Hello from the little town of Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Casey (my tour manager) and I survived the mammoth 25-hour drive from Santa Barbara to Austin TX in one piece, complete with rain in the desert, 3D leopard pictures (don’t ask) and a brief sojourn at Jim Ward’s house, to meet a tired band at the airport. An evening of settling in and fighting their jetlag was followed by an awesome headline show at Emos. The next day we met up with Flogging Molly and Architects in Dallas, and had great shows there and in Houston, making a lot of new friends along the way. Today we drove here from Houston, which took twice as long as it should have done because we hit a torrential blizzard. I’d been looking forward to sending smarmy emails back to my freezing countrymen about the balmy Texan weather. That’ll show me. Tomorrow, Memphis, and we’re hoping the snow isn’t going to stop us from visiting Graceland en route.

Lots of big announcements about this, that and the other brewing at the moment, but for now, try this one on for size. On Friday 16th July I’ll be headlining at 2000 Trees Festival. I’m really happy about this, partly because the people running the show are good friends, partly because of the fiasco last year (no repeat I promise), but mainly because it’s my favourite smaller festival and just a great time all round. The line-up for my day is also going to be awesome, though I don’t think I’m allowed to issue details just yet. Tickets are onsale now. It’s going to be a good summer.