Who are The Racontourists
Jason and Emma Walsmith
Hello, Welcome to my Substack. We are the Racontourists.
Hey there! We are Jason and Emma Walsmith - we call ourselves racontourists - and yes we made that word up, a beautiful mish-mash of two words we are very fond of. First, a "raconteur" is a person who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. And of course, "tourist" - a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure. You will mostly be hearing from me…Jason. I may twist Emma’s arm from time to time to tell a story or two or share some thoughts she has on any given topic. For instance, Emma is currently in central Mexico, trekking to see the congregation of the Monarch Butterfly migration. When she returns she may have a thing or two to say about butterflies. Since July of 2020, we have clocked over 150,000 miles traveling in our camper van with 2 and then 3 dogs, while I played shows in 40+ states. We documented and shared these adventures on Instagram and YouTube.
I have spent the last 30+ years of my life living the racontourist lifestyle as the co-lead singer of my band, The Nadas. Throughout my music career, I have been the proud owner of sixteen different tour vehicles - everything from a 77 Dodge Xplorer Van to an Eagle bus previously owned by Meatloaf. It wasn’t always paradise by the dashboard lights though - I’ve seen it all.
The bus brakes started on fire while the band traveled over Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado.
The bus engine gave up on them not once, but twice with catastrophic failures that required a full rebuild of a 6V-92ti Detroit Diesel motor.
The oil cooler hose popped off while we were driving down the highway in our 2004 Bornfree RV.
The 1999 Fleetwood Jamboree caught fire as The Nadas left the RV Dealer parking lot, earning its name "Fox Smoulder."
Of course, I’ve also owned a baker’s dozen of Ford Econolines throughout the years. I have some stories to tell. I have often thought about writing my memoir and calling it “Life in a Bucket, My Life in 13 Vans, 2 RVs and 2 Buses”
Being an independent touring musician has me wearing a lot of hats. In addition to writing and recording, traveling and performing songs with The Nadas as well as solo as Jason Walsmith Storyteller, I find myself wearing many different hats. I do commercial and fine art photography. I do some motivational speaking in both educational and corporate settings. Emma and I have set up a #vanlife camping destination and alpaca farm outside of Des Moines called The Waypoint. And lastly (for now) I have recently launched my own brand of heritage-designed soft-sided acoustic guitar gig bag called Guitar Satchel. I tell you all of this not to make your head spin or make you wonder if I have some sort of vitamin deficiency but to illustrate that we have a lot of interesting things going on in our lives.
What do I plan to write about on a weekly basis?
Thank you for asking. I thought one of my main themes might be “Deconstructing a Song”. I thought I would start with some of my own songs and break down the inspiration, the process for writing, some of the hidden meanings and intentions, and maybe some of the ways the song has evolved. I thought it might also be fun to do that with other songs I like or that move me in some way. Those deconstructions will be a little different since I didn’t write them but rather will be an interpretation of what I think the songwriter intended, and also how it landed for me. One of my techniques as a songwriter is to insert purposefully ambiguous lines or phrases to open it up to connect with people in different ways. I think this could lead to interesting interaction and discussion from my readers.
Another topic I plan to cover is travel and adventure. I realize travel and adventure mean different things to different people but I am hoping some anecdotes from my time on the road will be interesting and enjoyable. This writing may touch on history, current events, food, destinations…you know, people, places things.
I may occasionally cover entrepreneurialism. Guitar Satchel is an entrepreneurial endeavor for me, as is The Nadas, and The Waypoint. Because of these companies, I have met so many other interesting business owners and artists over the years and they all have a story to tell, so I may from time to time share their stories. I find them quite often both interesting and inspirational. Besides, did you know you only shear Alpaca 1 a year and they only have babies between 9-11 am? We have all kinds of things to talk about.
Thank you for reading. I am honored to be a part of this accomplished and respected collection of writers. I have written quite a bit over the years 3 minutes and 30 seconds at a time. I am excited to get more down “on paper”. I have gone to great lengths to try and live a very interesting life. I try my best to document what we see, hear, taste, discover, and learn, and then we endeavor to share that with those who will listen (read). This is how I gauge success. Come Along for the Ride?
I love the idea of a behind-the-scenes look at your songwriting and how the song has changed for you over time. I think a lot of readers would be interested. I've found my readers enjoy hearing about my reporting process for some stories.