Back In The Saddle and In From The Cold

Just got in from the cold. 20 days of touring with the NGDB in western Canada. A few snowstorms, one tour bus breakdown and two outdoor shows in 40 degree temperatures just east of Vancouver will do that to you. The promoter was taking that global warming stuff too seriously I think. The crowds in western Canada are always so enthusiastic and appreciative. They seem to know what a schlep it is to get up there and travel around to play music for them. We did a few new tunes from the new CD "Speed Of Life" in the shows. It's always such a blast doing new material.

Had the pleasure of playing some shows last year with friends Poco, Firefall and Chris Hilman's Dessert Rose Band. Festivals are always a great way to catch up with old musical cohorts and get a chance to jam at the end of the sets. To check the tour schedule visit NittyGritty.com. Hope to see you out on the road this year.

Just finished up recording a new CD with the Dirt guys. Soon to be released "Speed of Life" was recorded over the last year in Nashville at George Massenberg's "Room Without Walls" in the Blackbird Studio Complex.  George, who we have always wanted the chance to work with, engineered and produced along with our buddy Jon Randall.  George's credits and awards for records he's done (Linda Ronstadt, Lyle Lovett, Little Feat, etc) and sound recording and software design is too long to list here. I encourage you to Google him and the Studio and check it out.  Jon is a Grammy Award winning songwriter, recording artist and a great picker and singer (Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris bands) and sat in with us on some of the tracks. How lucky am I to work with these folks?

We tried to flesh out the sessions and record as much as the music as we could live, including the lead vocals.

More details soon on the NGDB web site.

I got a chance during the process to get back in touch and write with my old partner Tom Kell as well as long time co-writer Jeff Hanna and new co-writers John McEuen and Phil Soussan. Each has his own style, in this case folk, country, bluegrass and rock (Phil wrote and played with Ozzie). This kept the song writing process challenging at times but contributed to the uniqueness of the songs and the satisfaction of being able to blend the genres into a finished piece of music.

It's always a mystery as to what songs will come together just right in the studio and then fit into the fabric of the CD. You just have to write as much as you can and then see which songs catch the ear of the band and producers.