It's a New Year, A New Song...

As you may or may not have noticed, the past few weeks since the Christmas tour have been Sabbatical, Part 2. It's been good to get away from business stuff for a little while. A much-needed break, for sure.

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Right now I'm at Alison's parents' place in North Carolina. We've been here for about a week and are heading back to Nashville tomorrow. One of Alison's best friends growing up got married Saturday, and we were both involved in that. The rehearsal dinner was at a Brazilian steakhouse. People with giant swords of meat walk around and cut pieces off onto your plate. Needless to say, that was the highlight of the day for me. Maybe the year.

Right after I got home from the tour all three of the girls got sick, so most of Christmas and the days surrounding were spent as quiet as possible, with as much Vitamin C and liquids as possible. Everybody's back to health now, so that's good.

Our Christmas was nice. The second year with our own family at home for the day. A little crazy because of the sickness, but better than last year when we had the sickness and a three-week old! Ella's old enough to really get excited about presents and Christmas trees and the decorations, so that's really fun. These are the days I'll miss when they're gone, I have no doubt.

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Well, the new year is upon us now, and I'm glad. This year has, without a doubt, been the hardest year of my life. Personally, business-wise, and in just about every other area, it's seemed to be a pile-on of disappointments and hardships. I'm so relieved to flip over the calendar, to start some new statistics.

There are a bunch of new irons in the fire now, though, and after a couple weeks off I'm starting to get excited about them. A few new melodies have been popping up, a new lyric here and there. I've got some meetings coming up, some crazy ideas to try out, a few records that ought to be made. It will be good to get into them, and I'm praying I can find new passion as I start again, and am able to leave the past disappointments out of the process, (besides having learned from them.)

I'm about to start working on a plan to get my Letters to the Editor EP printed up and made available so I can give them away on the Spring Caedmon's tour, and so you guys can have physical copies to give to folks you know. More on that in a day or two.

Also, it's looking like I'm going to be able to replace a few of the guitars that had to leave last year, and I've been having fun picking out finishes and options. I'm also going to re-do (wait for it) my pedalboard again. I have some new ideas. And that means I'll be selling some pedals, boards, guitars, etc... in the near future, as I move to a new phase.

I'm really looking forward to more fully embracing the guitar player in me. I've written before about how it's been hard to focus on one things amidst production, artistry, guitar playing, band membering, songwriting, etc... but the common link to all of those is the song and my guitar playing. This year, at least to start with, I'm going to be focusing on those two things. I feel like I've somewhat found my voice as a songwriter already (though that journey is never complete). My guitar playing feels like its on the verge of finally becoming something unique. My own voice. I just can't wait to dive deeper.

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In a week the girls and I will be heading to Orlando, along with Paul Eckberg, Aaron Sands, Ben Shive, Mitch Dane, a few others and their families. We're going to be the house band for the YoungLife All Staff conference. I'm really looking forward to that. YoungLife has long been a huge part of my story, and it will be great to get to be a part of it again, and I'll be making music with my good friends. And I'll be in Orlando with my family. (We get a free day at a theme park. We have a 1-year-old and a 2 1/2 year-old, any suggestions on Disneyworld vs. SeaWorld?)

In a couple days we'll start rehearsals for that, and when people start getting back to work I'll be able to start putting some of my ideas/plans in process. Thanks to all of you for your incredible support this past year, and thanks in advance for loving and supporting me in this new one. I hope to honor your investment in who I am and what I do. Have a great New Year. I'll see you on the other side.

Saving the best for last

In about an hour we'll step on stage for the last show of this tour. Nineteen shows in twenty days. It's been really great but everybody's feeling ready to get back home.

A little over an hour ago we convinced Ben Shive to give us a concert. In this empty 2000 seat room, thirteen or fourteen of us sat in the front two rows while Ben sat at the Steinway and sang us some of his songs.

I've said before that Ben is one of my favorite songwriters and it's just pretty much a fact that he's the best musician any of us have ever known. His songs are these beautiful, tender pieces; sad and hopeful, spilling over with both the Fall and the Resurrection. I can't wait for you to hear them one day. (Which will hopefully be soon).

For my money, those six songs were the best concert given this tour. The audience wanted more and more and the performances were innocent and honest. Now I feel I'm ready to go home.

Tampa's Songs:
New Beginning
Two Weeks in Africa

Last Night's Songs:
Hold the Light
Too Far to Walk

still on the bus

6 PM and we're still on the bus on the way to Tampa for our 7 PM show. Somewhere in Georgia last night one of the wheels on our trailer fell off, so we had to take a number of hours getting it fixed. Tonight will be interesting.

Last night's show at the Ryman was pretty amazing. I'd say it was hands down the best performance we've ever done. There were some incredible things going on in the songwriter round. Randall Goodgame blew my mind in a Ray Charles way I've never seen him embrace before. Jill sang "The Door" and kicked it in the teeth with goodness. I played "Hold the Light" on electric and felt really great about it.

There's something about a stage like the Ryman, a place where Elvis and Johnny Cash loom large. Just being there makes you a little nervous, because it makes you want to rise to the occasion. I felt like my community rose to the occasion last night and added a tiny bit to the legacy of that place.

All right, we're almost there, about to go into over-drive getting ready to pull this show off. Thank you to everybody who came out last night and were a part of that magical night.

Charlotte's Songs:
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Hold the Light

Last Night's Song:
Hold the Light

Welcome to Nashville

The tour is playing the historic Ryman Auditorium tomorrow night. It's always an amazing show at one of the premier music venues in the country. A number of people have told me they're coming in from out of town to see the show so I thought I'd take a few minutes and give you guys some tips of other things to do while you're in my town.

Nashville is my favorite city in the universe. I love pretty much everything about it and I can't imagine living anywhere else. Here are some of the things that add to the greatness:

Baja Burrito - Alison's favorite place to eat. Fresh, local, cheap and delicious.

Sam and Zoe's - coffeeshop/lunch place right next to Baja Burrito. Sputnik is two blocks away and we eat lunch here probably three times a week. I especially recommend the blueberry smoothies.

Gruhn Guitars - The guitar shop none of us can afford. Right next to the Ryman. They have guitars here that were owned by KISS and Springsteen. You can get me a Christmas present here.

Jack's BBQ - Also close to the Ryman. This place is old school Nashville and just plain awesome.

Pancake Pantry - You'll wait in line for a half an hour, but you'll be glad you did. My favorite are the chocolate chip pancakes. Heart attacky goodness.

Nashville Farmer's Market - Local farmers and merchants set up in a beautiful place.

Nashville Public Library - The main branch is also a couple blocks from the Ryman. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Nashville, has great kids puppet shows and story times, and dozens of amazing and cozy rooms to sit and read. My favorite place in downtown Nashville.

Midtown Fellowship - My church, and the church that helps put on the Christmas show. If you're around on Sunday, you're welcome to join us.

Yazoo Brew - If you like a good beer, you'll love Yazoo stuff. My favorite is the Dos Perros Amber, but they have a great Pale Ale and Hefeweizen. Their tap room is open in the afternoons Thursday - Saturday, but you can find their brews all around town.

Fido - Local coffeeshop down the street from Pancake Pantry. Jeremy Casella once saw Ben Folds and William Shatner there together.

Portland Brew - I'm not a coffee guy, but this place is the favorite among my friends. Cason says the coffee's the best in town and the scones are "unbelievable".

The Basement - One of my favorite music venues in town. It's tiny, it sounds amazing and they have great shows. Wednesday night (tonight) the Silver Seas are playing. They used to be called the Bees. They're the best band in Nashville, hands down. Friday and Saturday nights a ton of local bands are each taking their turn doing Beatles and Stones covers to benefit a local food bank.

Thanks to everybody who's making this trip. I hope you have a great time at the show and in my city. See you tomorrow night.

P.S. OH MY. I HAVE FORGOTTEN.

Possibly one of the greatest things about Nashville is the legendary "meat and three". These are Southern cooking restaurants, like your grandma if your grandma was the best cook in Tennessee. Meat, three vegetables, bread and sweet tea, that's the standard. In order of (to me) greatness, a trip to Nashville is nothing if you don't hit at least ONE of these...

Monell's, Barbara's, the Copper Kettle, and Arnold's. Cason prefers Copper Kettle, Jill is raving about Sylvan Park, but I've never been there. Now I need to. But Monell's may be the best food I've ever eaten. Enjoy...

That Guy

Andy Gullahorn played this song a couple nights ago and I literally shed tears, not eyes a little wet tears, but the real down-the-cheek variety. You guys need to hear this...

[audio:http://www.andyosenga.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/07-that-guy.mp3]

This tune is on his new record, as is a little ditty about a little amputee you may be familiar with. You should get it.

Also, just so you realize how awesome Sara Groves is at things Scrabble-related, she did this in between her songs in the second half of the show tonight...



Last Night's Songs:
Kara
Hold the Light

Tonight's Songs:
High School Band
Hold the Light