Road Rules

We're 4.5 days into the tour and we're having a warm and breezy day off in Iowa city with some dear friends who are taking very good care of us even though it's their anniversary today and we should be taking care of them. I'm feeling supremely lazy.

We've had gigs in Kansas, Nebraska, and a handful in Iowa and each and every venue owner/host has been gracious and welcoming, which makes waking up in a different city every day that much easier. I thought I'd be getting lots of reading done but I feel an inexplicable pull towards People magazine and US Weekly. That's all my weary brain can handle. That and a mediocre mystery novel.

My opening sets are going well. Each day I work more of the kinks out. Beth is a joy to watch and to sing with and the best travel companion. We're driving around in her new (to her) Toyota Sienna - a mini-van that drives like a car. Very comfortable. We try to conserve our voices during the day but give in to our urge to gab often. We've driven though many sleepy midwestern towns and it's full on indian summer. Lovely. Has anyone heard of "The Chubby Pickle". We drove by this fine establishment on our way from Hays, KS to Lincoln, NE. We didn't have time to stop in. Very curious name don't you think...The Chubby Pickle.

Stop the presses!

The CDs made it. They take up quite a bit of room. They unfortunately suffer from a mild font-disorder. So, 120 of them are coming on the road with me, fonts be-damned, the rest are going back for therapy. It's looking like another month or so until Under the Ash Tree is available for sale. Unless you come to a show in which case you can get yourself a rare first-issue misprinted collector's item kind of thing.

I'll be reporting from the road so stay-tuned!

Any day now

How much space do 1,000 CDs take up? In the next couple of days I'll know for sure. Though I didn't set out to create a project with an over-arching theme, all but two of the songs were written when I returned to the Northeast after a 10 year detour in the Midwest and West. So, more than anything the record is a love letter to New England and its summer green, shorelines, infinite kinds of trees, humidity, rain, everything I felt starved for while out West. I know most folks think 'autumn' and 'peak foliage' when they hear 'New England', but I think early summer and skunk cabbage bursting along the side of the road and spring peepers and foggy mornings. I've been back for eight years now and it never gets old. The record is called "Under the Ash Tree" and it'll be available for purchase about a month from now.