This past Monday I went in for my second mixing session at Music Masters here in St. Louis. I cannot begin to describe how lucky I am to be working with such a talented sound engineer as Greg Trampe — such great engineers are few and far between! I’m very pleased with how the album is coming along. Wes Chappell just finished laying some tracks down on guitar and bouzouki in Roanoke, VA, and tomorrow Mike Tiefenbrun should be recording 2 or 3 more tracks with his stand-up bass. This should be the end of all of the recording! Meanwhile, I’ve been working on gathering all of the information for my liner notes and taking pictures for the cover artwork.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: the CD release concert is set for Sunday, November 13th from 7 – 9 p.m. at the Missouri Ethical Society. It’s about a half mile west of the Galleria. Ken Kolodner, Wes Chappell, and Lloyd Wright will be flying in to perform with Carole Bryan, Mike Tiefenbrun, and myself to give you a taste of the album!

Ken Kolodner came in town the weekend of July 29 through July 31 to record with me at Music Masters and perform in concert at the Focal Point in Maplewood. He added a lot to the new recording project playing old-time fiddle and hammered dulcimer, and the concert went very well!

Last Monday I flew down to Houston, Texas to visit with the Wrights and participate as one of the headliners at the Bayou City Old-Time Music & Dulcimer Festival. On Tuesday, the 19th the Wrights, Steve Heiser, Ken Ryan, and I headed into the recording studio to work on the next volume of the East Texas Jam. We recorded from 9-12 and then from 1-4:30, and in that time, we laid down THIRTY-SIX tunes! That’s enough for East Texas Jam Volumes 2 AND 3! We had a great time playing together in the studio, and I’m very excited to hear the finished product. Stay posted for more information about when the recordings are released and where/for how much they will be sold.

The Bayou City Old-Time Music & Dulcimer Festival began on the afternoon of Thursday, July 21 and concluded Saturday evening. It was a wonderful event! I taught both hammered dulcimer and fiddle workshops, and there was a rather nice turnout for a festival in its first year. There were classes for autoharp, bass, mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and shape-note singing. The festival had a wonderful staff including Laura Boosinger, Steve Kilby, Lloyd Wright, Maureen Sellers, Bill Taylor, Amanda Luther, and many more! There was a very large emphasis on the jam sessions — a lot of wonderful music was played throughout those three days! This was definitely a wonderful festival, and it’s expected to get even bigger as word spreads throughout the year. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in attending!

I will be flying down to Houston for 6 days to record on the Wrights’ East Texas Jam Volume II as well as headline at the first annual Bayou City Old-Time Music and Dulcimer Festival!

Welcome to my new site! Here I’ll post about news and upcoming events, photos, and give you the opportunity to check out my album, Cow Spots!