Holly Bowling’s adventurous Wilderness Sessions tour this fall has been a bright spot in an otherwise disastrous 2020. Bowling has traveled to some of the most beautiful and remote corners of the United States to perform the music of the Grateful Dead and Phish on her keyboard.

Holly’s final stop on the tour was the scenic Moab, UT with stunning views of plateaus in the background. Here is what Holly had to say about the performance, “Well, here it is. The last show. The end of two months on the road living in a van, waking up to a different view each morning and seeing the milky way splayed out above me every night before crawling into bed. The end of never knowing where we’d end up the next night. The last of the hours to coax music out of my head and fingers in the most beautiful places I could possibly imagine. The end of a “tour” I could never have foreseen a year ago.

The final set of the Wilderness Sessions is so different from where the tour began. Moab is desert and sand, dry riverbeds and cacti, the rock formations all reds and oranges and golden hues. It felt nothing like the mountains and stone and rivers and towering forests of Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, pine needles always underfoot, the colors all grays, greens and blues.

This last show was a really fun one to play. Some of them were like that – joyful and focused and a total escape from the events of this year. Some of them were really hard. Most of them were both. I remember setting up for this set, trying to arrange my keyboard and seat (which kept sinking in the sand), burning in the desert sun and struggling to find a place where part of my rig wouldn’t end up squarely in a cactus, and having a moment of realization of how absurd and crazy this entire thing was. I can’t say “cacti” had ever been the main problem while setting up my rig for a show before. But for all of the dust storms, sunburns, never-ending drives, equipment failures, bug bites, frozen fingers, late night “are we lost?” drives down two tracks to nowhere, and times we turned the van around and admitted defeat, they were at least as many moments of bliss and beauty and freedom. So many times when I let myself look around me while playing, I felt I could barely take it all in. I’m so incredibly thankful that this crazy idea came to fruition, and I think playing these sets out in the wilderness probably saved me. Thanks to everyone who’s tuned in to listen and made it all possible. See you on the other side when we can all be together again.”

Thanks to Holly for the wonderful footage and all of the Wilderness Sessions!