Solo Tour 2011

Last Spring I did my first-ever solo tour.  I packed three guitars, an amp, some CDs, pint glasses, t-shirts and spare clothes into my little Toyota Matrix and drove 11,000 miles in six weeks, playing 27 shows along the way.

I've rarely been more tired or had more fun on the road.  Having always traveled with large groups of people, it was really fun to just be out there on my own.  My own songs and stories at the concerts.  I could listen to whatever I wanted on the radio in between shows, and stop wherever I wanted for lunch.  More than that, it was a nice time to just be alone.  Breathe.  Pray.  Think.  Dream.  Plan.  And share some great evenings with wonderful people.

SO…  I want to do it again.

I've got a lot more production work at the studio this year (YAY!!!) so I only have a few weekends I can fit travel in, but I want to make the most of it.  So here are the dates I've got going right now. 

Dates in BOLD are confirmed.

Dates in regular font are in progress.

Dates in italics are completely up for grabs, so if you want to host a show and you're near those places, send me an email!

Feb 23 - Ft. Payne, AL Feb 24 - Rome, GA

Feb 25 - Chattanooga, TN or Birmingham, AL

Feb 26 - Huntsville, AL

Mar 2 - Elkhorn, NE

 Mar 3 - Omaha, NE

Mar 9 - Kingsport, TN

Mar 10 - Powhatan, VA

Mar 11 - Baltimore, MD

Mar 12 - Danbury, CT

Mar 31 - Normal, IL

April 1 - Chicagoland?

April 2 - Indianapolis?

April 3 - Columbus, OH

(Also, I'm looking to do a Texas run in the Fall.  So, Texans, feel free to let me know sooner than later if you want to have me come play while I'm down there!)

Opinions

Some of you may remember that I used to be a real-life, actual "blogger".  I blogged all the time about all kinds of things.  And at after a while it started biting me.  

Turns out some of my opinions weren't quite as informed as I'd thought, and some of my assumptions about what other's opinions were also weren't so correct.  It was a great learning experience, though it often involved my foot in my mouth.  The biggest lesson I learned from that:

Listen.  Don't talk.  Listen.

I was being taught that same lesson in conversation with my wife and other friends.  The good kind of friends, who lovingly tell you when you wrong them.

Now, this is not something that comes easily for me.  I'm one in a long line of storytellers and pontificators.  Any of my production clients or old band mates will tell you:  Andy O can talk.  He is a man of many opinions and stories.

But I hope that as I grow and mature as a friend and a follower that I get better at listening and, with prayer and thought, only say what ought to be said.

That said, I feel like it might be time to get back on the horse a little bit.  There are questions people ask often that it might be fun to answer, and there are some upcoming tour dates and projects to share with you.

To celebrate my tentative reentry, I thought I would quickly lay out a few opinions, just to get them out of the way.  I will not blog or fight about them, but if you want to know me better, here we go:

- U2's "Achtung, Baby" is the best album ever made.

 - I'm over giving or getting music for free.  It costs money to make, it should cost money to own.

 - My wife is funny and smart and pretty.

 - Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are awesome.  Dickens is boring.

 - The ending to LOST was dumb to the point I wish I'd never watched an episode.

 - I'd like to be one of those people who don't own a TV.  But I like TV more than I'd like to be that person.

 - It's strange to me that high school kids now genuinely and un-ironically like 80's hair metal.

 - "Twilight" is … nevermind.

 - I think it would be cool to like Neil Young, but I've never really been able to.

 - I am so tired and numbed by modern worship music that at this point I doubt I'd be able to recognize when good stuff emerges.  I fear this is my loss, but I'd still rather just sing hymns with a piano at church, so I could actually hear the congregation sing and focus on the words.  (Yes, I know that's just another stylistic choice AND that it's somewhat reactionary.)

 - Springsteen needs to make a record produced by Daniel Lanois.  Or me.

 - I want to be friends with more old people.

 - Tom Morello is actually a pretty boring guitar player.

All right, I'm sitting on my couch and I think I've coughed up all my obnoxious opinions now.  If I had really learned what I just talked about I'd delete this.   Oh well.  Here we go!

Three Records

A few records I produced this past year were just released.  I'm excited for folks to hear these records and was honored to be a part of them.  They'll each get their own past below.  Check them out.  I think you'll enjoy them!

Jaron & Katherine Kamin - Here Among Us

I want you to check out this record.  I'm really proud of it.

About a year ago I played a house show in their living room in Champaign, IL.  They played some songs before my set and it was really great.  I had mixed a few songs for them a year or two before that, and was really hoping to someday work with them on a full project.

SO... they moved to Nashville in October, and a week later we started this record.  

It's a collection of old hymns with what I'd call indie-rock arrangements.  It's a vibey record built with times to reflect.  Vance Powell mixed it, Paul Eckberg played some of his most creative drum work yet, and Jaron dug through my piles of delay pedals and found some pretty killer tones.

They're just quality people, I really had a wonderful time working with them.  Please check this record out.  I really think you might love it.

You can find their website here.

Casey Webber - This Great Hope

Casey Webber and I became friends a few years ago.  He's a Knoxville native who runs an up and coming recording studio and has quite a guitar collection.  

He's also Andrew Peterson's road manager.

He asked me to produce an EP for him and, of course, I said yes.  We put in some good time on writing and arranging the songs and had a lot of fun making the record.  To me, it's a Summer record, with some nice Tom Petty and Ben Shive's Beatles licks going on.

Also, this is the only record I've produced where I didn't play any guitar.  (Though I did play bass.)

It was a pleasure to work with Casey and get to know him better.  Check out his record here, and his studio here.