Back in the U.S.S.A

I spent a most luxurious day doing absolutely nothing. Shaking off the soreness of the tour. I think it's pretentious to talk about being tired or beat up for doing what you love for ten days in another country, but i am--as they say--positively knackered.

Save the hour and a half I waited for my bags, the Atlanta airport was surprisingly fast and efficient. And the shuttle driver stopped at a Burger King/truck stop on the ride up to Chatt', allowing me to stumble half-awake and road weary through the aisles looking for salt and vinegar chips one last time.

The tour was fabulous. The Matt O'Ree Band is a fantastically talented blues band who are also really great guys, a lot of fun to be around. I made five good friends on this tour. Saw some of the most remote yet cool parts of the UK and had a number of life changing experiences.

I had hoped to keep a running blog of it all, but internet access was actually devilishly hard to obtain. I've journaled the whole thing, took a ton of pictures and will post highlights here soon. I just wanted to drop a quick note to say thanks to all that came out to the shows, bought CDs and otherwise made my this trip less of a financial bath than it could've been.

SPeaking of financial baths, I'm fairly grateful for the lack of access to the outside world as it's seemed to have gone to hell well I'm gone. I can't leave you people alone for a minute!

-Br

Cool shows this weekend and UK dates posted.

Saturday, Sept. 13th — All Day
White House Dulcimer DaysMunicipal Auditorium
White House, TN
with Steve Seifert$3.00 for the show
$20.00 for the workshop

Sunday, Sept. 14th — 7pm
Leo Coffeehouse
Zion United Church of Christ in Norwood
w/Providence Hunt and Lines and Spaces.
$3.00 Cover.

Just a quick note to let you know about a couple of fun shows this weekend.
Dulcimer Days in WHite House is an all day affair, I'll be doing with the
inimitable and unpredictable Steve Seifert (I'll be imitating him and trying
to predict his next move). Then it's onto the Leo Coffeehouse in Cincinnati,
one of my favorite places to play. I suppose I say that a lot, but the Leo
has been in operation since 1963! Like the Postcrypt and the Minstrel, it's
a true-blue folk club and I love those places.

Also, I've posted my tour dates for England up on my web site. If you know
anyone who lives near them, or you yourself are gonna be nearby (I know some
folks who are coming in from Ireland for a few shows) spread the word and
come on down!

Okay, that's all for now.

C-ya out there.

-Br

Saturday, Sept. 13th — All Day
White House Dulcimer Days
Saturday, Sept. 13th — All Day
White House Dulcimer Days
White House, TN
with Steve Seifert
$3.00 for the show
$20.00 for the workshop

Sunday, Sept. 14th — 7pm
Leo Coffeehouse
Zion United Church of Christ in Norwood
w/Providence Hunt and Lines and Spaces.
$3.00 Cover.

Great Show in NJ this weekend and exciting news!

1. Great Show
2. Great News
3. Help me save the Post Office.


1. GREAT SHOW!

Friday, August 22nd
Minstrel Coffeehouse
co-bill with Randall Williams
Morristown Unitarian Fellowship,
21 Normandy Heights Road,
Morristown, NJ.
http://www.folkproject.org/fp_minstrel.html

That's right my first co-bill here. The Minstrel has always been one of my favorite places to play, and they have my favorite cover charge ($7 to get in, plus what you thought it was REALLY WORTH on the way out). Mike Agranoff and the gang have been trying to set up the right bill to split for literally years. So, I'm splitting it with right guy Randall Williams,(http://www.whereisrandall.com/) who is the king of the partial capo (or something like that) and an all-round nice guy.

This is will be my ONLY show in the northeast between now and the end of the year. Sure love to see you there.

For those of you who are dulcimer players, I will be teaching a workshop at the Off the Wall's dulcimer club picnic near Mechanicsburg, PA on Sunday the 24th at 2pm. Contact me butch@butchross.com if you want to go and I'll get you in touch with those folks.


2. GREAT NEWS!

The other great news is that I've been invited to the UK to do ten days of shows! I'll be doing a full-on Pub/Festival tour with two other bands. Dates and other info will be posted on my site (and elsewhere) soon enough, but I just wanted to let you all know the good news. Honestly, I can't believe it.

3. Help Me Save The Post Office

Way back in the day (the nineties) everybody used to send out postcards with upcoming shows. It made for a great way to clutter up your refrigerator. Then this thing called the internet came along and everybody could send emails to everybody for free. No stamps, no postcards, no overhead.

Well I think it's time to bring it back so I'm going to. Any of you who are on this list and would like to get old-fashion mail updates in a schmancy postcard form can get yourself on that list by going here: http://www.butchross.com/members.html and scrolling to the bottom. I probably won't send out more than a couple a year. But having a snail-mail address will also allow me to send you free stuff should it strike my fancy (like last year's Xmas card CD)

Okay that's all the news. Great sow this weekend. I'm looking forward to being back in the northeast ever so briefly. Flying in just for the weekend, just for this gig. Makes me feel like a rockstar. An unfocused, spendthrift rockstar who's not all that bright, but a rockstar nonetheless.

C-ya out there.

-Br

Here's that show again.

Friday, August 22nd
Minstrel Coffeehouse
co-bill with Randall Williams
Morristown Unitarian Fellowship,
21 Normandy Heights Road,
Morristown, NJ.
http://www.folkproject.org/fp_minstrel.html

THAT is why I do this.

So yesterday, I'm performing at the Louie Bluey festival in La Follate, TN. After the set, a guy asks to buy a CD from me. He introduces himself and says, "I play guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and dobro. My wife has had a dulcimer hanging on the wall for years, and I've never once thought of taking it down. But after seeing you perform, soon as I get home I'm gonna give it a try."

Yeah man, that's the whole point.

so... got lunch plans?

June 13th - 12:00pm
Rhythm and Noon
Lunchtime Music Series
Miller Plaza
Chattanooga, TN
Today at noon

June 14th - 2pm
Louie Bluey Festival
Community Stage
La Follatte, TN

June 14th - 10pm
Tremont Tavern
1203 Hixson Pike
Chattanooga, TN

June 17th - 10:00pm
JJ's Bohemia
o/f Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade
Mlk. Blvd.
Chattanooga, TN

June 20-22
Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
Chattanooga, TN
www.chattanoogadulcimerfestival.com

June 22-29
Kentucky Music Week
Bardstown Kentucky
www.kentuckymusicweek.com


Yeah. I'm playing Miller Plaza in my hometown in less than an hour. Unless
you work downtown and have one of those jobs where you can surf the web all
day, you ain't gonna make it. BUT it's a perfectly acceptable excuse to plug
all the other shows that i got coming up in the next few days.

I know I say this all the time, but these shows and festivals are all great.
I guess I'm realizing that I'm lucky enough to only do cool shows anymore.
More sun through the clouds I suppose. I'll talk a little bit more about the
Chatt' fest and KMW next week. but I gotta go, soundcheck awaits!

BTW new favorite song title "you can't tell which way the train went, by
looking at the tracks."

again with the shows...

RIGHT NOW!
Rhythm and Noon
Lunchtime Music Series
Miller Plaza
Chattanooga, TN
Today at noon

June 14th - 2pm
Louie Bluey Festival
Community Stage
La Follatte, TN

June 14th - 10pm
Tremont Tavern
1203 Hixson Pike
Chattanooga, TN

June 17th - 10:00pm
JJ's Bohemia
o/f Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade
Mlk. Blvd.
Chattanooga, TN

June 20-22
Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
Chattanooga, TN
www.chattanoogadulcimerfestival.com

June 22-29
Kentucky Music Week
Bardstown Kentucky
www.kentuckymusicweek.com

the press in this town...

... seems to like me.

Chattanoogan today
times free press podcast
me braggin' 'bout my town

The pulse posted my picture with the local strings article, but they seem to be offline right now.

Not a bad week.

Hey, whaddya doing tonight?

Local Strings
Songwriter's in the round with Tiffany Taylor, Noah Collins and me.

Rhythm and Brews
221 Market St.
Chattanooga, TN

9pm—$5.00

This is a great show, one that I've been rehearsing with Tiff and Noah for a
while now.
Local strings is a cool concept in that the acts are chosen based one their
ability to connect musically.
Noah, Tiffany and I all have one foot in traditional music, so you can
expect old-time and bluegrass tunes as easily as you would original and
crazy covers. Our version of Rocky Top rules (no kidding!)

I know it's been since January that we last spoke, but I live a life where
no news is good news. I have been busy playing shows in exotic places like
Hungary and Missouri, collaborating with friends, doing many a dulcimer
festival and getting to the next step. it's been a year of truth and beauty,
and despite the Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times," this is
indeed the most interesting year I've had yet. Like an Irish summer sky even
the darkest clouds are shot through with sunlight.

So. I am firming up the rest of my year, continuing to collect snail mail
addresses so I can send out a proper newsletter (sudoko, ya!) and trying to
find time to record a follow up to Moonshiner's Atlas, it's time, I'm nearly
ready.

In the meantime, here I am in oppositetown, where my name seems to be in the
paper once a week, and my own voice taunts me from the NPR station, trying
to get you all to come on out and see us tonight. Rhythm and Brews rocks and
Local Strings is a brilliant idea. You should, like, totally come.

C-ya out there.

-Br

Local Strings
Songwriter's in the round with Tiffany Taylor, Noah Collins and me.

Rhythm and Brews
221 Market St.
Chattanooga, TN

9pm—$5.00

On my way back from Texas.

I'm a little shocked to find that it's been since Christmas that I've posted here. As usual, the busier we get the harder it is to find the time to write. Well, here's what's been going on.

We went to the awesome, awesome city of Budapest in the middle of January, to play some New Years concerts there. In Hungary the Cimbalom (their version of the hammered dulcimer) is a revered classical instrument. Why we were invited is beyond me but we were well received and we feel really lucky that we get to go.

I also bought a citera there, which is their version of the Mountain Dulcimer. IT's totally awesome but I haven't figured out any trad tunes on it yet. So far all I've gotten is parts of "Norwegian Wood," "Kashmir," and Bin Jovi's "Wanted: Dead or Alive."

I'll post video as soon as i can come up with something good.

We also played some great gigs in North East, MD and Baltimore. The last one with Ken Kolodner and Dan Landrum. Those were great shows too.

Finally we play the "Winter Festival of Acoustic Music" in Irving, Texas. It is one of the best-organized festivals I've ever been to. On Saturday, I sat in with No Strings Attached on the Duke Ellington song "O, Lady be Good."




But I would be remiss if i didn't point out that it was Aaron O'Rourke who did it first, and that was what drove me to learn it, can't have them whippersnappers nipping at my heels.

Here's the video

Merry Christmas and some video

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everybody, and a Happy New Year. In the spirit of the season, I've posted a couple of videos.

O, Little Town of Bethlehem

This is Merv Rowley's arrangement of the tune for the 1-3-5 tuning (in this case E-G#-B) and he does a really lovely version of it, which I've done my best to recreate.

Blackbird

This was done in the 1-3-5 tuning (D-F#-A capoed 3), I sang along but it's a little rough. I tried it without singing and it was even worse, so rather than belabor it forever... Anyway, maybe I'll do a better recording after the new year.



So there you go, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

-Br

Three Chances to see Butch in Chattanooga, plus one more.

Sat. December 1, 2007 at 9:45 PM SHARP!
Opening for OLD MAN: A TRIBUTE TO NEIL YOUNG
Rhythm and Brews
Featuring Mike McDade, Jeff and Jennifer Daniels, Laticia Wolf and More...
It's the Y in CSN&Y's birthday so they're celebrating it.
$5.00

Sat. December 1st 10:30ish
Tremont Tavern one-year anniversary party!
with the Flynts
Tremont Tavern
Corner of Hixon and Tremont Streets
Across from the Old Greenlife Grocery
Chattanooga, TN
FREE!

December 2nd, 7pm
Christmas Concert with Dan Landrum and Alan Shikoh
First Baptist Church of South Boston
South Boston, Viriginia
Free!

Tuesday, Dec. 4th, 9pm
o/f Paleface
JJ's Bohemia
Next to Caffeine on MLK
Chattanooga, TN
Probably $5.00

Folk who have been on my mailing list for some time now likely come to almost expect a double email from me. One announcing some upcoming shows, and a second correcting some obvious error in the show information originally presented.

And so those of you out there with an eye for detail will notice that i have two shows booked on Saturday Night. This is NOT a typo. Mike McDade called me and asked if i would play a set of originals stuff to open his birthday tribute to Neil Young. This show (even without me) is going to be a good time. Unless you hate Neil Young, then it'll be terrible.

As soon as I finish playing I am beating it on down to the Tremont Tavern to play their one-year anniversary party. This bar has been very good to me ever since I came to town, up to and including Dustin, the owner, letting me show up late so i can play another gig!!! That's really beyond cool.

Then I'm getting up at the crack of dawn to ride with Dan Landrum and Alan Shikoh to South Boston, Virgina to play a Christmas show during their Sunday evening service. Nothin' like a little church to redeem a night of bar hopping!

And then finally on Tuesday I will be back at JJ's Bohemia to open for Paleface. I originally turned this gig down. Since picking up the dulcimer I've moved further and further away from my antifolk past, I honestly didn't know how good a match up it would be.

But the more I thought about it, the more excited I became. Paleface is one of the original L.E.S. antifolkies, and he's as good now as he ever was. Of course, it's very very likely that you have NEVER heard of Paleface. Well that's understandable. The folklore about him says that back in 1989-91 He had a roommate named Beck Hansen. They wrote some songs together. When Beck started playing shows on his own, everybody said "Jeez that dude sounds just like Paleface." Later Beck moved to LA dropped his surname and started winning grammies. Paleface, on the other hand, drives a van, plays shows and keeps the faith. He's the real deal, and I'm honored to be opening for him. Look for me to drag some old chestnuts out (and maybe even a guitar) for this one.

So there you go. Four shows, three nights, two towns. It's a wonderful life. Now I got more to tell you, but that will have to wait until tomorrow (I'll give you a hint tho': it involves the birth of Jesus and how you can get free stuff) So there will be a follow email to this one, but that one will have nothing to do with this weekend.

c-ya out there

-Br

Sat. December 1, 2007 at 9:45 PM SHARP!
Opening for OLD MAN: A TRIBUTE TO NEIL YOUNG
Rhythm and Brews
Featuring Mike McDade, Jeff and Jennifer Daniels, Laticia Wolf and More...
It's the Y in CSN&Y's birthday so they're celebrating it.
$5.00

Sat. December 1st 10:30ish
Tremont Tavern one-year anniversary party!
with the Flynts
Tremont Tavern
Corner of Hixon and Tremont Streets
Across from the Old Greenlife Grocery
Chattanooga, TN
FREE!

December 2nd, 7pm
Christmas Concert with Dan Landrum and Alan Shikoh
First Baptist Church of South Boston
South Boston, Viriginia
Free!

Tuesday, Dec. 4th, 9pm
o/f Paleface
JJ's Bohemia
Next to Caffeine on MLK
Chattanooga, TN
Probably $5.00

First Chattanooga Show

First Chattanooga gig this weekend and news!

11/03/2007
10:00 PM
J.J.'s Bohemia
231 MLK BLVD.
Chattanooga, 37402
Cost: $5.00
Playing with Christabel and the Jons (a cool swing band from Knoxville) and The New Binkley Brothers.


11/9-11/2007
Southeastern Ohio Dulcimer Fest
The Federal Valley Resource Center
Stewart, Ohio 45778
Cost: $35 advance, $40 day of.
A weekend dulcimer festival featuring long in-depth lessons with Jerry Rockwell, Steve Seifert, Steven K. Smith and myself. This is going to be small but very cool.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally I had planned to make this a longer missive, but was faced with writer's block, and really no desire to type. So instead, I thought I would just write a quick email to tell you about the upcoming shows. Now I'm looking at the mess before you.

Also, I'm co-writing this email with my cat, Ellie, who has decided (like most cats do) that the most comfortable spot in the room is between you and whatever it is you're doing right now. She got into a fight with another neighborhood cat and ended up with a big festering ball of infection that needed lanced. So now she trotting around with a disgusting draining wound on her butt and one of those lampshades around her neck to keep her from ripping out her stitches, she hates it and looks ridiculous. It's Halloween today, I think I'm gonna dress her up as a daisy.

The last tour up through Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia was a really great time. I wrote a review of the week on my web site, and my Myspace page. Myspace is great; they don't accept rss feeds so I have to write everything twice. Plus it's exactly like being on AOL circa 1996. Anyway, I posted some pics and some video both at butchross.com and Myspace.com/butchross. Go check it out.

After I got back from that tour I decided to stay off the road until the end of the year. So I could play local shows and get to know the new neighbors I haven't seen since we moved here. Tho' I've played a lot of outdoors-y event-type stuff, and sat in with other folks (even playing three gigs in a single day two weeks ago), Saturday will be my first local club show here. On the bill are the Binkley Brothers (http://www.myspace.com/newbinkleybrothers), who are a local old-time band, and Christabel and the Jons (http://www.christabelmusic.com), a swing band from Knoxville. I have been telling everyone that I would recommend this show, even if I weren't on the bill, and it's true.

The weekend after that I will be back up in Ohio, at Jerry Rockwell's Southeastern Ohio dulcimer festival. This will be a technique intensive festival with longer and smaller classes from me, Jerry, Steve Seifert and Steven K. Smith. There will also be a big Saturday night concert that is going to feature a lot of collaboration and jamming. It'll be held, as usual, in the community center, which is an old school, just outside of Athens in Stewart, Ohio: A small town just up the road from (I'm not making this up) Guysville, and Coolsville. This is going to be best kept secret in dulcimerdum (is that a word?) and if you really want to learn to play well, you should make the trip.

I've also spent the better part of the last few weeks holed up in Dan Landrum's studio working on my Christmas CD. As those of you who have been on this list for a while will remember, in 2003 I released a CD of Holiday tunes that was my first true mountain dulcimer project. I recorded that in an unused apartment in my building, with a minidisk, a borrowed folkcraft dulcimer, and Pro-tools free. I got reverb by wiring my computer to my Fender amp's reverb unit. I had been looking to update it for some time, and this was the opportunity to do so. I also was able to add some new tracks, including a few played on a Hungarian Cittera, the Hungarian version of the mountain dulcimer (that thing is so cool).

In the near future I'll be posting more about it, including how you can get it for free. But I want to wait a bit before I do. Christmas seriously starts waaaaaay too early these days.

So again, to recap, Saturday at JJ's Bohemia in Chattanooga, next week at Jerry's festival in Ohio, and there'll be a Christmas CD coming that you can get for free.

I really thought that this would be a short email.

C-ya out there.

-Br

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11/03/2007
10:00 PM
J.J.'s Bohemia
231 MLK BLVD.
Chattanooga, 37402
Cost: $5.00
Playing with Christabel and the Jons (a cool swing band from Knoxville) and The New Binkley Brothers.


11/9-11/2007
Southeastern Ohio Dulcimer Fest
The Federal Valley Resource Center
Stewart, Ohio 45778
Cost: $35 advance, $40 day of.
A weekend dulcimer festival featuring long in-depth lessons with Jerry Rockwell, Steve Seifert, Steven K. Smith and myself. This is going to be small but very cool.

A note on "The Road"

To me the road is not measured in miles, or money, in gas, tolls, good gigs or bad ones, CD sales or opening acts. It's measured in moments, brief and sharp as a razor or slow and soft as a prayer.

In 2005, in Louisville, a drunk stumbles to the stage and asks how much my CDs are. I say fifteen, and he says he only has eleven. "Close enough,” say I, and he hands me $6 and a scratch and win lottery ticket for $5. This is the what I remember.

By all accounts, this tour was successful, Jonathan Byrd successful. If I did this kind of touring 40 or 50 weeks a year, I’d be very successful, Ellis Paul successful. But it’s not the money or the shows that we do this. At least, it’s not why I do.

The tour started out well enough, Chester Page and company up in White House put together one heck of shindig for Steve Seifert and myself. Chester built this even to be a success from the bottom up, and as a result everyone had a good time and we were able to raise nearly $500 for the White House Elementary School’s dulcimer program. Seriously Chester, this was a better-run event than a lot of the “established” venues I’ve played over the last decade or so.

In Columbus I played Special Ed kids at the Heritage Middle School and remembered this: all my accomplishments aren’t worth a tinker’s damn compared to the everyday heroes out there, unsung and vigilant.



I went on a wild goose chase with Cindy Howes through crooked Pittsburgh streets that I once knew by rote, Cindy swore that her GPS was not faulty. We had a long lunch with much talk about music, how Pittsburgh is America, and how Tom Brousseau is not at all like the movie North Fork. She’s perennially in my Myspace top 8 because she always has new content. Then there was a pasta dinner with Stu and Ash in a Shadyside flat, the Bloomsburg Bridge Tavern, where I did not have the Perogies (and am still regretting it) and a sleep-in morning that the only one I got this trip.

If Nashville is the “Athens of the south” then Athens, Ohio is the “Athens of Ohio.” Once about three years ago, I sipped a cool Guinness in a very hot tub under a star-filled sky while coyotes bayed in the distance. This time there where no coyotes, only that star filled sky, and tho’ the times weren’t as good, it made the tub and the companionship more urgent, and fulfilling.

Heidi Muller invited me to play to six people at an Elderhostel, who were learning dulcimer. It reminded me that what the dulcimer gives, is the gift of music to people who never ever thought that music was in the cards for them. How do you put price on that?? An hour later I was playing for these inner city kids, who are also all learning the dulcimer.



I met Clare, 6 years old, red hair and freckles, she drew me a picture of a palm tree, its leaves spelling out the phrase “you rule.” Things like this are the best reason for owning a refrigerator. That same gig brought a pop-quiz request for Radiohead and Peter Gabriel. Note to self: keep yr. Chops up, especially on old material. You never, ever, know.



At the Hilltop house in Harpers Ferry, where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac, the trains come out of the tunnel and blast their horns; these echo down the valley. Heading north, the Doppler effect drops their notes of the horn one semi-tone down, and southbound it comes back a perfect forth lower, creating it’s own harmony in the key of C.

And finally Christie and I discovered the town of Thomas, squashed into the side of a mountain, it’s like a model train diorama comes to life. If there’s ever a place on earth like the fictional Cecily, Alaska, this is it. Here, in a freezing cabin, I reconnected with a random old friend who had come to the same conclusion thing I did: we do this because we have to, and because of that fact, we always will.

One of the wonderful things about Chattanooga is that I look forward to coming back to it. It feels good to be back on the road, to put all those miles beneath my wheels again. But this time coming back is as good as going out. I am truly blessed in this.

Fall tour dates part 1

09/08/2007 06:00 PM
Dulcimers in the park
HWY 76 AT HIRSCH PARKWAY
White House, Tennessee
Cost: $5.00
Description: A day of jamming and an open stage. Evening indoor concert. All proceeds support the White House elementary school dulcimer program.

09/09/2007 01:00 PM
WNKU Radio Interview
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cost: free
Description: On "the Front Porch" with Pam Temple. Listen online at wnku.org

09/09/2007 07:00 PM
The Leo Coffeehouse
Indian Mound Ave. and Montgomery Road
Norwood, Ohio
Cost: $3.00

09/13/2007 07:30 PM
Unitarian Church of Charleston, WV
20 Kanawha Blvd West
Charleston, West Virginia 25302
Cost: pass the hat (it’s really a hat too)
Description: Playing a Unitarian church, with an opener. I got this gig because of a song I put on Myspace, How cool is that!

09/14/2007 08:00 PM - Upper Potomac Dulcimer Fest
Hilltop House
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Cost: $155/$195
Description: A weekend long dulcimer festival featuring several notable dulcimer players. More info at dulcimerfest.org

09/15/2007 08:00 PM
Upper Potomac Dulcimer Fest
Hilltop House
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Cost: $155/$195
Description: Prices include food and lodging as well as 12 hours of instruction. Go to http://www.home.earthlink.net/~updf/fallfest/ for more information.

09/16/2007 07:00 PM - The Purple Fiddle
21 East Ave.
Thomas, West Virginia
Cost: $5.00
Description: A cool little venue, in a neat little town. This will be my first time there.

Ahh so many acronyms. Tomorrow I’m leaving for 7 shows in 10 days anding up at the Upper Potomac Dulcimer Festival in Harper's Ferry, wheere they will be featuring for teh first time, mountain dulcimer instruction. I’ll send another email to talk about next weekend’s shows but I want to focus on this weeken… um tomorrow.

The Saturday show in White House is a benefit concert to get mountain dulcimers for kids in the school’s music program up there. In addition to a rare joint concert by Steve and I, there will be jamming, an open stage, and a performance by the Grand Old Dulcimer club. Steve and I will be leading workshops early in the morning: One each for beginners and intermediate players. These are not part of the dulcimer day (which is free) or the evening concert (which is $5.00). They cost $20.00 and last two hours.

Sunday, I will be on the radio at WNKU in Cincinnati. Of course Cincinnati is home to my favorite fictional radio station, but they may have a great city for radio in general. I’ll be on Sunday after 1pm sometime you can listen online at wnku.org

That night I’ll be playing at the Leo Coffeehouse, one of the oldest coffeehouses in the country. They’re no longer at the wonderful moldering ex-church/monastery that they were before, but are still going gangbusters. Last time I was there it was one of the best shows I ever played. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m off to Columbus after that to play for some school kids, I’ll try to post photos to my blog, and some stuff from my summer too.

c-ya out there.

-Br

butchross.com

09/08/2007 06:00 PM
Dulcimers in the park
HWY 76 AT HIRSCH PARKWAY
White House, Tennessee
Cost: $5.00
Description: A day of jamming and an open stage. Evening indoor concert. All proceeds support the White House elementary school dulcimer program.

09/09/2007 01:00 PM
WNKU Radio Interview
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cost: free
Description: On "the Front Porch" with Pam Temple. Listen online at wnku.org

09/09/2007 07:00 PM
The Leo Coffeehouse
Indian Mound Ave. and Montgomery Road
Norwood, Ohio
Cost: $3.00

09/13/2007 07:30 PM
Unitarian Church of Charleston, WV
20 Kanawha Blvd West
Charleston, West Virginia 25302
Cost: pass the hat (it’s really a hat too)
Description: Playing a Unitarian church, with an opener. I got this gig because of a song I put on Myspace, How cool is that!

09/14/2007 08:00 PM - Upper Potomac Dulcimer Fest
Hilltop House
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Cost: $155/$195
Description: A weekend long dulcimer festival featuring several notable dulcimer players. More info at dulcimerfest.org

09/15/2007 08:00 PM
Upper Potomac Dulcimer Fest
Hilltop House
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Cost: $155/$195
Description: Prices include food and lodging as well as 12 hours of instruction. Go to http://www.home.earthlink.net/~updf/fallfest/ for more information.

09/16/2007 07:00 PM - The Purple Fiddle
21 East Ave.
Thomas, West Virginia
Cost: $5.00
Description: A cool little venue, in a neat little town. This will be my first time there.

Updated Info about Saturday's show and event.

Dulcimer in the Park
White House, TN
This Saturday, September 8, 2007

Three locations:

The morning workshops with Butch Ross and Stephen Seifert will take place at White House-Heritage School, 220 West Drive, White House, TN 37188. Take I-65 Exit 108, head East on Highway 76, and turn right on Elementary Drive (2nd street past Sonic). This road ends at the school’s front door.

Jamming and open stage will be at White House Municipal Park, 420 Highway 76, White House, TN. Take I-65 Exit 108, head East on Highway 76. The park is about 1 mile on your left. If it rains, activities will be in-doors.

The evening concert will be at Billy S. Hobbs Municipal Center, 105 College Street (Highway 76), White House, TN. Take I-65 Exit 108, head East on Highway 76. Cross 31W at the Mapco. Highway 76 becomes College Street. The center will be on your right. The concert is in the auditorium.

Schedule:

8:00 – 9:30 Stephen Seifert
BEGINNER
Foundational Techniques for the Beginning Mountain Dulcimer Player
DAD Tuning
$20

We’ll cover stringing, tuning, strumming, fretting, and chording. I’ll give you some tips on developing good timing and memorizing tunes. You’ll also get some shortcuts to knowing all the chords you’ll need. Expect a fiddle tune and a hymn.

8:00 – 9:30 Butch Ross
INTERMEDIATE AND UP
Modal Mysterioso
$20

No third? No problem! Learn droney modal tunes and the lonesome hollow sound that defines the classic Appalachian tunes. A Capo is recommended.

9:45 – 11:15 Butch Ross
BEGINNER
The Keys to the Kingdom
$20

if you've learned "boil dem cabbage", and we pretty much all have, then you have the building blocks you need to understand basic theory, to find the chord changes in most songs, and stay involved in jams, even if you don't know the tune.

9:45 – 11:15 Stephen Seifert
INTERMEDIATE AND UP
WHAT to Practice to Become a Better Mountain Dulcimer Player
DAD Tuning
$20

Want to work towards being a well-rounded, capable, and interesting player? I’m going to give you plenty to work on including practice tips, strumming, flat-picking, cross-picking, fingerpicking, fingerings, hammer-ons, pull-offs, chords, scales, exercises, riffs, jigs, Blues, clean playing, capos, tuning, tunings, string arrangements, and more. I’ll use fragments from a number of fiddle tunes, hymns, and old-time songs to make my points. This stuff is homework you can use!

11:00 – 1:00 Jamming

1:00 – 3:00 Open Stage

The Grand Old Dulcimer Club will play at the open stage at 2:00 We will play our usual jam tunes similar to what we played at Centennial Park. Let's gather at 1:00 to warm up and finalize our song list.

3:00 – 5:00 Jamming

6:00 - 8:00 – Evening Concert - $5 - Proceeds go to support the dulcimer program at Heritage Middle School.

White House Heritage Students – 15 min.
White House Players – 15 min.

Intermission – 15 min.
Stephen Seifert – 30 min.

Butch Ross – 30 min.
Ross and Seifert – 20 min.

For concert ticket information call 615-497-3293.

For more information contact:

Chester Page - (615) 497-3293
Sue Claiborne - (615) 325-0310
Judy Beier - (615) 226-5868

Woah! Suzanna?

It's been a while since I've posted so I thought maybe I oughta.

I've been looking to collaborate on a project with a local jazz guitarist named Alan Shikoh, who is phenomenal. To that end, I've been emailing him the most blatantly cheesy folk songs I can think of for him to jazz up. I think I lost him at "turkey in the straw" so i cooked up this version of "oh, suzanna" to win him back. He says it sounds like Pat Metheny, I tried to take that in the spirit in which it was given.

listen to it here.

I also have a bunch of new stuff up one my myspace page.

enjoy!

Thanks Y'all!!

Thanks to all of you that checked out the live video podcast. It was a lot of fun, usually I have to book a gig to talk about myself for an hour, and there's usually far fewer people there. :-)

For those of you who missed it, it'll be a podcast you can download soon.

Here are the websites that were mentioned in the show.

myspace.com/butchross
myspace.com/christieandbutch
butchandchristie.com

Enjoy.

Back on tour again!

Wednesday, March 21st - 09:00 PM
The Fire (at the Philadelphia Bar and Grill)
Trio show with (the other) Jimmy and Maggie
412 W. Girard,
Philadelphia, PA 19123
$7.00 admission
with Cowmuddy, Luke Schurman (NY) and others.

Friday, March 23rd - 08:30 PM
Minstrel Coffeehouse
Morristown Unitarian Fellowship,
21 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
Cost : $7.00 on the way in (plus what you thought it was really worth
on the way out)
o/f Notorious

Saturday, March 24th - 09:00 PM
The Postcrypt Coffeehouse
The basement of St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University,
New York CIty, NY
Cost: Tips

Sunday, March 25th - 09:00 PM
The Fort at the Sidewalk Cafe
Trio show with (the other) Jimmy and Maggie
6th and Avenue A,
New York City, New York 10009
Cost: Free (tips)

Greetings all.

I'm truly excited: It's been a long time since I've sent out a good
old-fashioned gig announcement. Longer still since I've legitimately
toured. Yes, I've been busy with myriad dulcimer festivals (both with
and without my talented wife). Those are good times. They are always
good times. But it's been a long while—years—since I've been back out
on the open road, hitting my old stomping grounds, playing some
familiar clubs with some dear friends.

So here’s a little backstory for those of you who have walked into
the middle of this movie: Long before the dulcimer was my main axe, I
was a singer/songwriter. With an old guitar I went running up the
miles on my dilapidated but beloved Honda Civic, stomping around the
northeastern United States, playing folk clubs, coffeehouses, tribute
nights, bars and anyplace else that would have me. I tried to break
the doors down by banging my head against it, thinking all the while
that I was not working hard or smart enough.

Being a performing songwriter combines the romance of riding the
rails, with glaring horror of rubbernecking a gruesome roadside
accident starring you. It is an addicting combination: you oscillate
between the rare magical gig and the exceedingly good story. I can't
tell you the number of times that I've walked away from this life;
the remains of my self-worth with whatever else I could carry with
two hands. The life is a cruel mistress and a mean drunk, but we go
back. We always go back.

Somewhere along the way I discovered the mountain dulcimer (actually
it was a gift from my friend Mary Krause who has a knack for buying
the right gift at the right time). With that, doors began to open: I
met my wife; I played more of “magical” gigs than soul-sucking ones;
toured the British Isles and generally got people excited. Then a
woman said, “Hey, you make web sites, right? I’ll trade you one for a
masters degree”

So between the moving, the marriage planning and subsequent soaking
ceremony, and multiple dulcimer festivals here and abroad, I’ve been
working on a master’s degree in Folk Studies. So the part of my life
that comes to you in these brief increments has been essentially put
on hold while I finish THAT little task.

But as you read this email that part of my life will be behind me (or
at least to my committee for final consideration before my defense),
and I will be doing what I have been telling myself I’d rather be
doing for the last two years; touring and playing music.

There’s a state of euphoria that hits me after I’ve been out on the
road a few days. The last time I felt it was about 1:15am on a
Friday, somewhere near the Delaware Water Gap on I-80 West. It’s a
sense of place that I think (and hope) comes from being where you are
supposed to be. I have that feeling right now.

I know what I’m getting into. I have no preconceptions, save that
inevitable romanticism that accompanies nostalgia. The odds of
success given the geographic distance I must travel to play these
gigs is slim, I am asking for changed time slots, questionable pay
schemes, and headaches caused by greed, ego and ineptitude.

And that’s just my part.

I am also looking at a 12-hour one-way trip, at NPR, at books on
tape, the realization that Virginia I stunningly beautiful (but only
for about two hours), and the distinct possibility that nobody cares.

But I also know I'll be reconnecting with old friends (some that I
have not seen in years). I'll be playing rooms that I love to play to
people I know are truly passionate lovers of good music. Their
company validates what I do, and reminds me that I don’t do it for
me, not if I hope to glean what truly counts out of life.

I’m playing two of these shows with Jim Taggart on drums and Maggie
Marshall on upright bass, meaning that at least three of us will have
a good time regardless.

I am leaving behind a beautiful wife, a wonderful and newly adopted
hometown and a brand new house that I’ve owned for less than two
weeks to go play a gig to a beer mug full of tip money (that’ll have
to split three ways).

Am I insane? Likely.

Am I happy? Definitely.

and really, how often do we get to say that?

C-ya out there.

Two, no three, for the New year

Okay, here we go, in roughly reverse chronological order. Happy New Year.

1. Cluck Ol' Hen. Me fooling with my new Loop Pedal and Dan Landrum's guitar and upright bass, I edited out some mistakes, but basically what you hear happened in the order your heard it and all at the same time.

2. 500 Miles, the original demo for Moonshiner's Atlas, with Maggie Marshall and my wife to be Christie Burns on backing vocals.

3. Ode to a traffic jam. this is my first song ever, recorded sometime before my voice changed obviously. My favorite line "Doc Hudson in his office at 11:45/making love to his nurse behind his wife's back" Yeah, I used to be brilliant, what happened?

Pot revisited

In 2003 I did a show at the Tin Angel with Jim Taggart on drums and myself. George, the sound guy, recorded the show and gave it to my on DAT. So I have spent the last three years trying to find a DAT machine. But I did it earlier this year and sent it to my drummer, who promptly made a myspace page for it.

One of the tunes we did was "Pot Calling the Black" and since the version with Jim is substantially better than the one without, I thought that I would repost it here. Enjoy!

One Big Love

Years ago, I was a guitar player for a guy named Brian Seymour. Nice guy, good songwriter, married with a Masters Degree in Art History. Who was slowly building his own strategy, assembling his team, chasing the dream of the "big record deal" (back when one would have been useful). I was playing lead guitar, mostly noodley, spacey stuff. It was a good time, got me out of the house, I did some label showcases, met some industry juice (and their attendent weasels). The guys in the band were and are some of the nicest people I've ever met, at the time we were called "One Big Love". One of them, Kenny Kearns, was perhaps the funniest person I've ever met (and that's really saying something).

Anyway, here are two from the vaults. Nice-n-lazy which was never released (so I hope he doesn't mind) but was one my faves to play. This is taken from a magnetized cassette, so forgive the sound quality (even Pro-tools couldn't help much). I don't really remember playing most of these licks, but I know I did because Brian was honest to a fault and in the interest of honesty he would have let me know if he had done something with my intellectual property, so if somebody recut something, I believe he'd have told me.

The second tune is called redhead, recorded live at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. If I'm not mistaken recorded the same night I played three shows (two with Seymour and one with Deirdre Flint) in the same night. This second track is on his CD "Brain Seymour and One Big Love". the CD is out of print, but he re-recorded it with his new and even spacer guitar player on his CD "When I Was Blonde", you can buy it here.

Oh, in the second track the guitar is actually out of tune, you're not hearing things. It happened a lot (in case you were wondering why it didn't work out between us).

No Drums!

That was the mandate when we started to record "the Moonshiner's Atlas", there were lots of reasons for that, all of them good. But here's the demo for "Atlas", a tune by Russell Wolfe that I always thought benefitted from a good backbeat.

By the way, Rusty caught some sort of disease that landed him in the hospital for ten days and almost killed him. So I was asked by Andy World to record one of his songs as part of a get well CD. Having just gotten the dulcimer as a gift, this seemed like a good way to try it out.

...it was all downhill from there.

I like singing folk songs

I have no idea how people made records before the internet. When i was working on what would become "The Moonshiner's Atlas" scores of mp3's were send back and forth as Robert Force, Chris Martin (seen here desparately trying to make me sound good) decided which tunes to use, and how they should be arranged.

THIS SONG is a demo version of "I like singing folk songs" I found buried in my external HD. I recorded this in my bedroom and played all the instrument (which, when you hear the banjo come in, will be obvious). Back then, I was working as a tour guide back then so my voice was completely shot most days, hence the fuzziness (and total lack of pitch focus) The drums, by the way, are me playing brushes on the back of the dulcimer. Although I'm pleased and proud of the final version, which features some great playing by Matt Sircerly (mandolin), Jeanie Murphy (banjo), Maggie Marshall (bass) and Mark Pearson of The Brothers Four (guitar), this demo version has a vibe to it that i still really enjoy. Maybe it's those "drums".

Happy Birthday: The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

One of my mySpace buddies has a birthday today, she wanted to get a copy of THIS SONG. This is as good an excuse as any to do it. Recorded live at the Point in Bryn Mawr, PA, sardonic song (based on true experiences) from my singer/songwriter days (which are coming back BTW). Enjoy!

I played a Dave Carter song at Launde Abbey

I was at the Nonsuch dulcimer weekend at the Launde Abbey a few weeks ago. There I decided to learn a Dave Cater tune, just to have something great to play at their evening song circles, which are always filled with fantastic traditional folk music. The guys singing harmony to a song they've never head before was —to say the least— heady. You can LISTEN TO IT HERE.

and you can buy the original (and significantly better version) HERE

Just a reminder

We're opening for Jay Mankita at the Center for Well Being in Lemont, Learn more here.

Well It's official

September 2nd, 2006

In the midst of the remnants of breifly-hurricaned Ernesto. Miss Christie Burns and I officially became man and wife (or woman and husband...whatever). It was a beautiful ceremony surrounded by tons of friends and lots of music: we were led in by Nykleharpa Players and there were THREE different kinds of bagpipers there. The event was (even more-so than most weddings) unforgettable. There were 217 there to brave the elements, a tree fell during the ceremony, and the father of the bride came dressed as Boss Hogg.



The rain only served to underscore the outpouring of love from both our closest friends throughout every stage of our lives and around the world, as well as strangers who became friends that weekend. If you feel like you should have been invited but were not, you are probably correct. We had a bear of a time with both paper and e-mail invites and our online registry things we so scattered and hectic that I know a good many people we would have liked to have there fell through the cracks. If you think that's you, you're probably right and I'm sorry.

I still have to write this thesis so we're playing just a few shows before the end of the year. Then you can look for me to be on the road a bit more in 2007. Including a much neglected tour of the Northeast again.

We'll get more pictures up again soon. And I'll be setting up a chat board for folks to share their wedding stories soon. stay tuned.

Kentucky Music Weekend Redux

What a wonderful, wonderful time we had at Kentucky Music Weekend. So good to see old friends like John Gauge, Rick Thum, Molly McCormack, Bing Futch, and of course Nancy Johnson Barker (not to mention folks like Josh, April, the Strothers and many more I'm sure I'm forgetting) And what a treat to meet both Jean RItchie and George Pickow! we're honored.

Much love and thanks must go to Nancy Barker for the faith and the opportunity.

Much bigger thanks to all of you in the audience for responding so enthusiastically, you humble us with your generosity and spirit.

...Can't wait to get back to Louisville again.

Kentucky Music Weekend

Well, it’s been a pretty good summer for the girl and I. We’ve been playing a lot of gigs as a duo, and in-between doing engaging stuff like planning the wedding and house shopping(!!!) But before we retreat to the north to finalize the big gig, I wanted to invite you out to our last (and second-largest) show of the summer.

Kentucky Music Weekend
07/28-29/2006 07:00 PM
Iroquois Amphitheater,
Louisville, KY
With John Gauge, Zoe Speaks, The Juggernaut Jug Band, the Reel World String Band, Kentucky Standard band, Lou and Peter Berryman and JEAN RITCHIE.

Did I mention Jean Ritchie? Not to brag, but how cool is that? Anyway, it’s all thanks to Nancy Barker and the Kentucky Colonels, who have put on this event for 31 years, and it’s all Free!

Anyway, that’s all the news for now. Hope life is good for you in your part of the world.

C-ya out there.

How I'll spend my summer

Happy May Day to you all!

So how long has it been since we last spoke? Months maybe? As usual, and through no fault of my own, I find myself in the enviable position of once again having new people to welcome to this list. Those of you who have been here a while may take it upon yourself to let the newbie know, It’s usually like this… months of silence followed by a rant of sorts and then a plea to go to my show(s), usually later that day. I’m not a self-promotion guru guy you know.

Speaking of self-promotion: the wedding plans are coming right along. Looks like it’s going to be Labor Day weekend. Not four hours wedding reception for us, we’re gonna suck up the whole weekend at Jimmy and Maggie’s. Of course many of you are invited, some are expected, and I suspect some of you may just show up. Just as well; the more. The merrier. Anyway, the point is if you haven’t got your yet, it’s because the invitation designer (that would be me) has been busy with other things like grad school.

More self-promotion; the future Mrs. Ross (this is the first time I’ve seen that not used in reference to my mother, Christie is totally keeping her maiden name) and I will be doing a good bit of dulcimer festivals this summer (details below) and it is my plan to do a good ol-fashioned tour of the NE in late summer, between frantic wedding plans. I figure the summer is the best time cause that’s when the gas will be cheapest.

Christie and I played the first of our summer shows last weekend, at a summer festival in Russellville, Kentucky. Pretty, pretty town, famous for being the home of first bank Jessie James ever robbed. People seemed to dig it, and I even got a request for Ruben’s Train (fiddle tunes requests are rare, except for the Orange Blossom Special for some reason, which I don’t know, don’t ask). Some drummer from a heavy metal band playing later that afternoon said he dug, it was “real relaxing”, I tried to return the compliment but what am I gonna say? “Yeah dude, when I wanna chill out, I like to take a nice long walk in the wood, perhaps by a stream, listening to ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’”. Ah well, he meant well, and for a heavy metal drummer, he didn’t suck.

One of the coolest things I’ve ever been involved in was when Christie and I performed in a Jewish synagogue with Basya Schechter, at the Mid-East Mountain Fusion Music Festival in Louisville. We did two TV appearances and played the show with her. Basya plays Oud in a Mediterranean rock band called “Pharaoh’s Daughter”, (I just totally freaked my spell-checker out) and Christie and I were hired to mix Appalachian tunes with her music, which is in these Middle Eastern modes and bizarre time signatures like 6/7 or 11/2. Needless to say, I was really pushing the limits of what I could do with the dulcimer. Something I love to do anyway. And Basya has quickly become one of our absolute favorite people. Christie’s gonna be playing with her in North Jersey in a couple of weeks. Check out Basya here: http://www.pharaohsdaughter.com

Upcoming Shows

We have been crazy stupid busy, busier than ever before. But we’re doing what we love so that’s okay. But the semester is ending and we are about to hit the road. Here is a bit about how we’ll be spending our summer.

Next week, we’re going up to Columbus Ohio for the Central Ohio Folk Festival. This is a good time, a pretty low key but fun festival in the Batelle-Darby Park, which is just southwest of the city (and outside the beltway). They’re a nice mix of a dulcimer festival and a folk festival, held outside with jams and music and workshops. Last year’s headliner was Tom Rush this year it’s David Massengill. Christie and I will be teaching and performing with Randy Clepper, a great Bouzouki player and part time member of Hammer On! Well be doing a mix of his stuff and ours, Irish, Old-time and Swedish, and who knows what else.

Then is on to Owensboro, one of two towns that claim to be the birthplace of Bluegrass, for the Yellow banks dulcimer festival. Where not only will I be teaching dulcimer but Irish guitar and old-time guitar workshops as well. Christie will be teaching claw-hammer banjo in addition to her hammer dulcimer classes as well.

Nancy Barker, of Kentucky Music week, has us playing a number of gigs this summer at state parks all over Kentucky, as well as the very cool Kentucky Music Weekend at Iroquois State Park (they air condition the lawn seating there!). Check the gig schedule for that. But the two big gigs I’d like to talk about are the Kentucky Music Week and the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival.

The Music Week as many of you know is a weeklong, training-intensive festival in Bardstown, KY. It involves some of the finest dulcimer players on the planet and has lessons in everything from dulcimer to songwriting to steel drum, this year includes workshops on Native American Flutes and Painted Gourds! http://www.kentuckymusicweek.com/KMWeek/ be sure to check out the schedule to see how many great players are gonna be there this year!

Right before that is a new festival put on by our dear friends Dan and Angie Landrum, the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival. It’s not actually held in Chattanooga; it takes place up on Signal Mountain (which is significantly cooler). This festival is great because it focuses exclusively on technique. Karen Mueller and myself will be there, and the elusive David Schnaufer will also be teaching master classes! Where Kentucky Music is going to be a great place to learn a bunch of songs, Chattanooga is where you’ll get the chops together to learn those songs well. I can’t recommend these two festivals enough.

Okay lots more coming up as well; I’m planning a northeast tour in August, writing a couple of songbooks this summer, and finally developing a members area on the web site. But all that can wait until later (when it’s been done). I just really wanted to drop you all a note to tell you how I would be spending my summer, instead of how I did!

C-you out there.

COOL NEW SHOWS THIS SUMMER! check the new shows page.

Greetings!

So the summer is comin' in. Got some new shows posted on the web site and some super cool tentative ones that will confirm next week.Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Kentucky, especially Bardstown with both the KENTUCKY MUSIC WEEKEND and KENTUCKY MUSIC WEEK.
Plus back to beautiful Signal Mountain, TN for the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival run by our dear friends Dan and Angie Landrum Check out the website for all the details. and we'll see you there!

-Br

KMW Winter Weekend

Thanks to everyone who came to my workshops at KMW. I hope you had as much fun as I did. I thought I would make these lyrics part of the new website I was designing. but that has taken longer than expected. so without further ado....

Hard Times
1. Let us pause in life's pleasures
and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor:
There's a song that will linger
forever in our ears;
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.

Chorus
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary;
Hard Times, Hard Times, come again no more:
Many days you have lingered
around my cabin door;
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.

2. While we seek mirth and beauty,
and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door:
Though their voices are silent,
their pleading looks will say,
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.

3. There's a pale drooping maiden
who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry,
'tis sighing all the day,
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.

4. 'Tis a sigh that is wafted
across the troubled wave,
'Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore,
'Tis a dirge that is murmured
around the lowly grave,
Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.

______________________________________
Why Walk When You Can Fly (words and music by Mary Chapin Carpenter ©1994)

In this world there's a whole lot of trouble, baby
In this world there's a whole lot of pain
In this world there's a whole lot of trouble
But a whole lot of ground to gain
Why take when you could be giving, why watch as the world goes by
It's a hard enough life to be living, why walk when you can fly

In this world there's a whole lot of sorrow
In this world there's a whole lot of shame
In this world there's a whole lot of sorrow
And a whole lotta ground to gain
When you spend your whole life wishing, wanting and wondering why
It's a long enough life to be living, why walk when you can fly

In this world there's a whole lot of cold
In this world there's a whole lot of blame
In this world you've a soul for a compass
And a heart for a pair of wings
There's a star on the far horizon, rising bright in an azure sky
For the rest of the time that you're given, why walk when you can fly

RIP: Chris Whitley

A really great genre-blending singer/songwriter named Chris Whitley died last weekend. He was someone whose music I really dug. His record Dirt Floor was a catalyst for a lot of the things I've been doing on the dulcimer lately. I was even considering his tune Indian Summer for the next record.

One of the things I found rather depressing is the picture that develops if you read between the lines. Not always the cleanest living rock star, he seemed to avoid, or negotiate most of the trappings of rock startdom. His was still a young man of 45, with much more to say. Whitley died in the home of a close friend, stopped mid-tour by the penultimate stages of lung cancer. The family speaks highly and lovingly of his voyage into the next world, and the angels down here that made his final days bearable. They put I nice face on it, but it occurs to me the guy died there because he probably didn't have medical insurance.

so you wanna be a rock in roll star...

CD update

Ms. Burns and I have finished the remainder of the tracks. Adding some vocally stuff and adding a guitar to Driving Forces (turns out my chart is basically unreadable if you actually can read music). Dan wants to add some djembe on like two tracks, then we sequence and mix. Will it be done for Christmas? well, we'll see. Christie is down there this week doing some fieldwork for school, and I will encourage her to put a fire under that boy.

A little something for the road.

John Lennon once said that "Life is what happens when you're making other plans", it's so good that I refuse to believe he said it. :-) For you dear reader my other plans have included writing this blog and updating my life to you all. I believe the last post was in reference to the recording. maybe that's a good place to start...

The basic recording has been done and we've been playing email tag with Dan as he sends us mixes and whatnot. Our new buddy Hussian was gonna lay down some bass on "driving forces" but he's mostly in Japan and couldn't make sense of the chart I made for him (this is not surprising) his schedule being so demanding, we may have our buddy Tim do it instead. Anyway, once we get it done then we have to get it out the door. we've pretty much decided on a name, and we're calling it "two birds one".

Being that we're still in school, Christie and I were apart for the month of August. She in LA doing an internship and me in Indiana. I didn't really have that much fun up there in the Hoosier state, but then dummy me never realized just how close I was to Shipshewana or Dennis DenHartog's place in Ft. Wayne. Coulda played some gigs, coulda met some folks. Ah well, that what I get for taking my eyes off the prize. I did however play the Kentucky Homefront radio show with the legendary Homer Ledford. I have to say it went very, very well.

Back from Winfield

I think somewhere in here should be a post about the rest of the recording process. Well, I'll get to that in a minute. I slept most of the day yesterday and awoke sore and achy, but it was worth it. a good deep sleep was something I was sorely missing.

I went to Winfield without Ms. Burns, to the chagrin of the No Strings boys, the managing staff of Sing Out! and former winner David Mahler, but it's the fall semseter and since we've reinvented the term overextended we had to choose our battles.

Anyways, I got into the second round but botched the Bach piece, the other folks play flawlessly. Same 12 tunes as always but with skill and precision which is really the whole ball game there.

I went to do what I went to do, and I would have liked to have been more lucid (and maybe won one of those giant trophies) but you do what you do. I don't think I'll be competing anymore

On the other side of things, Tyler Grant my driving partner in this came in second in the flatpicking competition which is no small feat. Good for you Tyler!

and I saw the Wilders from kansas City, MO one of teh best live bands I've ever seen, period! hey were so good, first as a mainstage closer then in their really messed up 2AM set on the anarchy-run stage 5

In the end I am so glad I went, whether it's Philly, Falcon Ridge or Winfield I need a big major festival in my year. Winfield is 12 hours away (and it was cheaper fly actually) but as long as I'm out herre I might as well go. To my it's like philly Folk except all the drunken idiots have been replaced with drunken pickers.

It's not a bad trade.

Recording:
we slammed through nearly 9 or ten tracks in three days, including overdubs and preliminary mixes. Chose not to record "hangman's reel" because we had "boatsman" then we dropped "boatsman" and now wonder why we never recorded "hangman's" ah, well its a starting point for number two I guess. We're hoping that the incredible Hussian Jeffreys will lay some bass on "Driving Forces" and then we will talk about simple percussion and mastering with Dan. When will this be out, not sure. But at least this time I know beter than to try and guess.

Recording in Chattanooga, Day 1

Today completes day one of the recording sessions that Christie and I working on. Originally this was planned to be a solo record for Christie but the more we talked about it, the more we decided it was a better idea for a duo album. This was Christie's idea mostly, The Moonshiner's Atlas is still brand new and I'm happy to go an play gigs in support of that record, but as much as Christie and I play together, we have never made a decent recording of us. Our friend Dan Landrum is recording us and for the third time this month, we are in Chattanooga.

You spend the first day setting up mics of course but we still managed to bang out three tunes today. Tomorrow we should be well settled in and hopefully getting more done. It sounds great so far.

Greetings from Beyond the Walled City.

I am literally one week in town this summer, this one. And it's high on my to-do list to get to this blog updated. Typically the more fun I have the less time to write about it. Just as well, I think in many cases it's perceived as bragging. And maybe that's as it should be.

Still, I feel compelled to write to keep you in the loop, I get back to the northeast so infrequently these days, and there are a handful of you who still care what it is I'm doing. Out here, beyond the walled city, in America.

That's how I feel, how I felt when we first moved to Bowling Green, after getting over the initial shock and realization that Jesus is really bigger than Elvis here (and more alive), I was reminded of how initially I initially was at the east coast's godlessness (but crop circles those are real).I learned to ply my stock and trade with snarky-ness and sarcasm, my best lyrics are "zingers", my stage banter all Adam Brodsky meets Dennis Miller, in the dirty town of illadelph, the town I sometimes still call home this worked (or rather gave the appearance of working).

But now I'm on the outside, the middle, the south whatever you want to call it. People are genuine and nice. Sure, they'll lie to you face with the broadest smile you've ever seen, but in general, they're happy to see you. And even if that isn't the case, there's no good reason to not be polite.

Makes it tough to be a smart mouth, don't it?

Anyway, this all adds water (and manure) to a seed planted by my dad years ago, who said that the problem with comedy was that it was all based on the idea that you were better than someone else. He was right, it is as true now as then. In fact it's endemic. All comedy, Cops and shows of that ilk, those stupid Home Video shows, reality TV? we can watch them all and say look how much better we are. People (including my mom, sadly) love Judge Judy cause she tells those so-called "plaintiffs" what she really thinks, Dr. Phil, same thing. And we, who are spineless, or henpecked, who brown-nose our bosses out of fear of losing our job, or from the ever-diminishing hope of advancement, we who are cowards in our own home can watch and live vicariously as others say the things we will never have the guts to say.

And it's a perfectly useful model if don't like yourself, but want to feel better about yourself. But eventually, you're gonna get tired of it, if you base your self-image on intellectual superiority, you're gonna be really lonely, cuz there's a lot of "dumb" people out there. Most of whom are a lot of fun. If i am wise beyond my years it's because I decided a long time ago to believe that we are all truly equal. Sure, I can play a couple of instruments, and I'm pretty good at making things rhyme. and I can be entertaining when I feel I'm in a space where I am supposed to be entertaining. So what? I don't make anything, I don't build anything. I'm a singer/songwriter who plays dulcimer. I can make you feel good for a while but Doctors, Teachers, Leaders, especially Leaders, we really could use a few more of those.

So as I endeavor to make myself a more livable being I find it harder to be snarky. Especially since I am now meeting more and more people from outside my old paradigm, some who are older, all who are friendlier than those with whom I wasted countless hours in cafes sipping organic soy latté whatevers and complaining about the homogenization of America via Starbucks.

By the way, there are days when I would kill for a Starbucks now. There are only three in Ohio, and I know where they all are. In the land of plenty it's easy to complain about too much. It's in the desert, where nobody complains about the water being "tap".

There are a lot of you who are discovering me for the first time, as a dulcimer player, and are wondering what the rest of this is all about. It's a long story, most of it though is here and here. And quite possibly will someday be on a CD of stuff I started and never finished (technically, "the Moonshiner's Atlas" is my 4th record)

So I will be spending less time in the Walled City, for the first time in eight years I am not going to Falcon Ridge. I am going to Chicago for a friend's wedding. Not just any friend, Ted was a personal chauffeur for Christie and I at our first date in Minneapolis, we stayed at his home, his mom fed us, he had never met me, and this was only his third time meeting Christie.

I was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

And I'm not being sarcastic.

The Road that was.

Well settled back into an Irish day here in BG. Yesterday was around 70 degrees and gorgeous, so I convinced everyone in the department to eschew the weekly happy hour at the sports bar come down to the house and do cookout on the back porch. Spring is the time to do, I suspect that with all the perennially damp rocks of the back of the porch that soon the misquotes will soon be unbearable.

Adult are fun, they bring stuff when they come to your house, there was as much food as there was beer, conversation and laughter. And everybody cleaned up before they left.

But I'm digressing here (and honestly this shouldn't have come as such a surprise) I wanted to talk about the tour. It's good to be home, back with mrs. and that renewed sense of vigor that comes anytime to ridiculously enamored people spend time apart. But it also felt SO GOOD to be back on the road, there were moments of pure euphoria that hit me in the most mundane spots 2AM approaching the Delaware Water Gap, on 95 north, or the Garden State Parkway. I just love it, the alone time, and when it ends with a successful gig so much the better.

Tuesday
The story begins Tuesday I suppose, drove up to Trenton to Jimmy and Maggie's to run through stuff with Maggie, LisaBeth Weber and Antje. The thinking was this: since we all know each other's music we would work out vocal parts and stuff and play together on it. So weeks ago we traded CDs and did some homework. Not surprisingly, for songwriters that is, both girls had new tunes that they wanted to do. Antje had to be out early the next day for a lunch date with Gene Shay so we only had the night and a couple of hours the next day to get it together. In that time we managed to work out 18 songs!

Wednesday
Of course, being a gig day, it rained and rained and rained. Still turnout was good and Kyler England -our opener- was great. It was good to Jesse again. Gene Shay and his wife came to teh show along with Patti Shea, Deirdre Flint, and Larry Goldfarb. we stumbled on some stuff of course, but I think there was great value in not practicing too much. Were we to do it again (and we might) I wouldn't change a thing.

Here's the Set list: (the author is in italics)
Everygreens LisaBeth
Fly Around myself
Pearls Antje
Moonshiner myself
Homegoing LisaBeth
Paper Fleet Antje
52 Vincent myself
Oyster LisaBeth
Judas Antje
Lousy Boy myself
Biko/Geronimo LisaBeth/Antje
Dublin Boys Antje
Murderer Antje
Folksongs myself
Oh My My LisaBeth
the Landlady Song Antje
Joan's Ark myself
Hard Times myself

encore
Front Porch LisaBeth

Thursday
I jokingly posted to a Folk List a few weeks ago that to be a singer/songwriter is to know the sound of one hand clapping. But in Providence, no hands were clapping. It was a houses concert and no one was there. I'm not really surprised, I've never been to Providence for anything, ever. And as I learned there was an awful lot going on. I decided, rather than just plow through some pointless semblance of a show, to just get everyone to sit in a circle and play songs. Well, I am SO GLAD I did, everyone was great, even Joe. the guys who was there to sell CDs and collect at the door, had wonderful songs that I would have never ever heard if there had even been two people there.

I'm chagrinned to say this, but it's been a long, long time since I've heard good songwriting in person. thank you Greg, Chuck and Joe.

And special thanks to Greg and Debbie for putting me up in their beautiful home.

Friday
The Minstrel is consistently one of my favorite places to play. ANd why not, they have a well developed crowd of regulars, 30 years of history, consistently great acts, and the coolest door policy anywhere. This time Mike Agranoff the booker, and musician in his own right, set me up with the Canadian band Tanglefoot, they were GREAT! the places was packed, literally standing room only. and for good reason, Tangelfoot play traditional Canadian folk music, but the rock like Metallica with killer 5 part harmonies. totally worth it just to see 'em play. That I had a great show on top of it is just gravy.

Afterwards drove out to the Poconos to see my sister-I-never-had Carolyn (we share the same birthday) arrived late, like 2AM sat up till like 5AM listening to CDs and talking. One of the great things about touring is seeing dear friends, whose lives are as busy as mine and thus making getting together harder and harder.

Well I'm on the topic I am thrilled that I got the chance to catch up with Dani, Mary, Renee, James, Kelly, Patti, Deirdre, and the Front Porch-ers even if it was just for dinner, drinks or even less.

Saturday
Talk to me for like four seconds and I'll tell you that the Postcrypt is my favorite place to play. Still is, still is, good times got to see Matt and Fabian, some old friends and some folks who've been on this list a long time and are just now getting to see a show, That, is especially rewarding. In bed a 2am and up again at 6am for the 13hour drive back to Kentucky. Am I nuts? probably. Do it again? yes. today.

Thanks to all of you who made this such a wonderful experience for me.

cy-a out there soon enough.

-Br

Regrooving the Dream Part 2

I'm writing you from Bowling Green, Kentucky, that's right not Pennsyltucky. I'm a graduate student in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University, I'm engaged to be married, I play the mountain dulcimer, me and my future Mrs. rent a cute little bungalow on quiet street. We ride our bikes; play old-time music on Saturdays and -being grad students- read and read and read.

This email to you in fact is me putting off studying for a mid-term.

I was all set to write you all a big maudlin email about how you can check off this list if you want to, how it's been a long loooong time since you heard from me, or of me even. And it's all about momentum, which would appear to be seriously lacking here. But I'm feeling a little energized about an IM conversation I just had with my ex-roommate Adam Brodsky. We were comparing crappy gigs of our past, and the times we've "quit". Well actually, I quit -a couple of times- while he's been prudently plugging away. He has a world record; I'm in grad school. I've played the more humiliating gigs, but he's traveled an entire continent to play his crappiest. Who wins depends on where you stand in the room.

So how did I get here?

Let's backtrack a couple of years, back to perhaps the last time I wrote plugging a gig. I was playing a gig in Philly. It was a good venue: fair to the performers (fed 'em, paid 'em off the bar), built-in crowd, I had people coming too. In short, anything you could really want out of a workaday gig. And as I was parking the car it occurred to me this is ALL WRONG. I decided that night to change the way I things were run at Butch Ross, Inc.

Of course the girl had a lot to do with it too. Some of you already know what I mean by this, but when you meet the person you want to share your life with, you need to have a life to share. Semi-professional folksinger with cluttered apartment in a once-hip part of town and no real equity just wasn't good enough anymore. I needed to find a new way of doing business
NOW! Christie, for the record, loved my life as it was, and was happy to be a part of it. Still is thank God.

So the first thing that happened, I came up with the idea for a one-man show. It was modestly successful. There was some stuff that happened in the middle that kinda knocked the wind out of me, and I sadly regret never properly documenting it, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I built it. You came. But in the middle of all this, in Ireland, comes Robert Force. Robert is a dulcimer player; he wrote a book about dulcimers in the 70¹s it sold thousands of copies. He owns a label. He plays standing up his one half-nutty professor and one half "Freedom Rock" hippy still. He saw me playing the dulcimer all upside down and backwards as I do and said, "if you record a dulcimer album, I'll produce it and put it out on my label". Of course I was all in the middle of constructing "Gas:Food:Longing", 3,000 miles from home and learning about grown-up heartbreak for the first time. Besides, I had my burgeoning folk career to think about. That said, sometimes a sign is a robin on your front lawn; sometimes it's a big green billboard that says, "TURN HERE!"

And what about the dulcimer? I recognized the potential in that thing from the get go, especially in terms of standing out from the endless pool of Singer/Songwriters that seem to ooze from every pore of the northeast. Like stand-up comedians in the 80's, in the 90's "urban folkies" were ubiquitous, most looking for a backdoor to pop stardom, and many with little or nothing to say (including me from time to time) manila folders against and eggshell backdrop, the only ones who stood out were different, who had a gimmick. I didn't want to do the dulcimer as my gimmick. I really wanted to stand my music, and what I had to say (and what the hell was I trying to say then anyway?) But playing the dulcimer was a joyous experience, the enjoyment of music that I really hadn't felt since I first started to play guitar years and years ago. And I was good, or even if I wasn't good, the instrument made people excited, and that more than anything else is what matters. And then Robert came along, and the river turned.

I did not do this immediately (of course not). I waited, finished the show, did a Christmas CD to get my feet wet, and then last April headed out to Port Townsend, Washington to record what will become "the Moonshiner's Atlas". I didn't have a lot of original material for the dulcimer, so I did what I did when I was learning to play guitar. I took traditional tunes that spoke to me, and played 'em like Peter Mulvey would. Or I took contemporary tunes that sound like they'd work on the dulcimer and I figured it out. I made a bunch of mp3s and sent them to Robert, who yea'd or nay'd 'em based on what he thought was My Brave Face. And then out there in the middle of a stunning nowhere, separated in what were basically two glorified outhouses, that guy managed to coax great performances out of me. The end result is a mellower, more somber album than the last one (or the other two unreleased attempts) But with an uplift to it, a walk through a long dark tunnel to the sunlight. Okay that's the kind of stuff that Robert says "Dark Ray of Sunshine" stuff like that. Told you mad scientist, old hippie. The point is that this record is closer to what I¹m trying to say than anything I've done before.

So where is this new CD?

Well it's been (as my friend Dan Landrum so elegantly puts it) like a flea giving birth to an elephant. It didn't help that I was overseas for most of the summer, or that I was flat broke, it didn't help that I'm grad school. Finally land on my feet here in KY and get the ball rolling again, and everybody else's world goes to hell. I don't and I can't blame anyone for the delays in putting this out, everyone has been waylaid by serious real-life crap. I am grateful for all the efforts they've put into this so far. Chris Martin, Ed McKenna and Kelly Becerra have been responding to my gentle tugs of 'um "you know when you can get to it" by coming through for me in the midst of their own personal dramas (and mostly for free). These things, they happen for a reason, always, always, always. I never know why, but in the end it's for the best.

I have jinxed this CD several times already by saying "tomorrow" or later this week. So if you are reading this its because somewhere, your future coaster is being pressed in a plant somewhere in Canada and being printed on recycled cardboard with environmentally safe inks in Portland, OR all to eventually be assembled by me probably hours before the next show.

I was serious about signing off the list too. Some of you have been here forever. Some of you like what I do, what I write, what I sing, that's why you stuck around. Others were you know, polite. And since then it's been delete-without-opening. I know. I do it too. But your not gonna hurt my feelings if you go, you just add value to those who stay on. Go, you may
unsubscribe with impunity.

There is a new web site to look at. And shows, oh
I got shows. I am working on T-shirts and all that business too, but I am also in grad schools as a "non-traditional" student, which means I'm getting my ass handed to me on a weekly basis.

Got a midterm tomorrow, wish me luck.

See you out there.

-Br

Regrooving the Dream Part 1

Regrooving the dream – Patty Larkin

I admit I ought to be discussing Red=Luck or even the guitar thing she's doing now. Hell the record is 5 years old. But after years of ownership, I was finally moved by it. So I thought I’d write.

I admit, I wasn’t that impressed with his record when it came out; I saw it as a lesser version of her seminal Stranger’s World. It lacked the "hits", the full on Rock in Roll of Johnny was a Pyro, the ubiquitous duet with Bruce Cockburn Don’t Explain or the infectious Dear Diary. This record was none of that: it was moody, brooding. If Stranger's was pounding the steering wheel on a hot august day, this Dream was a last walk on an October beach, long after you've closed the house for the winter.

But I was a kid then too, perpetually 23 with an eyes on the oh-so-distant future, and my head squarely up my own bottom. It wasn't until middle age snuck up on me and stopped me dead in my tracks that Patty started to make sense. Regrooving the dream is a woman taking a good hard look at where she is out here in the middle. It’s the epiphany that maybe “I’m hard to live with” isn’t just a wry joke any more, and a sense that maybe if you had seen this coming, you would’ve done things differently. It’s the culmination of that moment when you realize you are pretty much alone in the world, and that you really always were.

We all come to this place sooner or later, I’ve seen it happen to so many others; I tried to walk around it, sidestep it, or accept it gracefully. Doesn’t matter what you do; it’s always a kick in the groin. God’s own private joke, the one only he gets. But with all this comes the revelation that we are okay alone. Its not what we’d prefer, we are by design a communal animal, but we can make our beds and cook our own supper. You may have lost the joie de vivre of youth a long time ago, or you may still hang desperately onto it, blowing the dying coals in the hope of one last gasp of flame, it doesn’t matter. The world keeps turning, the sun comes up, and you either accept that or you don’t. Regrooving the Dream then is about acceptance, not just tolerance but a true embrace of the Now; life gives us a lot of time between adolescence and old age, if we want it. It too is a Good Thing, better because we now know what really matters. Patty Larkin knows this too.

How I spent my summer part 2

Proposing to Christie would be a fitting way to end my summer story, but we were just getting warmed up. Not more than a week after Falcon Ridge we were on a plane bound for Houston, Texas as part of the tenth and as it turns out final SAMfest (southern acoustic music festival) in attendance were Tull Glazener, Robert Force, Karen Mueller, and Neal Hellman, a veritable who's who (and who?) of the mountain Dulcimer. Also in attendance were hammered dulcimer players Rick Thum, Guy George, and Dan Landrum (who plays with Yanni) Christie and I were down there to do a little teaching (I was teaching a workshop on Irish guitar) we ended up pal-ing around with the headlines, jumping in on their sets, and basically being regarded as peers. A great time, even if it took place in Texas (where CNN they say stands for "Clinton News Network")

Finally we were back in NJ at something resembling a home, Christie's parents in Cinnaminson. Only a temporary stop, as we were about to pack up the whole shebang and fire it off to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Where Ms. Burns would be attending grad school. I made a trip or two to Philly to get the rest of my stuff from my apartment we jammed it all into Christie's Buick and made our way down to the Hilltop House in beautiful Harper's Ferry, WV. On top of a birds-eye view of three states, where the Potomac meets the Shenandoah, I spent a week doing ear training, learning dulcimer tunes from a guy named Bruce Hutton, and generally having a great time. About halfway through the week, I got an email from Jon Harris --whom I had met at SAMfest-- in response to a long long conversation we had had about dulcimers, and after seeing me play. He wrote to tell me that he had BUILT me a dulcimer, and where should he send it.

Well I didn't have an answer for him; we didn't have a place to live in KY. After Harper's Ferry, we drove down to Bardstown, KY. Site of my Old Kentucky Home, where Christie and I spent a wonderful evening camped behind the historic house, being serenaded by Little Feet. This time however, there was no Little Feet, just a crappy Days Inn where we slept for maybe 5 hours, tho' we did get to make our own waffles the next morning.

We took the first place we looked at. Not that we didn't spend 12 hours looking at terrible places all over town just to make sure we got the best place. Now that we've been here for a while, and know this house's limitations, I can say with authority, we got lucky. But then again, when I'm with Christie, we usually do.

How I spent my summer part 1

How I spent my summer.

Off, flat out, like a bat out a hell, is how my friend Noelle described it. True enough My summer started strong and just got weirder and crazier as it went along. It started in May with my deciding to hit every dulcimer festival in a 7 hour radius of me. Sometimes my friend Mary would come along, but mostly she would lend me her car. the drives were 5 to 7 hours a piece and they all seemed to be in Ohio. I played some shows, met some great people. won some stuff.

Robert Force had me out to his pad in Port Townsend, Washington, just about as far north and west as you can get in the lower 48. There over 10 days (and one marathon 20 hour mixing session, that we've subsequently spent six months tweaking) we banged out 16 tracks (14 we kept), magic, mayhem and this stupid dog that would not stop barking while the red light was on.

Christie was in Ireland for the summer and asked me come with. Seeing how it was such a long time gone i decided to sublet the room and roll. Now the rug had been wrenched completely from underneath me. So glad i did it too. Ireland was as wonderful as anyone else has ever said. Afterwards we spent a few weeks in England and Scotland, playing shows, meeting the angels of this life, and falling ever deeper in love.

Knee deep in mud at Falcon Ridge as mother nature made us sit through previews of Hurricane season and everyone on the planet seemed to have a song about why they hated George Bush. Kuddos to my porch girls Lisa Beth Weber and Maggie Marshall, who came down the hill in a Boots, dresses and a gift wrapped bass and kick butt in the Friday Showcase. Kudos to those of you who sat through the entire thing.

Sadly, This year also marks the first year I did not make it over to the Budgie Dome. I'm sorry guys. But I decided that since FRFF is where me and Ms. Burns first met, it seemed a fitting place to make an honest woman of the girl. So on one knee I did the deed. Everyone cried, and then EVERYONE plays the sweetest, best, most sentimental song they knew. They say life comes down to moments. I don't believe that for a minute. But this was a indeed a MOMENT. Thank you to everyone who was there.

This is a good place to end for now.

archives, e-mails, love and rockets

My mailing list is archived, so I can look over all the brilliant, stupid, pathetic, cocky and occasionally meaningful things I've sent to you over the years. Most prevalent: the number of gaps in the posting frequency, and the number of times I've posted an apology for the lack of postings. Well I have said it on many occasion, "never apologize, even when you should". As I dust the debris of the ol' hood of the folk-music machine, and see if I can get her to turn over. I am hoping that this can be part of the project, that I can remember the letdown I feel when i go to the site of someone's music I like and find no new tale to tell.

Greetings from Hibernia

K, I'm not bragging or nothing. But I'm over here in Ireland recovering from a great tour/vacation in the UK. Thought I'd take a minute of downtime and let you know what's been going on.

Right now, I am looking at a finished master of my new record (hey, it's only four years, why the big hurry you say) it's going to be called "the Moonshiner's Atlas" and while it is officially my "dulcimer" album, I think you'll find it's a lot closer to the guy you've been listening to all these years (and asking "when are you gonna put a new record out")

So you can go to the recently re-designed web site http://butchross.com (I told you those free MP3's we're going away) and listen to snippets of all the tunes on the record.

Also, because of spam, I've had to move the mailing list to a new server. This doesn't effect you in any way really. But it may explain why you've gotten a bunch of subscription notices in the last few weeks.

With the new record comes a new tour. Gonna try and put a big one together, but not until fall. I have a busy, busy summer

Hope you are having a great summer too.