I'm Will Daly. For years I've been on the road playing shows and seeing America through live music.

This summer I'll hit the stage with Season 2 of Sound of Artown.

Ten cities, 12 episodes, every other Thursday.

We explore the live music venues and culture of a new American city with each new episode.

Our tour continues into the kind of venues you want to get to when you land in Detroit.

Providence, Denver, or Seattle.

Listen to Sound of Artown on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I didn't want to do the 9-5. I was not going to take the normal path.

I'm sitting in a hammock in, well, paradise.

If your idea of paradise is kind of the classic one.

Lush rain forest, green hills, clear streams, too many chattering birds and monkeys to count.

At night the wood swarm with headlight beetles, which are like giant fireflies.

It feels like Pandora.

I wanted to go see some tropical forests and I wanted to go catch snakes, crocodiles, and stuff that I did.

In the hammock beside me is Jacob Marlin, and this is his baby.

The Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education, or Be Free.

A 1,000 acre preserve in the Maya Mountains, dotted with thatch huts and visiting biologists,

who come here from all over the world to study what a healthy rain forest is like.

Be Free is right at the juncture of several other huge preserves, including the blatant nature reserve,

the crown jewel of Belize wilderness areas, which is why Jacob bought it 30 years ago,

and has lived here as its conservator ever since.

It connects all the other preserves into one massive wild forest.

...