I will be flying to California tomorrow, to begin a week of solo shows out there:

Friday, Jan 13 – San Francisco – Great American Music Hall – opening for David Lindley (how cool is that??). Finally, Friday the 13th is my lucky day.
Sat, Jan 14 – Sebastopol, CA – Studio E
Sun, Jan 15 – Berkeley, CA – Starry Plough
Mon, Jan 16 – Santa Cruz, CA – Don Quixote’s
Tues, Jan 17 – Pasadena, CA – Coffee Gallery Backstage
Wed, Jan 18 – Hollywood, CA – Bootleg Theater – opening for Joy Kills Sorrow

Fri, Jan 20 – Opelika, AL – Winter Brewfest w/ Grayson Capps and Brandon Jenkins
Sat, Jan 21 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry w/ Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys

Fri, Jan 27 – Champaign, IL – Virginia Theater w/ Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys
Sat, Jan 28 – Ann Arbor Folk Festival w/ Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys
Sun, Jan 29 – Lexington, KY, Opera House w/ Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys

Thur, Feb 2 – Nashville, TN – Bluebird Cafe w/ Webb Wilder and Patrick Sweaney

Then I go to the UK with Brigitte Demeyer and Chris Donohue…

More to come…cheers!

http://musicalgetaways.com/

Will

My friend and musical collaborator, Lisa Oliver-Gray, has a new CD out. It’s called “Dedicated to Love”. It’s wonderful. You should hear it, and not just because I’m a self serving egoist who wants you to know that I played and sang on it and co-wrote two of the songs, including a brand new gospel song called “Adam’s Rib” that I absolutely love and a fresh take on “Open to Love”, which was on my album “Wings”. And not because it features Tommy Womack, Paul Griffith, Tim Marks, Tom Littlefield, Michael Webb and Lee Roy Parnell.

I just like it so much.

Sun209: The Americana Music Journal

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I just returned from wonderful shows in Huntsville and Silver Hill, Alabama. Got to do a killer house concert, and then interact in the round with Randall Bramblett, Spencer Bohren and Grayson Capps. I give thanks!

See you at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville Dec 1.

http://www.tallgirl.com/content/

http://www.stationinn.com/pgcalthis.html

See you Friday in Huntsville, AL and Saturday in Silver Hill, AL!

Ray Bonneville, \"I Am The Big Easy\"
Sam Baker, \"Mennonite\"
Jimmy LaFave, \"Hideaway Girl\"
Gretchen Peters, \"On A Bus To St Cloud\"
Slaid Cleaves, \"Broke Down\"Malcolm Holcombe, \"Becky\'s Blessed\"Kevin Welch, \"Too Old To Die Young\"John Fullbright, \"Satan and St Paul\"

Wow.

http://www.musicalgetaways.com/
I’m looking forward to it. A whole lot. Come south in early March. Skip the muddy, dripping late Winter transition. The unpredictable weather. The insultingly cold breeze.

Come on baby, drive south with the one you love. I’ll be there waiting, with a banjo on my knee.

———–

Since I got home from Emmylou tour (which starts back up Sept 20…), I have played some great stuff: a trip to see my family in Mobile and Gulf Shores. A whirlwind trip to New York to see our friends Rob and Karan (and various string theorists, philosophers, drummers, occultists and Steve Wynn). Great gigs at Eddie’s Attic (w/ Brigitte Demeyer, whose new album just came out), Pourover Pub by the Nantahala River, and the Magnolia Room in Decatur, Alabama. Recorded with Sara Jean Kelley at Eric Fritsch’s studio, Eastwood, in East Nashville. Played with Marshall Chapman at the Station Inn. Played with Guilty Pleasures for the first time in years at the newly renovated 3rd and Lindsley. Recorded with Kate Campbell at David Henry’s. Made gumbo for some friends, with pre-oil spill oysters I had stashed in my freezer.

———-

Soon to come: more sessions towards my new CD. Sessions at Lij’s (he co-produced “Home Away” and “Americanitis”). DADDY at the MusicCares Benefit Sept 9 at Exit/In. Recording sessions with Lisa Oliver Gray. Brigitte Demeyer’s CD release show. More Emmylou Harris dates….

Jeez…

see you out there.

Getting ready to play Newport

As the sun set over the water yesterday at Newport, RI, I was strumming a banjo and singing along with Pete Seeger on “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”. A few minutes before, I had been playing the encore of Emmylou’s show. It was “Evangeline”, and The Civil Wars were adding their otherworldly harmonies to it. And just before that, we were playing an hour long set that felt relaxed and comfortable, yet inspired.

Singing with Pete Seeger, Newport 2011

But before that…I was enjoying Elvis Costello and the Imposters, who were joined by the Secret Sisters, Chris Thile and Emmylou. And before that, I was watching Wanda Jackson have a party. Chris Thile and Michael Daves tearing it up. And more.

Emmylou, Elvis and Chris Thile, Newport

And before that, we were in Portland, Maine. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Red Bank, Baltimore, Wolf Trap, Richmond, Atlanta, NYC, Green River Festival, Greek Peak, Indy, Milwaukee, Chicago, Mariposa…

Soundcheck: Eastwood Mandocaster, Pier Six, Baltimore

Ramblin' Jack and me, Newport

I got to hang out with my sister, my Mama and Daddy and some dear friends at Wolf Trap. My rocking wife and partner Jessica showed up in Atlanta.

Darling Kate. Recording King banjo.

And soon I’ll be home. Hallelujah.

Cue card, Newport Folk Festival

I must give a big thanks to Emmylou Harris for welcoming me into her musical family and sharing her voice, her songs, her soul and kindness. Go Braves! The Red Dirt Boys have made me feel equally welcome, and we have laughed until our faces hurt in the back lounge of the tour bus, whether we were watching Peter Sellers in “Being There” or surfing musical instrument listings on craigslist, or just hanging out eating a few too many potato chips after a sweaty gig. Maple Byrne for clueing me in on so much about instruments and music. And making me laugh some more.

Nice to meet you, Civil Wars.

Thanks for coming to the shows, and for keeping in touch with me out here. Thanks to Steve Novelli for such fine guitars to play. To Burriss Amps for such sweet tube amplifiers to play through. To Fender and Gretsch for support and classic instruments. To D’Addario for stringing them up. To Planet Waves for keeping it all connected. To Recording King for the banjo and acoustics. To Gold Tone for the Mandola. To Eastwood for the groovy electric mandolin. Bart Chapman for all his help and tips and tricks.

Of course, it’s not over yet. I have my own road gigs coming up this month—-it’s August already??—school is getting ready to start in Nashville??—I have album projects to finish. Album projects to start. My own new record to whip into shape. Yes. It’s never over, is it?

Just ask Pete Seeger. He was everywhere at Newport, and contrary to his image as folk curmudgeon, he was sidestage for Wanda Jackson, Elvis Costello, Amos Lee, and many others who weren’t exactly pure folk musicians. At 92, he still has more energy that most 20 year olds, and an open mind.

See you out there.

me and emmy, central park, nyc

I’m back in a band with Bryan Owings, with whom I played in Will and the Bushmen way back in the 20th Century. We rode elbow to elbow in a Chevy van all over America for a while there in the late 80s and early 90s. If Ray Lamontagne hadn’t whisked him away, I might be out here with Doug Dawson, who was also along for the ride in that Chevy van.

The rest of the band? Killer players, gentlemen all. The crew? Pros.

Emmylou? The real deal as a musician and a human.

The tour has been a blast and a satisfying musical experience in so many ways. I am trading licks with Rickie Simpkins. I am making atmospheric washes with Phil Madeira. I am punching out rhythms with Chris Donohue and Bryan Owings. I am harmonizing with Emmylou Harris.

I have walked all over Berlin, Dublin and London with my fellow Red Dirt Boys. I have gotten my 2nd ten cent tour of Berlin in as many years with dear old friend from both my homes, Mobile and Nashville, Clark Parsons.

I have walked out on stages in 9 countries with Emmylou and the Red Dirt Boys since May, from Bruges to Glasgow to Telluride to Owensboro, Kentucky (hometown of Michael Grimes, Johnny Depp and the Bluegrass Museum).

I miss my family. They went on a great trip to California while I spent my break from touring in the studio and hanging out with my dog. My friend Romo got married to my friend Emily in northern California while I was onstage with Emmylou and Ron Sexsmith in Ontario. Sometimes life is upside down, sideways, kind of lonesome, but rich and wonderful all the same.

My wife and I have a mantra: It’s the life we chose.

Meanwhile, I’m on my way into New York City to play Central Park with Emmylou and Levon Helm today, and the Jimmy Fallon Show with Emmylou tomorrow.

And on from there.

I am working on a new album of my own, and have several other projects going as a producer and musician. I’m kind of lonesome but in the company of good friends. Life is rich and wonderful. See you out there…