Have Guitars - Will Travel

Jilda and I've played some gigs in our day. We've played birthday parties, weddings, funerals, and a pig toss. The only one that got out of hand was at a Llama Convention where they were drinking straight moonshine whisky from clay jugs.

We played one festival in Birmingham's Ruffner Mountain Nature reserve several years ago. We hiked a mile into the preserve with guitars and the audience in tow. It was a hoot but for days afterward we dug chiggers or red bugs small than a pin head that felt as big as badgers.

We've played pubs in Ireland and across the U.S. We don't always get paid in hard cash, but often the perks are incredible. We're not in music for the money, we're in it for the love of playing music.

We are looking for a booker that does house concerts. I think that is an underserved audience, and we're at a point in our lives where it makes sense for us and will give us the opportunity to travel and see places we've never seen.

New Project

One of the goals for 2016 is to record a new CD so Jilda and I are beginning the process. We have a session booked in a studio in February and have several new songs written for the project.


Sitting around drinking coffee this morning, we saw something come across Facebook that gave us bo instant blinding inspiration...and theme for the new record. We plan to record a good chunk (maybe all of it) live on our property.

We plan to ask several of our friends  to shoot videos while we're recording so that we can use the footage in the final project. We're both cranked.

We're shooting for a release date in late summer or early fall.

More to come.

Music

We played Hart & Soul Coffee House last night with our friends The Spook House Saints.

The place was packed with friends and family who dropped in to see us.

Sometimes it's hard to concentrate on music and lyrics due to the intoxicating aroma of fresh-ground coffee brewing. Beans from all around the globe in glass jars make shelves a work of art.

We added new songs to our set last night and they felt good.....easy, which is what you want in the music you play.

Next for us in the Natchez Trace Festival in Kosciusko, Mississippi on April 25.  We have several tentative gigs prior to that one, but since they aren't firm, I'll wait to mention them.

This morning as Jilda and I relax on the couch,  sipping imported coffee and watching thirsty hummingbirds, we feel blessed to have music in our lives.

R

Festival Weather

Soon it will be festival weather. Our dance card is filling up with gigs for spring and summer. We both love festivals, and through the years, we've played at many.

One of the first festivals we attended together was Horse Pens 40. It was a bluegrass venue, but they had all kinds of folk and acoustic music there too.

We'll be playing Art in the Park soon. It rained when we played there last year so we ended up in the gym and the sound was dodgy. The only thing you can do when the sound is dodgy is to circle the wagons, stand close enough to each other that you can hear  enough to stay on key.

We had a friend that played with John Denver and he taught us that trick. Once they played in a huge venue when the stage monitors went out.  They all gathered close, and John began clicking time with the heel of his boots. He said it wound up being one of the best shows they ever did.

I hope you all have a great Wednesday.