today's title

I'm over here at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Paul, aka Sir Eckburg's studio and we just finished up the day working on Kevin Lawson's record. We'll keep working tomorrow with the drums and bass, supplied by Mr. Eckburg and the honorable Aaron Sands. It's been a fun day and we've gotten some great sounds. We're going to try an idea I heard was used on old Tom Petty records tomorrow and if it works I'll tell you about it. If not, we'll act like it never happened.

Most of you who pre-ordered The Morning have gotten it by now and I've gotten a lot of great comments and e-mails. Thank you so much! I'll start ramping up with the blog campaign idea probably over the weekend, so if that interested you at all, please stay tuned.

For now I've got to go run some errands and I think we may eat dinner with the Braggs tonight (mainly to watch babies play together). Have a great Wednesday and I'll write again soon.

Catching Up

Sorry I've been a bit incommunicado this past week. Aside from getting all the cds out I've been in the studio or playing a show every day for the past week and a half and I have two more weeks to go before a proper day off! That being said I've been doing all right.

Last week I recorded and produced a cool project for my friend Arthur Alligood. He's a great singer and really unique songwriter and we had a really neat time. We did the whole thing in four days, three complete songs a day, final vocals live and all that stuff. It was a lot of work but really rewarding. I played bass as we tracked live and then overdubbed electric guitars. I want to post one of Arthur's lyrics up here later this week because I think you guys will freak out about how great it is.

This week I'm working with Kevin Lawson. We started this project over a year ago and are just now getting back to finishing it. Unfortunately during that time the hard drive storing his project got erased and we're having to start over. Ouch. It's going to turn out cooler, though, and although I hate that we lost it, the project will probably be better for it.

Caedmon's played this weekend in Montgomery, AL. It was HOT. I don't like it when it's hot. I would rather be cold any day. You can always wear more clothes, but people like me can only take so much off. I DID finally find a cool hat, though, at a mall I went to to kill some time in air conditioning. Patience, ladies, I'll post a picture when I get time... Caedmon's original B3 player, Randy Holsapple, "filled in" for this show and that was a blast. I don't know if it's "filling in" when you played with the band for eight years, but whatever. I have played for the band for three and a half years now and that didn't stop me from completely forgetting how the song "This World" goes. And yeah, I start that one. Cliff introduced it and a look of sheer terror came over me. Total brainfart. For the life of me I couldn't remember how it went. I've played this song hundreds of times. I had to turn around and ask Trip what the chords were! I have rarely been this embarassed. It was probably the heat. Or the hat.

Well, I should probably get (back) to bed. The postal service resumes tomorrow so hopefully CDs will start trickling in. Please let me know when you get them and, once you've had time to give it a listen, let me know what you think. This is an exciting time for me and I hope everyone enjoys the year and a half of work that's on its way to your mailbox. Hope you all had a good Memorial Day (I batted a WiffleBall RBI that let Mitch Dane give us the championship, so you know I did) and have a great week getting back from the holiday.

and they're off!

So Alison and I spent all last evening stuffing cds into mailers and adding postage and all that jazz. We loaded up the ol' Volvo...



and this morning drove to the Post Office and sent them all off. That's every order that came in before 10 am today. The Post Office is closed Monday so you should probably start seeing them Tuesday and Wednesday. Please let me know when they get to you!

And you should also know that if you go to the Post Office with a car full of envelopes they just might let you go in the back, by the loading docks, and they just might give you your very own mail cart.



Yeah, it was pretty awesome. They let me do this because I stopped up the two outgoing mail slots inside and still had most of the envelopes left.

And in case you've thought about ordering the CD but were sort of waiting for an extra reason to make the plunge...

You could help us feed this child.



Shameless, I know... Thanks again to everybody who ordered early and who helped out along the way! I can't wait for you guys to hear it, and I really hope you like it. I'm so excited. Thanks again so much. You all have been so wonderful and supportive and I can't tell you how much that means to me. Now go and enjoy a beautiful Saturday and I'll post again soon.

they're here

you've got to be kidding me...

So I called the cd place twice today and finally got somebody just after 5 (when they close). Apparently, the person I've been dealing with there (and talked with two days ago) no longer works there. The new person told me the new 'Photographs' is done, but she had no idea about 'The Morning' and will let me know tomorrow morning. Once again, Arggh!! Oh well, I'll let you know tomorrow once I talk to them again.