read 11/4/11Sacri Cuori and I will be beginning the OUR BLOOD European Tour in a few days. The November 7th show at St Pancras Old Church in London has sold out, so we’ve added a second London show at The Social for November 14th. Here is an updated schedule:Nov 06 - Winchester - Railway TavernNov 07 - London - St Pancras Old Church - SOLD OUTNov 08 - Leeds - Brudenell Social ClubNov 09 - Cardiff - The Buffalo BarNov 10 - Glasgow - Captain's RestNov 12 - Liverpool - CUC -Americana UK FestivalNov 13 - Brighton - The BasementNov 14 - London - The SocialNov 15 - Antwerp acoustic house showNov 16 - Tiburg, NL - 013Nov 17 - Paris, FR - La JavaNov 18 - Trondheim, NO - CredoNov 19 - Oslo, NO - MonoNov 20 - Stockholm SE - DebaserNov 22 - Gothenburg, SE - JazzhusetNov 23 - Malmo, SE - KBNov 24 - Norderstedt, DE - The Music StarNov 25 - Utrecht, NL- Le Guess Who FestivalNov 26 - Den Haag, NL PaardNov 27 - Ottersum, NL RoepaenNov 29 - Ravenna, Italy - Bronson ClubI’m looking forward to seeing all of you. 10/11/11The truck turned over 577,000 miles after traipsing across a national landscape of questionable food and motels stocked with meth freaks, prostitutes, bed bugs and various unidentifiable stains and sounds. I’m going to try my luck outside of the United States in November with Italian band Sacri Cuori behind the wheel:Nov 6 - Winchester, UK - The RailwayNov 7 - London, UK - St Pancras Old Church Nov 8 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club (with Mark Eitzel)Nov 9 - Cardiff, UK - The Buffalo Bar (with Mark Eitzel)Nov 10 - Glasgow, UK - The Captain's RestNov 12- Liverpool, UK - Americana UK Festival (with Mark Eitzel, Richmond Fontaine & others)Nov 13 - Brighton, UK - The BasementNov 15 - TBCNov 16 - Tiburg, NL - 013Nov 17 - Paris, FR - La JavaNov 18 - Trondheim, NO - Credo Nov 19 - Oslo, NO - MonoNov 21 - Stockholm, SE - DebaserNov 22 - Gothenburg, SE - JazzhusetNov 23 - Malmo, SE - KBNov 24 - Norderstedt, DE - The Music StarNov 25 - Utrecht, NL- Le Guess Who Festival (with Low, Bill Callahan & others)Nov 26 - Den Haag, NL - PaardNov 27 - Ottersum, NL - RoepaenNov 29 - Ravenna, Italy - Bronson Club9/1/11Well, Irene blew out the August 27th Brooklyn, NY and August 28th Boston, MA shows with David Kilgour, but my bandmate Jeff Kazor and I made it indoors in Upstate NY just before the lights went out. David's shows were beautiful affairs and it was pleasure hearing him and his partner Tony knock us out every night. David and Tony have returned to their island ways, but I'll be making up the hurricane shows as soon as possible.This weekend, there's going to be a special event in Tucson, AZ. I'll be performing at the HoCo Fest 2011 on September 4th with my one-night-only band The 4 J's (Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico on bass and drums, Jon Rauhouse from Neko Case's band on pedal steel and my friend and oft-producer JD Foster on guitar and anything else that needs to be done). This is a very special event with all proceeds going to Craig Schumacher of the beloved Wavelab Studio in Tucson AZ where I recorded my albums Devotion & Doubt, The Hill and Dents & Shells. There will also be a silent auction for the benefit offering many goodies including an Epiphone nylon-string guitar that I've used on tour for the last bunch of years and on my last three records. Also playing that night will be Devotchka, Calexico, Tom Russel, Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta, Jon Rauhouse, Luca and more. If you can't make it to the show, you can also donate by going to Craig VS CancerAfter that, I'll be returning home for a few weeks of grilling before I head out on the next leg of the OUR BLOOD tour with The Crooked Jades' Jeff Kazor performing with me on harmonium and percussion, looking for more hurricanes (of wind-gusting and beverage fame).Tour dates for September & October added to the SEE page
8/7/11I’ll be accompanied on this next set of dates by Jeff Kazor, who will be utilizing his harmonium and a floor tom that I found at a Goodwill recently. In 1996, Jeff founded The Crooked Jades. They’ve recorded seven albums including the soundtrack to a PBS documentary called Seven Sisters. Years ago, in San Francisco, Jeff and I played bluegrass and mountain music together on the street and even indoors sometimes at high-profile functions like bookstore parties, auctions and open mics. On 8/17, Jeff and I will be joined onstage for one night with fellow Crooked Jades members Lisa Berman on Dobro and Erik Pearson on electric slide at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. In Brooklyn on 8/27 and Boston, 8/28, Crooked Jades pedal steel and arco bass player Charles Rose will be joining us. I’ve produced a few of The Crooked Jades’ records and have worked with this fine team of musicians before, so I’m really looking forward to ‘taking it back to the mountain’, so to speak. David Kilgour will be atop a mountain (or maybe a New Zealand volcano) of his own, as well for all of these upcoming performances in support of his amazing new album Left By Soft.7/24/11Merge has just licensed OUR BLOOD to Decor Records, out of London, where I will be labelmates with Richmond Fontaine and Mark Eitzel (again). They will be releasing OUR BLOOD in Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand. It can be preordered here starting Monday July 25th. It will be shipping the same time as the Merge release and features three bonus tracks. Decor is currently putting together some dates for later in the year in Europe.7/21/11A previously unreleased song called WILLOW has been released on iTunes. It’s available as a bonus track on OUR BLOOD only on pre-order sales until 8/2/11. After that, it’ll be gone again. It’s a song that was written before OUR BLOOD was made, but fell between the cracks. It features a tres tuned to C, a slightly dented marching drum and a pairing of the Bronson Sisters: a picked Bronson squareneck acoustic slide and an Ebowed Bronson “singing electric” lap steel. Pre-order OUR BLOOD with the bonus track from iTunes here.WILLOWI can still remember: my window let me through. I watched you wander and a light came to your room.Let’s go out riding; autumn comes so soon, but, its just another willow bowing to the moon, falling in the leaves and crawling from the vines leaving nowhere else to be, only passing us by as we’re closing our eyes.I shouldn’t be here.What are we gonna do?Will you remember?7/8/11I’ve just confirmed a series of dates in August with David Kilgour. On the LISTEN page, I’ve added the second song on OUR BLOOD, ESCAPE, to the jukebox. 6/16/11We’ve added an email sign-up area on the SEE page of this website. I’ll be adding more music on the LISTEN page (songs from OUR BLOOD, some covers and some other unreleased stuff) in the coming days, weeks and months or until the rapture comes.ON THE HORIZONIn late July, there will be 3 solo (just me and my truck) performance dates in the nation’s upper mid-section and a stop at Daytrotter HQ. A few weeks later, David Kilgour will be dropping by North America, joining me for some shows on the west and east coasts.OUR BLOODToday, IFC will run an MP3 premiere of ESCAPE. It’s the second song on OUR BLOOD and features an Epiphone Nylon that’s been through the wringer, a Wurlitzer electric piano played through an old Lafayette tube tape recorder that Jill Draper found at a Salvation Army, a Silvertone acoustic 10-string and a Casio SK-1 through a Leslie.ESCAPELet’s waste the night; pay the price and get out of here.It’s not enough, backing out just to disappear without a fight they’ll never know we’ve won.How’d you know where to go and when to stop to look ahead?No one’s ending up with what they thought they’d figured out.Well, this is what they get, cold and lost.Close calls take their toll some days.The threads hang down; pull one out, the world falls away, chased and caught begging to be found far from home, bound to where we’ve been out of sight, fallen as we run.OUR BLOOD5/15/11OUR BLOOD is about being caught, armed with some barbed momentary reasoning that won't let you go. If there is a story, it will end where it began and then keep going, free to stop, but never knowing why it should.TRAITOR Begin at the end. Wake up covered in everything you heard inside and wouldn't believe. Years were wasted in pursuit and flight. ESCAPE Drop everything and purge, squinting in various directions for the right place to step. Footprints are spotted leading and fading. Straws are picked; a route is born. THIEF Leave with nothing; the phantom possessions have collapsed upon themselves. Along the way, examples are abandonded, unrecognized, made by others just as weak. COLLUSION There is a moment of clarity: shapes amass to define a path. PONDER But, with this new knowledge, can you move? Waiting, unbalanced, there is barely enough time and so much of it. WITNESS Someone who knows all of your secrets is about to set you free, expunging and departing. Vapor trails start to appear, though, and suddenly, there are too many. CONFESSION Realizing that you are not alone, you duck out of sight, hoping someone will be concerned. When they catch up, you dart from the brush with an unrequested response. HINDSIGHT Released in the shade, you finally arrive with your proof and your myth. As the two destroy each other, a curtain is pulled. GANG Your story evaporates before it can be told. No impression is made. The exit doors unlatch and spread to show haunted ruts only filling up again. Enjoy.I recorded OUR BLOOD at home roughly between August '09 and February '11. In April '10, Buddy Cage dropped by and played pedal steel. In July '10, Steve Shelley zipped upstate in a zipcar and played percussion. There was a period of re-thinking/re-recording for a few months. Some songs were turned inside-out or replaced. Finally, in February '11, I walked a few blocks from my house to Malcolm Burns place and he mixed it. Then, I walked back home and Jill Draper laid out the images I'd made.The first song on OUR BLOOD is TRAITOR. This track features a Harmony Hollywood, a Fender Jazzmaster, a Casio SK-1 through a Leslie, a Wurlitzer electric piano, a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, some E-bow and a marching drum along with some "metal slappers". Buddy Cage plays pedal steel.TRAITORYou woke up too late, but know what they thought while you were waiting for the strangers that had gone somewhere to stay together/apart, where everyone traded as they faded in the dark, caught in the lights they couldn’t show through and just beyond.They’d always known you would give it away, even as dust, falling just out of frame, leaving everything untouched, held and returned.Who did you cry to?Was someone else too close to find?You sold what you’d saved, woke where you’d lie and said what they wouldn’t say to the shadows in the night left in your place and still lashing out, coming to life to make you finally live it down.O, watch that temper, now.Is it worth it, wasted?How far will you get?
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