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Back home for the week and that feels nice. We are playing a show here in Nashville on Friday night. 9 pm at the Mercy Lounge. It’s a killer lineup and will be our last hometown show for the year. Hope some of yall can make it. The Americana Music Awards are this week which is the reason for the show. So there’s a ridiculous amount of great shows in town this week. Should be fun.

Good shows on the road last week. Had a great time in Chattanooga. My brother was there and sat in with us on a song. That’s always fun. Then he and his crew got drunk and had to walk to the hotel in flip flops while carrying golf clubs. Haha. Get em Hootie! Another standout being the Square Room in Knoxville. Definitely my favorite new venue. Production was great. Killer vibe in the room. Think we finally found the right place to play there. Wanted to recap a few conversations from the weekend:

Scene: outside the Square Room
Homeless man with dog playing guitar for tips.
College kid: ‘duuuude what kind of dog is that?’
Homeless man: stops song and says,’dog.’
Funny to me. Confusing to college kid.

After Knoxville we drove to Athens through Pigeon Forge. About 3 am we see a car across the median stopped in the road. In front are two women trying to lift the front end of the car. We decide to turn around and make sure they were ok. As we approach we ask what’s wrong and they tell us they have ‘run over a barbell.’. Whaaaaaat? We figure they don’t know what they’re talking about. Surely something has just fallen out underneath the car and started dragging. They shut it down and I crawl underneath and lo and behold it is in fact a barbell. Siggi grabs the jack and lifts it enough for me to drag it out. It’s 89 lbs!!!! Holy shit! We couldn’t get over it. So for future reference beware of those wild dumbbells whilst crossing the smokies. Alright I’m off to eat ice cream, drink NyQuil and watch a movie.

So I guess we haven’t talked since Boston. That’s sad huh? Well we’ve missed y’all too. Well Boston was killer. Great crowd that really seemed to be hanging on tight to all 3 bands. We ended the night with Us, Dawn and her band, the Isbell’s, 2/3 of Son Volt and Josh Ritter all doing “Ooh La La.” Damn good fun. We load out and prepare to celebrate a bit only to watch our bus and all of our gear get stolen. Driven right away. We’re stranded in the freezing cold with no coats, no wallets or money, no ids, NOTHING. I spend the next 8 hours trying to negotiate to get our gear back from a disgruntled ex-employee and not get the damn cops involved. We get about 20 minutes sleep before renting a minivan and trying to get to NYC. Quite a task with no cash. Luckily our ‘old pal’ decides to let us get our gear back and we decide to rent a Uhaul to prevent any further complications with the old bus. NYC went well. Great seeing all the Ryko folks. They’re really more like family than record biz people and dammit we like that. Finished up and headed through the snow to DC. 9:30 Club is just the best. Might’ve been the best night of the tour for all three bands at one show. Found killer late night Chinese and hit the hotel. Charlottesville was a new club for us but the response was wonderful. Thanks to everyone there for giving us a place to look forward to coming back to. Post show headed back to Nashville to return our mama-taxi and moving van. This week we opted for the ol’ 15 passenger van and U-Haul trailer. Great night in Columbia SC on Tuesday. At least the music part anyhow. Our lovely U-Haul sliding door won’t open or close. Or if you wanna be positive it WILL do a little of both. We finally get it ‘fixed’ and get to the hotel for about two hours sleep before the odd trans gendered latino sling blade fucker at the front desk starts calling us at 10 to check out when we’ve got a 1 o’clock check out. Bad start to a worse day. We then get 100 miles from Athens and the rental van breaks down. I call the rental guy and he asks me the standard laundry list of questions. Yes, no, yes, no, etc. He proceeds to tell me that the fuel indicator usually reads about 1/4 of a tank off. OOOOOOHHHH!! Well that would’ve been nice to know beforehand. Oh well, we call AAA. They’ll be there in 20 minutes. An hour and 45 minutes later they get there after getting lost TWICE!! Get gas and get our asses to the Georgia Theater. Hurrying like hell to get loaded in and Blade’s bass head and my amp roll down a ramp and smash my hand against a wall. PERFECT!! I’m pissed and hurt but we get our shit together for a mini-sound check. Ok, go to 5 StarDay Cafe because hopefully turnip greens will help. Dawn said she had a rough night on stage and the second we walked onstage we knew why. The sound fucking sucked ass. Constant feedback through the entire first song. We play it off and try to get back on track. It gets progressively WORSE through the whole set. We pride ourselves on being a band that can kind of rise above any situation but this one really got us. We sucked. I was mortified. I hate it for the fans that pay their hard earned money to see us and the best we can give them is a C grade show. It’s insulting!! Not to mention people seeing us for the first time that think that we might just be the worst band ever. The club tried to be nice and apologize but that just didn’t work. We all went to bed defeated. I got about an hour and a half sleep and got to the van at 6:30 to leave for a noon radio performance in Knoxville. I just couldn’t do it. So I decide to email Doug my manager to let him know. He’s in LA and I don’t wanna wake him up again at 3am with this shit. Of course in this comedy of errors he doesn’t get the email. The station is PISSED!! Understandably so. We cancelled once before right after my son was born and here we go cancelling again. And of course it never happens when its the half-ass bullshit college station that can’t pronounce my name. It happens when it’s this killer Americana station that helped our album make the top 10. And our promotions girl Leslie who has worked her ass off to get this station involved and convinced people who said our record would not work, she got them to pay attention and now I’m fucking her over too! So goddam I’m hoping this shit turns the fuck around. So here’s one more reason to come to the shows it’s either gonna be a mother fucker of a show or you’ll be able to say you saw the last show before my nervous breakdown. I feel like I should be on TMZ if they followed people without money or commercial success. It would be easier at times if we could fake this but we can’t. Here’s hoping for a few rays of sunshine and a couple hours sleep!!

Actually the title has very little to do with the post other than the fact that said movie is on silent in the background on AMC as I’m typing this. Things are going nicely thus far with the new album. It’s not even been ‘born’ for a week and we’re super proud of it and the feedback from all of y’all thus far. Sorry to a few folks who didn’t get the preorders yet. A few were returned and we’re remedying that problem right now. They’ll be to you soon. And the bonus live CD’s are gonna be shipped to you all. THEY ARE NOT in the original shipment. So don’t go thinking we screwed you outta something. haha. There’s another live recording that is gonna be available for free when you purchase “Draw The Curtains” at any of the CIMS stores(Coalition of Independent Music Stores). Adam2 and myself just finished the mixing of the live show from WFPK’s live lunch and they’ll be pressing that soon to be included there. WFPK also has officially added the single so be listening and thanking them for that too. Hopefully that’ll be a good excuse to get back to Louisville soon.

Knoxville Thursday was fun. Came back home for a free show last night in Nashville and that was a blast too. We played at B.B. King’s which is a place I’ve only been once, on opening night, to hear B.B. King, so it was cool to be on the same stage. Adam was out of town for his brother’s wedding so our old pal Jason “Slim” Gambill held down guitar duties and did a smashing job. He’s the guy who led us to Adam so it was good to play with him again and I thank him for allowing us to rock! Reese came down and joined us for the whole show on organ and it was still a pleasure. Plus Maureen came down for “Washed By The Water” again and was equally as cool. It was not our ‘normal’ crowd so it was cool to get a chance to turn some new folks onto what we’re doing as we prepare for our big super duper electrical acoustical rock and roll circus extravaganza hometown new album party on Oct. 27th at the Exit/In. Don’t get me wrong, 3rd and Lindsley was GREAT! But that was just the new album plus a couple of songs. B.B. King’s was lovely, but it was a free show and a very strict ONE HOUR time limit. So 10/27 at Exit/In, you better be prepared!! Hell, we’re excited already. Do come join the party.

Today was the rarely seen Saturday OFF. For us that only happens about 7 times a year so it was nice. Gearing up for an early departure in the morning to head to the Anderson County Fair in South Carolina. Our SC horn players are joining us again so it should be a good time. Hope we’ll see y’all there. Jack Daniels+Funnel Cakes+Sunday+Good Friends+Rock+Roll=kick ass.
Bye Bye.

So we’re back at the WorkPlay tonight. Far and away one of my favorite places in the whole US and A. I’ll report back on the show later.

Indy was great on Thursday night. Music Mill is kind of a mid-west version of WorkPlay so you now know how I feel about that. Had our ol’ pals Scratch Track back out for a night and that was fun. Great guys. Garrison also played with us and she was killer too.

Knoxville last night was a good one. Very attentive bunch of folks there. Not quite as rowdy as other times. Not a bad thing. Fun night. Thanks to WFIV and WUTK for all the love and support.

We’ve had to cancel the shows in Michigan next week. To fill you all in I will be becoming a father on Tuesday. Ah, modern medical technology. Rumor has it folks used to have to be surprised about this kind of stuff. So anyhow, we’ve moved the Michigan shows so I can be home. We’ll still do St. Louis and Lexington on Friday and Saturday. Then we’re taking some time off. It’s gonna be a whole new learning experience for me. One I’m really excited about. So for a couple months I’ll be home learning to be a dad. Dean will probably be painting. Siggi’s gonna turn some knobs in Atlanta. Adam will do some guitar playing. Jefferson will probably continue his world tour and do some smoking. Russell will just be kick ass. And Erica will continue to keep us all in line. Jordan will be going back to college. We’ll miss him. Come and send him off with lots of love next week.

Worry not, after that it’s back to work! We’re still gonna be the hardest working rock and roll band around. Hell, I’ve got diapers to buy! In the next little bit there’s gonna be some exciting news about the new album. More details soon, but I will say it looks like it’s gonna be out in September. We’ll be finishing it toward the end of our time off in June. There’s also another studio album already in the works. Adam and Dean and I have already done 3 songs. Two more are ready to go and then we’re gonna bring Erson and Siggi in and finish the rest. It’s gonna be a cool album. More news, more touring, etc. So that’s sort of the deal here. Not really much going on. haha.

Thanks as always for the kind words, love and continued support. Now I gotta go change Siggi’s diaper.
What? I’m practicing!

So Knoxville on Friday night was a killer. Thanks to BOTH radio stations for their support. Lexington on Saturday was even better. We’ve got a good feeling about things in that town. The folks at the Dame have always been good to us and it feels like it’s starting to pay off. Shitty weather on the way there, but it turned out fine. Our friend from the hat store next door opened up after the show so we could all get new lids. I’m sure they’ll be debuting this week. I know you’re thrilled.

Huntsville, well, at least Knoxville and Lexington were good. Huntsville sucked. We got our set cut short because KC and the Sunshine Band had a 4 hour soundcheck. Yes, I said KC and the Sunshine Band. Oh yeah, Morris Day and the Time were in there somewhere too. Why were we on this stage? I forgot, our career peaked in ‘84. Perfect. Thanks to those of you that were there. We did our best to put on as much of a show as possible. I think we’ll stick to B’ham from now on.

Getting everything together for the live recordings and shows in Nashville this weekend. Hope we’ll see y’all there.

Hanging on the bus for a minute before power napping until the show starts in a bit. We get Southern Bitch and the Whigs tonight. Fucking great! That’s a HELL of a show if I do say so myself. Had good nights in both Starkville and Tuscaloosa. Rick and his gang take such good care of us we’ll hope to be back playing those places for a long time. We recalled in T’town last night about the last time we were there and wanted to share the story with y’all. The opening act was a solo acoustic guy. I hate that I can’t remember exactly who, but the was a sweet, sweet guy. Hanging in the dressing room as Russell goes to get him to bring him in for introductions to me and the guys. I have Russell explain to the guy that my father has recently passed away(which is fortunately not true). My father had been a singer/songwriter too. His favorite chord was a-minor. I’m just not equipped to handle that chord at the moment. So Russell let’s the guy know this and requests that he remove any a-minor chords from his songs. He agrees!!! Can you believe it!! So he comes in and says hello. Promptly he sits in the corner and starts to visibly sweat as you can see his mind churning thinking, “….how do I play these songs if I can’t use that chord….??” Freaking out as he goes on, we clue him in that it’s a scam. We die. He’s relieved, mad, puking, pissing, laughing, etc. He did a fine set. We had fun. That’s it……..for now………