drums - day 1

Well, day 1 of drums and bass went incredibly well. We did three songs: "After The Garden", "House of Mirrors" and "Trying to Get This Right". Will Sayles played kit and Jeff Irwin played bass. Shane Wilson brought a ton of his gear down here to the ol' Velvet Eagle and we're getting sounds here I never imagined. Right now, Tuesday morning, we're doing a song called "White Dove" which is definitely the most drum-instense tune of the batch, it might end up with three kits when all is said and done. It's going great, and I'm in heaven getting to finally bring these songs to life. And they're recording again so I should go. I'll post some pictures later today. Later.

Fort Collins and Dallas

I'm sitting backstage after our last of a few shows here in Dallas. It's been a crazy but fun past three days. I'm sure ready to get back home to my family, though. It's amazing how quickly I can really, really miss them these days.

My solo show in Fort Collins was a blast. The church was celebrating opening a new youth center and my concert was the first event held there. The people were really nice and everybody was having fun at the show, just laughing and being involved. I probably told as many stories as I played songs. That used to be unusual for me, but it's starting to happen more and more. Probably from hanging out with Andy Peterson and Cliff Young. They also had carpet-ball, which they had at my summer camp, Lake Waubesa, in Madison, WI when I was in Jr. High. I don't want to get cocky about it, but I played like eight games and only lost one. So if you know of a carpet-ball game anywhere near a show, let me know. It's on.

Ok, I have to leave now and go back to the hotel. Write more in a few minutes...

Aaaaaaaaaand, I'm back. Anyway, Fort Collins was fun and there was a really good opener, Clayton Risner who has like 80 million friends on MySpace. So, yeah, a good time was had, unless you played me in carpet-ball....

Moving on, I've been in Dallas with Caedmon's for the past two days. We've been stationed at a church here playing at a conference yesterday, church services this morning and evening, and a concert tonight. A lot of playing. It's been a busy couple of days, but it's been fun to be with the band again. It's been almost eight months since the actual seven members have all been at the same show, with bass players and girl singers coming and going somewhat, and so it was a welcomed reunion.

Well, that's about it for this weekend. I have to get up nice and early to get to the airport to get home where tracking for my record will have already begun without me. Thank God for Cason. I'll be posting daily this week about the work we'll be doing, so please keep checking in. Oh, and my Suhr guitar got to my house forty minutes after I left for the airport Friday morning. Bummer. So I have a lot of things to look forward to when I get home in the morning. I get to see my family, my friends, get some major (drums and bass) work done on my record, and get to play a new guitar. Oh, and then I'm doing another photo shoot for the record in the evening. I'll sleep well tomorrow night for sure. Thanks again, and I'll write again soon.

getting ready

Well, I've pretty much spent most of today getting ready for upcoming things. Cason and I worked on the songs for my new record, making sure all the files are in order and all the pieces are there that are necessary for the drummer and bass player to play to. It was fun listening through a lot of the songs in a row, even in as weird a shape as they're right now. Then I spent a little while moving keyboards, amps, pedalboards, cables, etc... to make room for a drum kit and the extra people we'll be having down there. It's not the biggest space in the world, so making room is always important. (Things I've learned the hard way, Vol 2.)

I've also been packing up my guitars and merch for this weekend's shows. I'll be playing solo in Fort Collins, CO tomorrow (Friday) and with Caedmon's in Dallas Saturday and Sunday. If you're in the Denver or Fort Collins area, I'd love to see you at the show. All the info is over there < ------. Should be a fun time.

I got a call yesterday from Suhr guitars out in San Diego. They have been building me a new custom "vintage" Strat for the past few months and I'll be getting it tomorrow. I have to leave for the airport at 10 am, so I'm hoping it gets here before then, so I can take it to this weekend's shows. I've been excitedly waiting for this for a long time, so when it gets here I'll post some pictures and a little review of it. There's a link to their site over --------> there, if you want to check out what they build.

So, that's about it. It's been a good day and I've gotten to spend some nice time with Alison and Ella, and with Cason as well. I wish every day could be like these days: at home with the family, making music with my friends.... Alas, good times never paid the mortgage... You guys buying the music does!! Thanks again, and I'll write again from the road this weekend.

a quick update

It's been a couple days since I've written last, and I wanted to keep you up to date on what's been going on this week. Saturday we did one of the photo shoots for the new record, and it turned out great. This shot involves some more work to complete, so I don't want to share it yet, but just want to say that I'm excited at how it's turning out.

Cason and I have spent the last two days getting the songs ready for drums and bass, which we'll record next week. Shane Wilson (Switchfoot, Sarah Masen) is going to engineer them, so that's going to rock. My old intern Dave dropped by today as well and it was good to see him. So did Jason, who was attempting some sort of maneuver where you buy Wendy's coupon books to get a certain number of a certain size of Frosty's to redeem some other coupon to get an airplane ticket to sell on ebay. At the end of the day, it probably takes as much work and effort as a real job, but hey, he's screwing the man, so I hope it works...

I'm working with Josh Wilson tomorrow, and then back with Cason on my stuff on Thursday, before I leave for the weekend. Friday night I'll be playing a solo show in Fort Collins, and am very much looking forward to some good BeauJo's pizza, and Saturday and Sunday will head down around Dallas to play at a conference with Caedmon's, where we'll get to speak about the Dalit Freedom Network. Cliff just got back from India late last week, and I'm excited to get to hear about his trip.

Halloween was fun last night. Ella was the cutest bunny on the block, even if she wasn't the fondest of her costume. She got one whole piece of candy, which her mean parents ate just because she only has two tiny, little, microscopic teeth. We spent the majority of the night over at the Peterson's with the Shives and our friend Whit. Much good chili, conversation and two-year old stand-up comedy made for a delightful evening. And I was asleep by 10:00 which was both surprising and enjoyable. I'm looking to repeat the "early to bed, early to rise" tonight, especially since I guilted my friends Mitch and Paul to come work out with me tomorrow, so I can't be the dude who backs out. So it's to bed with a fresh stack of library books for me. As always feel free to say hello, pre-order a record, or just look around. Good night.

New City - Knoxville, TN

It's 2 am and I just got in from my show tonight at the New City in Knoxville. I had a great band with me, Paul Eckberg on drums, Jason Feller on guitar, Kevin Mann on bass and a last-minute "why not?" Cason Cooley on keys. Man, what a blast. I am loving getting back to playing my own songs with a band. We played a lot more up-tempo numbers tonight, as well as two songs from the unfinished album, a song called "Following the Blind" and one called "White Dove" that I debuted tonight. It was fun to let loose and be a rock band. I just had so much fun.

It's great when the guys you get to play with are the guys you want to hang out with anyway. We spent six hours in a van getting there and getting back, and that was almost as much fun as playing a rock and roll show. My friend Whit hopped in the van and rode along with us as well, and we all enjoyed getting to know him better. Arthur Alligood played some great new songs to open the evening, and Greg Adkins did a really intimate and confident set to close the night. He played most of his new album, which I produced, and so Paul and I sat in with him on some of the songs. It's always fun to play a song in four minutes that you spent a few days on in the studio. Fun to see them come to life...

Tomorrow my friend Mark Nicholas and I are going to head out to Kenny Meeks' farm to do the photography for the new album. He's a great photographer, and an even better hang, so I'm looking forward to the time. We have some pretty interesting ideas for ways to bring alive some of the themes of the album, and I'm excited to see how they pan out.

Well, I think I'm sufficiently settled down from the driving and unloading, so it's time to head for bed. Thank you so much to the people who came out to see me tonight. I hope you had half as much fun as I did.