I'm back-- and so is Eric Peters' mustache.

I usually sit at the back of the airplane when I fly Southwest Airlines. They don't have assigned seating so it's easy to find a corner of the plane and stake your ground if you check-in early and get an "A" boarding pass.

Right now I'm sitting in the back of Southwest flight 2737 to Portland, Oregon for another weekend of NACA meetings. NACA is a conference for college campus activities and so far it has been a great experience for me. I'll be playing some more shows on the west coast this next year so I am looking forward to getting in to some parts of the country that I've never played in before.

Anyways, so that's where I am right now. An airplane. I love flying. Driving really takes it out of you. Plus the coffee is so much better in the airport than on the road in gas stations. yuk.

It's been so long since I've blogged here -- I don't know where to start. I was going strong for a few months there and then Kierstin and I moved ourselves to Houston for a month to take care of her Dad. I'll write more about that when I find the words because I'm still processing it and I need to figure out just what exactly I will write about on this thing (the blog) and what I won't. But pain bleeds into your private and public affairs so who knows. Life is a mess. No need for pretension or the keeping of appearances. Life is too short and way too important. Just keep it straight. Keep it honest.

Anyways... we truly appreciate your prayers. Thank you so much. Kierstin's blog pretty much says everything that I have been feeling about the stuff that we've been going through-- and she's a writer by trade so it will make for much more interesting reading if you hear it from her.

In other news...

The Fall touring season is almost over and it could not have gone better. What an amazing time I've had these past few months and I have every one of you to thank for it. We had a great turnout at all the shows and people responded really well to the collection of songs I've shared this fall which was a mixture of old and new stuff. CD's were sold and frequent flyer miles were logged. More traveling and more shows than I've ever played on my own in a 10 week stretch of time so we are thankful! Which leads me to...tah dah! More shows....

We are currrently planning out the spring and early summer so keep an eye out on the website for details. We'll post them after the holidays. I am hoping to have a cello player out with me on select dates this Spring. A new record is also in the works now that I have some time off the road. We'll keep you posted on that too.

More thoughts and news...

I played a run of shows last weekend with the indomitable Eric Peters. I've known Eric for some time now and he and his wife just recently moved into our neighborhood so we started talking about doing some shows together. Last weekend we played in North & South Carolina and I must say-- I had a blast. Eric's music is very very good...his lyrics are so literary and he's got some great stories so I loved getting to hear him play live all weekend.

He's been at this for a while now so we traded nuggets or wisdom and jokes. He's in the middle of recording a new album and he played some of the rough mixes for me in the car.....I absolutely love it! He's writing his best stuff right now and that's saying something b/c his "Land of the Living" album from a few years ago is a must have.

He is also in possession of the most amazing mustaches I have ever seen. Here is a picture to prove it:



I am convinced that Eric draws his power from the amazing amount of facial hair which grows above his upper lip. Seriously-- it's incredible. You have to see it for yourself because my little camera phone doesn't do it justice. Awesome.


Traveling, performing our songs and laughing as hard as we did last weekend makes me so grateful to part of such an eclectic creative community. (that's a mouthful) Eric Peters-- cheers!

Talk to you soon. Thanks for reading.