michael Jordan’s infamous “flu game” against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals.
Lenderman’s sometimes slacker-vibe vocals may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but the man can surely pen some lyrics and play the guitar. If you’re into alt-country or slacker rock with a bit of humor mixed into the lyrics, you’ll dig this guy. Think Pavement/Dinosaur Jr/Jason Molina/Neil Young/Car Seat Headrest.
Bob and I parted ways after the show, he to his abode, me to search for some lodging. I opted for the Hotel Champlain in the Waterfront District. A little pricey, but clean and quiet.
After a good night’s sleep, it was off to find the diner I had passed earlier the day prior. A nondescript building, almost resembling a house, with an old school Coca-Cola sign with the name Handy’s Lunch. This HAS to be my kind of diner. I sat at the horseshoe counter, and was greeted by the young, friendly server who helped me choose from among their specialties.
Side note: This diner was featured on the Discovery Channel show, Man vs. Food, with the challenge of finishing the Chuck Norris breakfast sandwich.
I went with the Black Belt Sandwich. Think of a club sandwich made with only breakfast foods and the bread is French toast. This thing was easily eight inches tall and filled with eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, and ham. I drizzled some Vermont maple syrup on it and went to town. Definitely check out this place if you’re in town. It was a short walk from the Champlain.
I worked off a bit of that sandwich walking down to the shore of the lake. Parents with children in strollers, or splashing in the water, people walking dogs, running on the trail, riding bikes. You’d never know it was a mid-day Tuesday.
My final stop for this short trip? Autumn Records in Winooski, a town just a short drive away. They had a decent selection of titles I don’t normally see in my home browsing range, which is what I expected in a town like this. I left with a copy of Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted and a store t-shirt. Time to hit the road back to Rome.
The ride back was similar to the ride up, just in the opposite direction. I said hi to my new friends, the Sacandaga and Mill Creek as the rain added to their levels and they accompanied me for much of my drive along route 8.
I arrived home just before 5:00 feeling tired, but refreshed that I took this little jaunt through some of my favorite lands to one of my favorite towns, to do some of my favorite things.
Sometimes you just need to take a couple of impromptu days off work and go on a little adventure.