To The Future!

Hi Everybody,

Spring is coming, or so I heard. We changed our clocks, so at least there’s that. When the robots replace us will they still use daylight savings time?

I’m probably most excited about having mastered Fred Van Eps’s 1952 classic banjo adaption of James Scott’s piano rag, Ragtime Oriole. Somebody told me it’s probably the first instance of a ragtime piano piece imitating a bird call. You can see me playing its various parts on my Instagram feed and decide for yourself.

I survived another little tour with Roochie Toochie and the Ragtime Shepherd Kings, and it was, by most accounts, glorious. In fact, glorious would be an understatement but I will leave it there. If you were there then you know, and if you weren’t then you will just have to wonder and wait. We have more shows coming up in June, to be announced soon.

Now, on Saturday (tomorrow) I am traveling to Columbus for a weekend of tunes with friends. This Saturday, March 17, Lindsay and I play at Rambling House in Columbus with special guest Henry Barnes, and on Monday, March 19, we are playing there again for the monthly square dance with caller Sean Fen. Excellent.
From Columbus I drive to New York City for some big shows with hot new project Lovestruck Balladeers. This project is like a newborn baby, its skull hasn’t hardened yet, we have our whole collaborative musical life ahead of us yet, and so much is possible! We are playing at Mona’s on Tuesday March 20 and our Big Show is the next day, Wednesday March 21, at St. Mazie for Jake Sanders‘s CD Release. Here’s the FB event link. We will get some good rehearsals in next week and a few more appearances in NYC (see my website calendar for all the details)
Before I leave NYC I’ll get one good bluegrass jam in with Rick Snell and friends at Mona’s on the 26th, plus some kind of session with my Wild Hog buddies Max Johnson and Thomas Bailey somewhere, somehow on the 25th.

I’ll be on the road all day on the 27th and on the 28th we’re having a square dance at the Gaelic League in Detroit, wheee! I’ll have a few days after that to get ready for the next tour, this time I will be doing two weeks with Escaping Pavement touring around Lake Michigan (northern MI, upper peninsula, Minnesota, Wisconsin, ending up in Chicago area) and then flying to L.A. for two weeks with Henry Barnes and Friends touring the west coast from L.A. to Seattle. Dates are still being added so keep an eye on that website calendar
Places we are definitely visiting include but are not limited to:

Petoskey, MI
Marquette, MI
Hancock, MI
Woodbury, MN
Bangor, WI
Viroqua, WI
Springfield, IL
Downers Grove, IL (any Emo Philips fans out there??)
Ottawa, IL
Fairmount, IL

Oakland, CA
Jackson, CA
and yeah, well, the rest of it remains a mystery for now.

I’m going to end it here since I’m feeling pretty busy these days and not terribly introspective. Spring is coming and I won’t dwell on the past but look ahead, TO THE FUTURE!