During the summer of 1997, I was just a kid living in my hometown in Indiana. One of those lazy afternoons that summer, a buddy and I were hanging out at our local record store. It was Cat’s records on Evansville’s North Side. Unfortunately, like most great record stores, Cat’s has been long forgotten…at least in Evansville. But, at the time, this was the place to check out the latest music. I specifically remember this day, the day when I walked into Cat’s and they were spinning a new band’s record. The music was different…I had not heard anything quite like it before. The band was Whiskeytown and the record was Strangers Almanac.

Whiskeytown was a band from North Carolina fronted by a 20 (or so) year old Ryan Adams. Call Whiskeytown Indie Rock, Rock or Country and either of the answers would be correct. They were all of these genres combined which was involving into its own genre. Whiskeytown was one of the most influential bands in defining this new genre, “alt-country.” A few years later Whiskeytown disbanded and Ryan Adams began his solo career. And, what a solo career it has been. He writes in the same league as Young and Parsons, rocks like the Stones; and crosses genres like Cash. Needless to say, Whiskeytown and Ryan Adams have been a major influence on me.

This past Friday night Ryan Adams played his last show at the sold out Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta and I was lucky enough to be there. It was definitely one of the best shows I have seen. He recently decided to give up music. Honestly, I believe he will be back in a few years. Let’s hope anyways…

If you are not familiar with RA’s stuff, you should check it out. Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRnoh86FD2A


As for the band and I, we have been taking it easy this past winter. November 2006 to November 2008 was an enjoyable whirlwind with cutting the record, all of the live shows and radio shows. I have spent the last few months writing, visiting family and friends in Austin – TX, Charleston – SC, Atlanta – GA, and Evansville - IN. But, now we are ready to get out and play some shows. Below is what we have lined up so far. We hope to see you soon!


The Duck Inn
4100 Pollack Ave
Evansville, IN 47714
Saturday May 16
9PM
Notes: We are excited to have Dan Conn opening the show!


CMA (Fan Fair) Week
Sheraton Downtown
623 Union Street
Nashville, TN 37219
June 8 – 14
Notes: We will be playing a set each night. There will be a few other bands on the bill. More details to come.

Over the weekend, I locked myself in my house to write some new songs. Here is one of them. In the video, I call the song, "All I Want To Do", but after playing inta few more times, I changed the name to "Run Away With You" Let me know what you think ...

Runaway with You

As you might have noticed, we are currently on a break from the road. Jake is out on the west coast and I have been spending some time here in Nash writing and enjoying the great fall weather. This is definitely my favorite time of the year. The leaves are changing and the mornings are crisp and cool. Brings back memories of times I have spent in the northeast, one of my favorite places to be.

As for the writing, it has been a productive week. One song in particular, "All I Want To Do", I believe is a keeper. I wrote the song two days ago. I might record a video of it later today and post in a blog.

Below is Jake and I performing on WNKU which is near cincinnati. A special thanks to Cindy for recording this. The audio is shot from her camera, live. The audio is not world-class, but true. Thanks so much Cindy for coming out that day and capturing this moment.

To listen to the full interview and all three songs (Backstage Pass, More Than You Know, Pour Me Another) please visit the following link:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wnku/.jukebox?action=viewMedia&mediaId...