settling back in

Well, the last Christmas show was Sunday night, and it was a blast, as usual. This was probably the most fun I've had on tour since I was 19 and 20 and driving around in a van with the Normals and Matthew Perryman Jones was opening for us and Weigel was running sound. Those were good days. And so have been these. It was just an amazing time to spend with some of my best friends. It's great to be done and back home, but a little bittersweet for sure.

Yesterday I just ran a ton of errands and tried to get a lot of business stuff done that had been on the need-to-do list for a while. Some I can't tell you about yet (ooh, what is it!?!) some was just boring, and some was working on the pre-order site, which you, by now, probably all just imagine contains information about the next Guild weekend, but lo, I assure you, it's almost there. And thanks again for your patience.

Last night was a memorable Nashville music night that I came totally unexpected. Jones called me about playing guitar for a three-song set at a writer's night thing at a club called the Mercy Lounge. Weigel was playing bass, Cason was on keys, and Andy Hubbard was playing kit, so it was a great band. We've done it before, and it's fun, but it's usually a bunch of sad, slow, boring solo acoustic guitar stuff and we're this lone rock band. Last night, though, as we were getting our stuff off stage, the person announcing stuff said "next up: the Bees!" and I couldn't believe it. They have been Nashville's greatest secret band. we all know who the lead singer is, since he used to host a similar night at a different club a few years ago, but that's about all we know. They played a few shows, then broke up, and had an album that never came out yet that everybody seemed to get, and it's honestly one of my favorite records. Apparently, they're playing together again and they played three new songs and were amazing. Right after that my friend Griffin House got up and played, who hasn't lived here in a while so I hadn't seen him in months. Jeff Irwin, who played bass for the Far Country tour and on my new record, played with him, as did my friends Ian and Court and ol' Cason sat in on a tune as well. They also played all new songs and they were killer. Very dynamic, very Springsteen, just a huge voice and charisma. It was really fun to get to play with my good, old friends and then to get to just sit and enjoy some great music. Fun times.

flow chart

My good friend Paul Eckberg played a great drum take on the new version of New Mexico for the Photographs re-issue today. He also sent me this handy flow chart. He apparently does not like the 'Share the Well' song "Volcanoland."

checking in

It's 4 am and I just got home from this week's AP Christmas shows. This week we played in Florida, Tennessee and tonight in Ohio. All three shows were great, unique in their own ways as they were. In Florida we played outside, a first for the Christmas tour, and it was still pretty cold by the end there. It was a nice night, though, and the audience was patient with our cold fingers and throats. Johnson City, TN had a great intimacy. The crowd was right up close to the stage, and with the anticipation of the "will they or won't they make it?" Webbs, who did make, but barely, the night was on its toes. Tonight felt like the most relaxed of the three shows. Everybody seemed comfortable and the audience was welcoming, they had even seemed to have heard of me before, which felt nice.

We've been having a blast on the bus. The Sudoku puzzles have been all the rage, splitting the tour into the inevitable two camps : the "Mathletes" and the pharisees. At least that's what us mathletes call the people who make fun of us. The initiated also welcomed the uninformed into the wonderful world of Arrested Development on this tour, with a couple of late night episodes each evening. It was great to watch through a second time and catch so many new things.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully sleep in just a bit, then play with Ella and spend time with Alison. Her folks are in town for Clay's graduation, so I'm sure we'll see them as well, which will be great. We have one last Christmas show on Sunday in Alabama, and then I'm home for a good, long while, and I can't wait.

Well, I should get to bed. Thanks for stopping by, and many thanks to everybody who's come out to the shows and bought records and came up and said hello. Have a great weekend.

The Ryman, the Joining, and the New New Mexico

Well, the Ryman show went great, I thought. Everybody seemed to have a good time, and the musicians all seemed to play really well. A few highlights for me were Pierce Pettis playing a Mark Heard song, then being lovably crazy when he broke a string and had to borrow Andy Gullahorn's guitar, Chris Weigel stepping back in on bass on "Pass Over Us", and just the amazingness of getting to play at the Ryman again. It is so amazing there. Oh, and backstage dinner was great.

It was really fun joining the church Sunday morning. They had all the new folks get up and they read a verse that each one of us picked out and then other people in the community got up to pray for us. It was so cool to see so many good friends come up to state they were parts of our fellowship. It was really neat and meant a lot.

I played electric guitar over at my friend Mitch's studio on Koo Chung's new record. They're getting some great sounds over there and it was nice to get to be a part of another of Koo's projects.

Last night I stayed up way too late and did a bulk of the track for a new version of "New Mexico" for the Photographs re-release. I based this one around piano, as opposed to guitar, and am playing everything on it but the drums, which we'll do at Paul Eckberg's either today or Saturday. It really is turning out cool, a lot more full and with some late-night ambience. This track features the debut recording of my new (old) Hammond organ and I could not have been happier with how it sounded. It has a stunning tone, and I'm not a great organ player by any stretch, so I was doubly pleased that it felt so good. Anyway, this version will be one of two bonus songs on the new pressing. The Portland Studio guys are doing some beautiful artwork for it, really capturing the tone and vibe of the project, and I can't wait to have it out. I won't make it in time for Christmas, but it should be out early next year.

Well, I'm sitting here with Ella, who's just jabbering away, and I should probably get going. We leave for three more AP Christmas shows tonight, and Cason and I are going to work on the new record in the afternoon. Garett's going to come over and take some family Christmas card shots today too, which will be fun. I think that's all for now, but I'll write again once we're out on the road. Feel free to say hello or share your favorite moments from the Ryman show. Until next time...

tomorrow is a big day

I just got home from a couple of shows this weekend and wanted to drop in a little post before I go to bed. I played two shows in Kentucky, Friday in Louisville with Caedmon's and Saturday (tonight) in Bowling Green with the AP Christmas tour. Both shows were good, but very different.

Cliff was in town on Thursday for some press stuff for our new record so he rode up with Garett and I in my dad's minivan to Louisville. Jeremy Casella opened, and I thought he did really well. It was a very conservative crowd and he did really well getting them comfortable and into his performance. I just love that guy and am always so glad to see him, and was excited to see him doing so well! It was our last Caedmon's show for quite a while, and we may have a slightly different line-up the next time we play, so we had a good time just being together and playing these songs again before we take a little break. The amps they brought for me were what I always get with backline, a Vox AC30 and a Fender Blues Deville, but they sounded way better than usual, and that's always fun.

Tonight's show with the Christmas tour was good, but not the best. The rest of the band had a long, grueling drive from Pennsylvania so they were pretty tired, and the sound in the room was kind of tough to work with. Still, looking out at the audience at the end I saw so many people with tears streaming down their faces. The first half was a little more low-key and intimate, everybody seemed to play slower, more pensive, tunes. I loved it, though. I played "early in the morning" and "Too Far To Walk" off of Photographs. Andy Gullahorn played some song I'd never heard before that was just incredible. Jill played "Grand Design" again tonight, which is fast becoming one of my favorites of hers. Just a great tune, and they way she and Andy play it live is stellar.

Tomorrow is a big day, though, in a couple of ways. First of all, the Christmas tour is playing the Ryman. It's such a momentous occasion for me to get to perform there, and to get to be playing Andy's songs makes it so powerful. Mindy Smith, Phil Madiera, Randy Goodgame and Pierce Pettis are joining us, as well as a string section featuring Matt Slocum. I will once again this year attempt to not make a fool out of myself in front of him, and once again, I imagine I'll fail.

As big of a deal tomorrow, at least for my family, is Sunday morning when Alison and I are officially joining our church. Some of you may remember me writing (and occasionally sticking my foot in my mouth) about the struggle we've had finding and settling into a church. Let me tell you, we have found such a freedom in just deciding to join and get involved where we felt the Lord calling us. We decided that becoming members meant that we would then start becoming responsible for the church, as opposed to being critical from the outside. Instead of leaving and finding a new church if something happens we don't like, we are in a position to try and affect a positive change.

We attended a class for new members, and we really enjoyed that, learning the history of the church as a whole and ours specifically, as well as its doctrine and organization. It was mostly a refresher, but we really got a lot out of it. This Sunday they're going to announce all of the new members, and I guess we'll stand up front so people see who's joining. I get embarassed by that kind of stuff sometimes, but I'm so excited to stand up and say that my family and I are committing to this body of believers that I'm all right with it.

Well, I feel like I'm about to start rambling bad, and my eyes are trying to shut on me, so I'll be done. I hope to see some of you at both Church and the Ryman tomorrow. I'll write again after the dust of the busy-ness of tomorrow settles...