Turtle Goodwater & Logan

Season 3, Mad River; Season 7, Humboldt Bay, Eureka California

FB: Turtle Goodwater / IG: @honkytonk_hillbilly / IG: @barnfire_countrymusic / FB: @barnfirecountrymusic

I know Turtle through Stella.  Along any journey, there are other folks whose input and energy push a project one way or the other.  That’s how I feel about Stella putting me in touch with Turtle, and Turtle for responding to that energy for providing the canoe and scouting out locations for Season 3 that resulted in a magical afternoon in the spring of 2021 that created a magical afternoon of a minifestival with a green canoe as a stage that ended up with Turtle and Ethan diving into the river.  That kind of good time led me back here in the spring of 2022.  

When Turtle showed up it was grey and rainy duster weather.  After Noah and Sequoias had done their songs it was sunny.  I’d stripped down layers and was still sweating.  We rowed up across the bay and followed a channel between Daby and Woody Island.   Tide was rising, but not fast enough and I almost got us stuck in the mudflats.  It wouldn’t have been too big a deal but more folks were waiting on shore.  After his first song, ‘Stealin’ we swung around to some old pilings and he sang a song about old rivermen.  Some songbirds joined him briefly for a chorus.

He’s got a timeless voice and a look that might fit in a honkey tonk in every decade of the last 100 years.  Today there would be no jumping into the waters of Humboldt Bay today.  CLARABELLE the rowboat was a bit too comfortable a ride, and the sunshine a bit too cozy. FB: Turtle Goodwater

SEASON 3 INTRODUCTION: I met Turtle through Stella. Through Turtle, Logan. They are part of the Rinky Dink String Band. Stella had spent ten years in Humbolt, and after her Tinyboatsession, she told me tales of the talented musicians in the area that inspired Tinyboatsession Season 3 to go on the road. Turtle became my main contact, and he scoped out a site on the Mad River and was able to find a fine little green canoe. They were the first session. I love doing the duets. Each instrument and singer makes a different amount of noise, so it's fun to play with the boat and the position to balance the sound. I also loved that the name of their band included 'Rinkydink' because traveling up the coast looking for songs in boats with nothing but a van and an iPhone felt like the epitome of that word. Except for the green plastic of the canoe, I felt like I could have stepped back in time and caught a few miners or cowboys hanging out on the river 120 years ago. -Jordan & Clarabelle