Since we last met, we’ve been busy on a few different fronts, and it appears this might remain a trend for a while.
The “Head Light(Live)” single arrived in time for everyone to celebrate our nation’s independence, and is currently available everywhere digital music is sold, as part of our ongoing effort to keep steady the flow of new tunes. We hope everyone is digging on it. Let us know, and maybe we’ll do more of these.
Show-wise, things haven’t been too crazy…just a few dates here & there, but they’ve been good ones, including a private party where I ingested not only several flying insects, but just enough bug repellent to trigger some sort of allergic reaction that rendered me pretty much without voice. While not the first time I’ve lost it, this was definitely the debut of any chemical solution other than alcohol being responsible for it wandering off. Thankfully Kenny was able to cover for me until I could cough up enough of whatever had me congested to at least croak my way to the finish line.
We did an early show in Evansville, IN shortly thereafter, and finally got to publicly air some new stuff, with “I’m Alright” getting an “official” live run-through for the first time. “Satellite” shouldn’t be far behind, and with both of them getting a bit of radio play lately, I imagine they’ll become set staples.
(photo:J. Ketchmark)
We had the honor of supporting Cinderella’s Tom Keifer on a hometown show at The Cowan in Nashville, and managed to turn a bunch of new folks on with a quick 45-minute primer. The Keifer Band were kicking off a tour in support of their new record ‘Rise’, due out in September, and were in fine form. Hopefully we’ll get to do some more dates with them as that train rolls on.
But first, we have more new music to record, and that is officially underway as of yesterday at 11AM, when I arrived at The Switchyard to deliver guide tracks to our engineer Michael Saint-Leon. We spent several hours building sessions for a whopping 19 tunes, with one additional number from our last foray that remains uncompleted bringing the full workload to an even 20.
Now, 10 of these are for my solo record, 3 belong to “The Hail Marys”(a little side-project I’ve been working on with Joshua Ketchmark), 1 is a Kenny Wright solo tune, 1 goes to The Die Youngs, and 5 are designated for The Great Affairs.
You think you’re confused? Try being the guys sorting these into folders and keeping it all straight at the technical level….we nearly misplaced an entire album’s-worth of files at one point. Seriously.
Once that crisis was averted, and a sense of order restored in Hard Drive Land, we even managed to bang out the performances we needed to get title track for my solo album in the can before knocking off for the day. My rhythm section guys, Criss Cheatham & Dave Webb, who both played on my last LP, will be coming in at the end of the month to cut their parts, and then it’s just dressing things up with an assorted cast of characters yet-to-be-determined.
The TGA stuff, and all the rest?…..Well, I don’t know when the ball will start rolling on any of it exactly, but I figure we’ll get to it soon enough. You’ll have to stay tuned for details on that though.
Up next for us:
Friday, August 9th The Shed Maryville, TN (w/ Jack Russell’s Great White) 6PM
Thursday, August 29th The Basement Nashville, TN (w/Willie & The Bandits) 7PM
Friday, September 6th Eighth & Rail Opelika, AL (w/Joshua Ketchmark) 9PM
Friday, September 13th John Brown’s On The Square Marion, IL 9PM
Saturday, September 14th Bokeh Lounge Evansville, IN (w/Joshua Ketchmark) 5:30 PM
Sunday, September 15th Summer’s End Fest Clarksville, TN 2PM
Until next time, be good to each other…for real.
-Denny
The Great Affairs