Travelin'

What a long strange trip it's been,
hangin' at the Holiday Inn

Those of you who know what that means know what that means. : )

The Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Festival was such a blast! First of all, the countryside is simply breathtaking; second, camping with a bunch of dulcimer folks is a real hoot, and I made a lot of new friends. One thing I've now noticed, in this 21st century, when you go out and perform, it is more than likely that you will end up on YouTube, so you'd better not suck. As a result of my performance and workshop at the festival, I've gotten my first booking of 2009 already. How sweet is that?

It did rain both nights, so when I arrived in Chattanooga to do some production work for Dulcimer Players News, I put the tent up in the driveway to let it air out. I've been producing the audio and video podcasts for five weeks now and the word is just now really getting out about the new weekly service. Editor Dan Landrum also recorded me playing mountain dulcimer and Native American flute on a tune to be included in the next issue (each issue of DPN comes with a CD of music - for subscribers, anyway.)

Today, I head up to Townsend, Tennessee where I'll be kicking back for a couple of days at Wood 'N' Strings where I'll get some interview material with Mike Clemmer, the guy who built the double-necked dulcimer that I've been favoring lately. Then, I'll be teaching three workshops on Saturday, May 17th and performing a concert later on that night. Sunday morning, I head home for a busy week with videos to edit, albums to finish mixing and ground to till.

Sending you lots of love from the road and hoping life is good where ever you are!