I haven’t blogged in a while, so I thought I’d write something today, as the anniversaries have been stacking up.
Today is the 8th anniversary of the release of “Poetry Of The Deed”, my third album, and the first one with the Sleeping Souls in the studio proper. Time flies when you’re having fun, eh? It’s a record that I’ve not always been thrilled about, in retrospect, which I think is a little unfair of me. There are issues with the mix that still slightly get to me, but I think it’s a solid set of songs, a few of which (The Road, Try This At Home, Dan’s Song) are still regular staples in my set. It’s also the first album I did with Epitaph Records, so it was the introduction to my music for a lot of people, and I know well how that breeds loyalty from a listener. So let’s put it on today and raise a glass.
The other anniversary today is a sadder one. It’s 10 years since the passing of my good friend Alexa Burrowes, she lost her second battle with breast cancer. I wrote a song about it shortly afterwards.
Today we play at Red Rocks in Colorado, one of the most spectacular (and biggest) venues in the USA. Playing here would have been a wild and hilarious dream for me while Lex was still alive, when we used to stay up late in her kitchen and shoot the shit about life, music and the future. So I think I’ll be playing that one for her tonight.
I’m happy to say that Lost Evenings won the Golden Welly Award for Best Independent Festival at the AIM Awards 2017. So much work went into that weekend, it’s lovely to see it recognised. We are, of coure, doing it again in 2018. A limited number of season tickets (all 4 nights) go on sale tomorrow morning. The rest, including individual nights, will be on sale soon.
The tour with Jason Isbell comes on apace – he’s just one of the best songwriters and performers I know, so it’s a pleasure and an honour to share a stage night after night. Once this run is done, I’ll be knuckling down to finish the new record, and there will be new music of some kind before the end of the year. See you all on the road.