comments

Hey, something got screwed up with my website earlier this week, making it so I couldn't post, and that's fixed now. I think something might have happened to the comments too. Rumor has it, it was accepting them but not posting. Can you try and drop a little comment on here and see if it works? Maybe send an e-mail too when you post so I know to look for it? Thanks.

Oh, and if you don't have any ideas of what to leave as a test comment, here a few examples to get you going:

"Hi Andy! You're so awesome that sometimes it hurts. In my legs."

or

"I saw Andy play a show last year in _____, __ and it was SO good. Except for him. I think he was having an off night. Or year."

or

"I really love the Normals first album"

or

"What are the Normals?"

or

"I heard you on the radio today. Actually, not you. Caedmon's. From 1998. With Derek. But I thought of you when I heard them and you're so awesome!!!"

Elkhart, Indiana - Compassion Tour

I’m sitting in the back of the bus in Elkhart, Indiana. The show is starting in about twenty minutes. There are five artists on this tour: Aaron Shust, John David Webster, Geoff Moore, Bebo and Caedmon’s. I’m playing guitar for the last three. It’s kind of fun, though I never would have expected to be doing it. I sort of feel like one of the guys in a late show band, just playing different styles with different artists. I’m having fun and it’s stretching me as a player. I have really enjoyed playing on Bebo’s songs and hope to be able to do more with him later.

I’ve been frantically trying to sequence my new record and decided for certain on a title. I think I’m good on both of them, and I’ll share the title as soon as I’m 100%. I just went up and stole this cable of Josh’s that will let me plug my iTunes into the stereo in the back lounge of the bus and I’m cranking the record and I’m just loving it. I’m so happy with how it’s turned out and I can’t wait for you all to hear it.

The Portland Studio guys have been sending me artwork for the album and, I won’t lie, it’s amazing. So vibrant and full of life. It’s the kind of stuff you can just sit and explore for a long time, always finding something new. I don’t know how they continue to be so amazing, but I sure am grateful they like my music enough to help me out.

I was just talking on the phone with Alison and wishing I had more to tell her about what’s going on out here on the road, but honestly, there ain’t much. With so many artists, and so many people playing with each other, we spend most of our time in sound check or learning new tunes. Literally, we wake up, set up, find a shower somewhere, eat a little, sound check all afternoon, eat a little more, play a show, tear down, watch a couple episodes of “The Office� on the bus and go to bed. Oh, the rock star life… Oh, and I started reading “Confessions of a Shopaholic� the other night. Interesting…

Well, that’s about it for me right now. Hopefully, I can find the Duke-Wake Forest game on somewhere in a little while before the show, but I’m not counting on it. Take care everybody, have a great weekend and I’ll write again soon.

New Caedmon's Album Today!

Thought I'd let you know that Caedmon's Call new album "In the Company of Angels 2 : The World Will Sing" is releasing today. It should be available pretty much everywhere, but if not you can grab a copy here. I think it turned out great and I'm excited for people to get to hear it. We have our first show tonight in Iowa and I'll let you know how it goes. Until next time...

The Great Guilty Pleasure Read-Off

My wife and I are both voracious readers. There is a constantly rotating stack of books by both sides of the bed. Now, anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for Hemingway and Steinbeck and I've also been known to go on the occasional year-long old Russian novel kick. But when I'm just too tired to crack a little Chesterton or Dostoevsky, I go to our study, look over all the books (in alphabetical order by author, of course) and tend to go for the guilty pleasure. Alison is the same way. When she's tired of the Elizabeth Goudge and Jane Austen, well, you know where you have to go.

My guilty P tends to be old science fiction. I really get a kick out of what people think the future will look like from back in the 50's. "And in the year 2006 I rode my flying auto into a giant cavern, overflowing with datatapes! Each tape could hold the name and birthdate of every person in the city! And oh, what giant computer must lie somewhere to read this monstrous amount of data." Apparently nobody has a cel phone or a PowerBook down there, so they just keep wandering. That stuff kills me.

Alison likes to go the Bridget Jones route: the sassy, saucy British girl who always says the first thing that pops into her head, even though it always gets her in trouble. At least she can always go get a new pair of shoes!

So we've decided we're going to hold what may become an annual event : The Great Guilty Pleasure Read-Off! We each picked one of our favorite "I can't believe I'm reading this again" book and the other has to read it. We'll be chronicling our adventure on both of our blogs. In the next day or two we'll each write our preconceived notions of the book, before we read it, then we'll keep you up on them as we dive in.

Now, without looking at the titles, just the pictures and the colors, whose book is whose? Go!



Aw yeah, bring in on. I'll keep you posted. Happy Monday!

Oh, and the new caedmon's cd comes out tomorrow! If you get a copy and feel like letting us know what you think, just drop a comment anywhere. Thanks.

all sorts of awesome randomness

Ok, this post will be chock full of all sorts of great links and a couple tiny AO updates. Just what you woke up this morning wanting so bad!

First off, last night was the inaugural Square Peg Alliance concert. It was both a songwriter showcase (we each did one song) and a cd release show for Eric Peters, whose new album "Scarce" came out on Tuesday. Cason, Paul, Brent Milligan and I were his band and, man, we had a blast. In the songwriter round I had the band play with me and we did "House of Mirrors" from my new record.

It was really an amazing time, of music, yes, but more so for the community and the time to just enjoy being with each other and supporting each other. I look forward to more of these and was so glad we finally got something off the ground.

Here are some photos that Norman Chin took last night. Thanks Norman.

There has been some cool discussion going on about this post I wrote a few days ago.

Also, a few days ago, I was ichatting with Brannon from Portland Studios, who is doing my album artwork, did Andy P's, and a lot of the Square Peg stuff as well. He was apparently designing a t-shirt for the upcoming Caedmon's tour and didn't have time to get everything done. I told him that I would gladly take over on the t-shirt designing front. After, no lie, only about six minutes with PhotoShop (for the first time ever, I must add) I came out with this little diddy.



Needless to say, he was amazed. For some reason, Caedmon's passed on it. However, if you come to a show wearing this shirt, I guarantee you a free Caedmon's cd. Let's show them what happens when they ignore my designs!

Ella has been sick this week, for the first time in her life. Can you imagine that, I really can't. Anyway, it's been sad, but sweet, since she just wants to be held all week, and I've been more than happy to oblige.

Well, we're going to head out to Baja Burrito to eat lunch with Andy, Randall and Paul, so we'll catch you later. Thanks for stopping by.

Oh, a quick P.S. (I'm adding this a few hours later....) For all you LOST fanatics who saw last night's great episode, Joe Bassett sent me this article by some reporter who thinks he's figured it all out. Not sure, but he has some interesting ideas. Man, I love that show. The fake beard... dang.