I’m going to have Paul on drums, Tim on bass, John D on keys. Lisa singing, Marna singing. Sara’s going to sing on the song we wrote. I’m excited to play the whole new album, plus some rave-ups from past albums.

There will be TWO (2) shows—7 PM and 9 PM.

I will not be at SXSW this year. I applied, I was accepted. Decided not to go. See you in Houston and Pasadena, Texas in April.

I WILL be back at Southgate House—one of my favorite places to play—in April. Tommy Womack and I will be in St Louis soon, and then we are touring the UK and the Netherlands after that.

When’t the last time you listened to Husker Du’s “Flip Your Wig”? I was just jamming “Makes No Sense At All” and “Green Eyes”. And “New Day Rising”? Powerful stuff. “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill” is playing now.

Peace, y’all. Thanks for listening.

Playing WSM Music City Roots show tonight at the Loveless Barn in Nashville. “Wings” is out and I am happy.
—
Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis is a bit of a blur to me now, but I can tell you this: it may well be the most purely musical music conference that happens in the world. SXSW is awesome and huge and you can’t swing a cat without hitting a young hot buzz band or a famous act playing a packed venue. But Folk Alliance is a gathering of musicians who get together and play music about 18 hours a day for three or four days. Shows happening all day in the Memphis Marriott ballrooms, and then literally all night in every hotel room on the upper floors of the hotel. i’m not kidding. At Folk Alliance, you can’t swing a banjo without hitting someone singing and playing in a room, a hallway, the lobby, a ballroom, out on the street. It’s pretty wonderful. I started with a solo show sponsored by the Utne Reader and Thirty Tigers (thanks David Macias!). After I played, the elusive and brilliant Willis Alan Ramsey played. I watched him closely and was entertained and educated. He’s not messing around, even if it sounds like he is. I played several shows as a duo with Tommy Womack—-DADDY. I accompanied Tommy at some of his solo shows, as did he with me. I played with Phil Lee and Tom Mason. I played the “Electric Guitar Summit” with Bill Kirchen, Colin Linden, Gary Nicholson, Phil Hurley, Freebo and Frank the great Norweigan drummer. I played with Keith Sykes! I sat up way too late one night with Peter Cooper, Eric Brace, Carolyn Martin, Tom Mason, Tommy Womack and Raul Malo, whose version of “Blue Bayou” was gorgeous and unforgettable. Tommy and I felt the weight of history in the shadow of the Lorraine Motel when we stopped by WEVL to play a few songs on the air (thanks Ed and Anne!). To top it all off, I played in the round at the Center For Southern Folklore with Tommy, Phil Lee and David Olney. What a weekend. About 40 hours of singing and playing packed into three days and nights.

Also to family and friends of Anne Cottle of Mobile. She was a great friend of my mother’s.

Educator and sports ambassador Joe Franklin has left us, as well. Our hearts go out to his wife Penny and our friends the Gravelings, who are here in Nashville all the way from their home in England for Joe’s funeral.

Be good to each other and stay warm out there.

I had a great weekend in East Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland. It was busy: I played WDVX’s Blue Plate Lunch on Wednesday, then drove to Richmond. Early Thursday morning I appeared on Good Morning Virginia on the Richmond CBS affiliate. Then I drove to Ashland, where I played at the beloved Ashland Coffee and Tea. On Friday I headed up to Ellicott City, MD, to play at the Tove House Concert. Saturday was snow day and it took 3 hours to drive 65 miles back down to Manassas. I played the Midwinter Meltdown. Got up Sunday and played a morning Meltdown show. Michael Crawley sat in on harp for both shows and played his heart out. After the Sunday morning show, I drove to Roanoke and played Kirk Avenue Music Hall. On Monday I was up early to play two, count ‘em, two radio shows in Roanoke.

And then I drove back to Nashville.

We are already getting “Wings” orders this morning. I am very excited about this new record of uplifting songs. If felt like time to celebrate life and look at the good things. I’ve done political and darker personal records. Time to grow and stretch it out a bit, and further explore the folkier side of things I have been learning so much about for the past 10 or 15 years.

The weekend’s shows were great and audiences were large and happy. See you out there soon.

Played Steve and Wendy’s place Friday, at the house concert in Ellicott City, MD. The place was jam packed and I must have played 30 songs. Had a party with the Dantzics, too. Great time.

Midwiinter Meltdown was never more aptly named than this year’s fest in Manassas. Snow was piled up everywhere—-especially on the Interstate—it took 3 hours to drive the 65 miles from Maryland to Manassas. But things warmed up inside the venue. I played another loooong set to an appreciative crowd. I was joined by the great Mike Crawley, aka Crawdaddy, on harmonica for most of my show. It is such a joy to play with him—he plays in all keys, all styles, with soul and chops and an open mind. Love it!

I just played a short morning set and I’m packed up and ready to drive to Roanoke. See you at Kirk Avenue Music Hall tonight.

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/wings-wednesdays

I’ll see you this week:

WDVX Blue Plate Special in Knoxville, TN on Wednesday Jan. 27th, 12:00pm. FREE Lunch Time Show! Listen Live: http://tinyurl.com/2knpej

Ashland Coffee & Tea in Ashland, VA on Thursday Jan. 28th, 8:00pm. http://www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com/

Tove House Concert in Ellicott City, MD on Friday Jan 29th, 8:00pm
Contact Steve at stevetove@verizon.net or (410) 465-7825

Midwinter Meltdown in Manassas, VA on Saturday Jan. 30th, 4:00pm

http://www.parrothead.org/events/midwinter10/

Kirk Avenue Music Hall in Roanoke, VA on Sunday Jan. 31st, 7:30pm

http://www.kirkavenuemusic.com/

See you there!

Anyway, it was a great show. It will air sometime in the next year. I’ll let you know when.

It is now less than a month until “Wings” is released. We are starting to get replies from journalists and radio stations and response has been great so far.

I found the End Time on ebay today. Chilling.

http://blog.kexp.org/blog/

Daddy’s featured alongside Odetta and Bob Marley. Nice.

Happy Birthday, Dr King. You continue to inspire people all over the world to do better.

We’re just circling the wagons around here, gathering friend and family strength and support for all the friends and family that are struggling with their health. We are lucky to have so many good friends and strong family members to lean on, and who can lean on us.

Tonight’s show was a good example of people cooperating with each other in order to form a more perfect union—-in this case, to make some perfect music.

I saw some of my favorite musicians at the show tonight: Kenny Vaughn, Paul Burch, Bryan Owings, Michael Grimes, Jay Johnson, Jack Silverman.