We’re happy to announce we’ll be flying, flying, flying, and sailing all the way to the Shetland Islands this coming April for the Shetland Folk Festival!

The 31st annual event will be held between 28th April and 1st May and as the UK’s most northerly folk festival, it is regarded a prestigious event for performers, locals and visitors alike. Organized by a voluntary committee (and run by an even bigger pool of volunteers) the Festival prides itself in reaching out to even the most far flung areas of Shetland. Concerts are organized throughout the isles, consisting of some of the best International, British and Shetland music that the world has to offer. So, if you’re tempted to make your way to the most far-flung folk festival in the UK, join us for the unofficial opening on 27th April on an overnight ferry in the middle of the North Sea. An event in itself! Click here for information on travel to Shetland and how to purchase tickets.  See you there!

Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three are without a doubt one of the most entertaining live acts I’ve been lucky enough to see, and I hope they visit London again sooner rather than later.

Read the whole thing and see the rest of his photos here. Thanks Ian!

Our first performance of the tour. Big crowd with lots of young people dancing which was surprising because most people don’t usually go off dancing to our music over here. A great way to start the tour.

Highlight: played on a stage that was solar powered. Also, talks of us coming to this festival as well as Glastonbury Festival next year started immediately after our set as the promoter and booker of the festivals saw our performance.

Fri. 8/6 Private Function

We had a nice chill time playing for some friends and their wedding anniversary. Some good swing dancing by some folks ensued. 2 for 2 in the dancing category. Not bad!!!

Sat. 8/7 Shoreham, England. Ropetackle Centre

Beautiful arts centre. Some great acoustics and great mics. Almost sold out show.

Highlight: I learn the meaning of ‘banter’ as the English call it. We call it heckling.
Video from this show:

Sun. 8/8-Brighton, England.Prince Albert Hall

The sun shone brightly on brightly on the shores of Brighton, one of my favorite towns in the world, (just go see for yourself the ‘vacation palace of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert). A bustling little sea port town with lots of eccentricities and color doubled by the fact that this weekend was actually gay pride weekend. Brighton already being ‘the gay capital of Britain’ had been partying for a week up until this weekend and you could tell. The marine parade was filled with drunken foot traffic that were carelessly pouring into the streets. Quite the spectacle to behold and good views all around. Pretty people with the backdrop of the English channel, (La-Menche the French call it). We parked and walked around on the boardwalk down to the marine harbor where there looked to be a mini circus intermingled with little shops kinda like that of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco mixed with a smidgen of Coney Island.

However our down time along the coast didn’t last long as we soon headed back into the town to our accomodations to prepare for preparing for the show. See there is a rest in preparing to go to the venue, then there is the time is takes to prepare for the show. It kind of makes sense. Anyway I sat on the patio of our hotel with a pint and admired the ships bogged down in the mud of the firth, (the mouth of the river that goes out to sea), a few hours away from the tide coming in.

Had a big show that night. Small joint and we sold it out.The sound was impeccable. The room quaint and the crowd lively. We killed it.

Highlight: Ryan sang Stack-O-Lee half way through the show and received the overwhelming adoration of the fans:

Wed 8/11-Topsham, England. The Globe

A sleepy little town on the River Exe. Like a town built for little people, you feel like you have to squeeze in between the walls of the streets to walk down ,(or through them). The same was true for the venue. Twas like we were packed into a gnomes cottage or whiskey still. A great time though as Julian Piper from Acoustic Magazine UK was our promoter. He always does a great job.

Highlight: walking ,(tiptoeing) out into the crowd and waking up an old lady after I noticed she had fallen asleep. It was somewhat embarassing for her but everyone had a good laugh. It just goes to show that if you come out to a show and you fall asleep be ready to have someone put you on the spot. You can’t let someone sleep through your show. Seriously?

Thurs. 8/12-Pulborough, England. Blue Coconut Club

We played this venue on the last date of our last tour over here in January. It was one of the most memorable shows I’ve had over here. This time was more of the same but this go around it was with a sold out crowd. The energy in the room is something I can’t place. Maybe it’s the fireplace. Maybe it’s the huge room with the big round tables and it inspires me to be a lounge singer back in the day at a jazz club. I don’t know what it is but always connect with the crowd there and they help us with a beautiful night.

Highlight: we successfully attempt some new material.

Fri. 8/13 West Ashling, England. West Ashling Village Hall

The last thing I expected was a sold out show in this small of town near Chicester. People seemed a little scared at first, which is common over here, but they usually come around.

Highlight: the mid 60’s Morris Minor nicknamed ‘Moggie’, (a precursor to the BMW Mini that you see more prevalently these days) in the parking lot. I desperately wanted the car but atleast have a picture to remember it by.

Sat. 8/14 Nottingham, England. The Maze

A place our friends the Wiyos said was one their favorite shows. I’d have to agree. Nottingham a town with some heart and soul in Robin Hood County(seriously that’s what it is), but don’t mention Robin Hood. People are apparently not to fond of Robin Hood comments. Great promoters there. I cant wait to come back

Highlight: we got onto the floor for our encore, which we sometimes do, and whipped the folks into a frenzy. Also, thanks are in order for the B-day girl Alice for aiding in us getting the crowd going. I wish we could have a ‘lit up’ B-day gal/guy at every show. They’re always looking to get down and raise a ruckus.

Sun. 8/15 Leicester,England. Summer Sundae Festival

This may be my favorite festival gig ever, besides Newport. We were getting ready for the show backstage when we started to hear more and more of a rumble of folks gathering in front of the stage. Till I decided finally to sneak a peak through the backstage curtains to see what the fuss was all about. It appeared there was a 1,000 people there to see our set. Soon it was our time. They announced our name and away we went onto the stage. By gawd it was an insane reception. It took my breath away.

Had to get a hold of myself. The fellas were all on point delivering ear smashing solos. Something was in the air while we delivered what I feel was a strong performance. Sold out of our cd’s too! I look forward to coming back to the Leicester area next year if not the festival. Here’s a silly interview with Global Cool:

Highlight: a good number of folks were singing my tunes. Next time we come back I hope to see more folks singing along.

8/17-8/19: Edinburgh, Scotland. Fringe Festival. Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s

Ryan workin' the washboard at the Fringe Fest

The capital city of Scotland. Edinburgh Fringe. One of the longest running and biggest festivals in the world. Beautiful, talented, eccentric, creative types gathered from all over the world. Tis mostly a thespian oriented festival. We were however at St. Bride’s acoustic music centre. Was purty fun. Not the best crowds. A lot fun was had though. The Edinburgh castle in the middle of town. The Grassmarket. People watching. We met some wonderful peope there. Go to Edinburgh at least once in your lifetime. You’ll want to see it.

Highlight: going on the underground ghost tour to play a tourist. Being tempted to step into a cursed Wiccan circle that was said to cast a spell on you that uses your greatest weaknesses against you. Didn’t do it. I already practically live in a van with a bunch of hygienic deficient men.

WE Conquer the Scottish Highlands!!!!!! (perhaps the 3 most best shows of the tour)

Fri. 8/20-Findhorn, Scotland. Universal Hall

This was truly one of the more original locations for a performance. A commune, yes a commune! The room we played in was shaped into a huge pentagon with a large glass pentagon on the ceiling that allowed you to see the sky. I swore it was a way for the aliens to beam you to space. The operations on the property were all sustainable. They apparently work to assist the UN in sustainable energy and organic forming for 3 world nations. So as I said an interesting place to be asked to play. But hey communes need music too. Almost sold this one out as well.

Highlight: the food.

Sat. 8/21-Stornoway, Scotland. An Lanntair

After the show in Findhorn we drove to Ullapool. There we were to catch the ferry across open Atlantic Ocean to the Isle of Lewis to play the town of Stornoway. All started out beautifully as we were floating along through the Loch. Conditions at sea were said to be rough but in the Loch it was nice and smooth so I decided to have some fish and chips on the boat. Bad idea cause once I finished my meal we were dumped out into the roller coaster that was the stormy Atlantic Ocean. The only thing in the water was the propeller. I tried to lie down for to go to sleep thinking that I could avoid the seasickness. But it was no use. I lost my lunch.

Still nauseaus when we got to the venue I toughed my way through a sound check. I needed to sit down and get some food and water into my body. Thankfully my dreams come true. We had a wonderful meal from the venues restaurant. I couldn’t believe it. They had american soul food. Ribs, fried chicken, mac n’ cheese, greens and everything. And man did I have everything along with local mussels. I could taste the sea man. I love it. It was just what I needed.

The show that night was sold out. Everyone was all smiles. Great conversations ensued and a bevy of drink was consumed after the show in the lounge while we sold cd’s. I even tried a new Gin and fell in love. A British Gin called Miller’s.

Highlight: running around with locals after the show from pub to pub in the pouring rain.

Sun. 8/22 Inverness, Scotland. Eden Court Theatre

This could have been the best show we’ve played so far on this trip. The crew who ran this place were very accomodating. We were late coming back to the mainland due to rain and traffic. But they had everything set up once we got there. They were ready in position. The sound check went by very smoothly and soon we were in our dressing room to finally take a breath and get ready for the show in 20minutes. Was a sold out theatre. The crowd was amazing. Some folks can be quite reserved over here. Not these folks. Dancing, clapping and sweet banter to boot. It included a crowd from young to old. The best kind of crowd. The kids seemed to love it which is always nice.

Highlight: call back for 3 encore’s with 3 standng ovations. Can’t wait to return to the highlands.

• Aug 7 Ropetackle Centre Shoreham, England
• Aug 8 The Prince Albert Brighton, England
• Aug 11 The Globe Topsham, England
• Aug 12 Blue Coconut Club Pulborough, England
• Aug 13 West Ashling Village Hall West Ashling, England
• Aug 14 The Maze Nottingham, England
• Aug 15 Summer Sundae Festival Leicester,England
• Aug 17 Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Edinburgh, Scotland
• Aug 18 Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Edinburgh, Scotland
• Aug 19 Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Edinburgh, Scotland
• Aug 20 Universal Hall Arts Centre Findhorn, Scotland
• Aug 21 An Lanntair Stornoway, Scotland
• Aug 22 Eden Court Theatre Inverness, Scotland
• Aug 24 Victoria Hotel Anglesey, Wales
• Aug 25 The Luminaire London, England
• Aug 27 Tønder Festival Tonder
• Aug 28Tønder Festival Tønder
• Aug 29Tønder Festival Tonder
• Aug 30Tønder Festival Tonder
• Aug 31The Hop Pole Inn Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
• Sep 1Norwich Arts Centre Norwich, England
• Sep 2Eastgate Theatre Peebles, Scotland
• Sep 3 Buccleuch Centre Langholm, England
• Sep 4 TBA Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
• Sep 5 TBA Glasgow, Scotland
• Sep 7 The Old Library Kilbarchan, Scotland
• Sep 8 Carnegie Hall Dunfermline, England
• Sep 10 Open House Festival w/ Old Crow Medicine Show, Felice Bros., Wilco and more Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Sep 11 Open House Festival w/ Old Crow Medicine Show, Felice Bros., Wilco and more Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Sep 12 Open House Festival w/ Old Crow Medicine Show, Felice Bros., Wilco and more Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Sep 13 Raheen House Hotel Clonmel, Tipperary

Encore at The Blue Coconut Club, Pulborough, West Sussex, Jan 30, 2010 Photo Courtesy MissJay6 via Flickr

1st Day Jan. 20th- Travelling

I stayed up all night so that I may get some sleep on the plane, (of course that doesn’t happen cause lord knows that there may be snakes on a plane but ain’t no sleepin for me). Foggy, foggy day. I knew once i walked outside that the plane was probably going to be delayed. Sure enough we get to the Lambert airport there in St. Louis and find out the plane is going to be delayed for an hour. Then they say the plane has been re-routed to Springfield. then they say to Kansas City. Then they can’t tell us when the plane is going to be there. We finally get to board and find out that one of Ryan’s suitcases is too big. When we checked in however the ladies said “aw, na gohead sugga. you good”. So Ryan had to pay $50 on the spot to get his damn suitcase, (which later got lost in D.C). If you ask me some of these folks here at Lambert Airport are completely incompetent. I think i’d rather swim to the UK next time before i fly out of that heap.

Now on to more positive things such as everything else besides St. Louis Airport…..

Overnight Flight brings us to

2nd Day Jan 21st-Day Off

We get to London early in the morning. Gerrald or tour manager is there waiting for us. This man by the way is a legend. Comes from a family of tour managers. They actually take pride in it. He’s been doing it for 30 years. Best man in the business if you ask me. We than commence to driving to our bed and breakfast over in Wimbeldon part of London. We have the night off. We’re all delirious from, at this point, three days no sleep which led to a lot of confusion. Such as the cars on the other side of the road along with driver on the wrong side as well. I mean i’ve seen all this before but when you’re feel like you appear instantly into this other world it takes you a second to adjust. For me it took a couple days. but the overstimulation; slightly different culture, different roads, signs, and many other subtleties never really goes away. it leaves you exhuasted at night.

Anway so we’re in London. Never been there before. So Adam and I try and figure out how to get down to the city centre to see all the “touristy stuff”. We hopped on a bus and preyed for to show up there. Eventually we did with the help of a lovely Lebonese gal. That night Hoskins and walked around in the freezing cold enjoying the sites, i.e Big Ben, Parliament building and all the weird, winding streets. We get back completely out of our minds beat from walking and not sleeping. I passed out around midnight and slept for 14 straight hours. i can’t remember the last time i did that.

3rd Day Jan. 22nd-London, England-Brooks Blues Bar:

Wonderful venue accomodations. Got to the venue and got a huge burger with chips(fries) and a real English Ale. Let’s get on the record right now that people over there think Americans don’t know a damn thing about beer but here i’ll say that we have the best beer in the world. i mean in the states you can get pretty much any kind of beer you want and these days it could have even been made right down the road no matter where you’re at. In the UK there beers are all warm and kind of flat. i mean like there style of beer just i think they talk to much stereo-typical shite on Americans taste.

So we end up playing to a packed house. The boys got there introduction to the UK crowds which are very mellow. So mellow that you think that you are not playing well or atleast not grasping there attention which of course is a more important than actually playing well most of the time. I told the boys this and that you just have to ride it out and eventually they get into it. But if they don’t it doesn’t mean that they didn’t enjoy it, it’s just that they’re mellow man. I mean our kind of music doesn’t make it over there very often plus they’re just genuinely interested and attentive. So the first show was a hit.

4th Day Jan. 23rd-Topsham, County of Devon, England-Globe Hotel SOLD OUT

Freezing cold. Trying to drive the van in this little village. wow, what a pleasant nightmare. This really got to show off Gerrald’s driving skills. We were doing 9 point turns around corners, holding up local traffic, trying to get to the venue. So we end up making it to the venue. Realize there is no food or booze so we haul ass down to the Tesco(chain of awesomes convenient stores with the best pears, ready to eat right off the shelf) if only to get booze but also grab some bread and hummus. Play to another sold out crowd. Fantastically nice folks there. Drank a lot of ‘real’ English Ale. People again were very mellow but ‘got into it’ towards the second half when we played unplugged in front of the stage standing on chairs and e’rything.

5th Day Jan. 24th-Brighton, England-Prince Albert SOLD OUT

This was a breath of fresh air. Even though it was cold and rainy, (just like all of the other days), this towns personality shone through. Beautiful seaport town on the English channel or as the French call it La-Manche. Only 21 miles away is France from here and man was i choppin at the bit to get to those shores. i really want to go to France. someday i say. I walked around trying to find a pay phone that worked. Finally after a half an hour search i got to one and called my gal back in the states. Went to the venue around 5pm. (all load-ins, sound checks, start times and end times are all early so you’re back at your lodging by 1am at the very latest usually. Also, the longest set the venues ever call for are two 45 minute sets. so the longest you ever play in a night is a hour and a half plus encore. Happy to say the show was sold out but saw what appeared to be a lot of cool people outside who couldn’t get in. The show was great. No one made any noise until the song was over and then erupted. Sort of the opposite of a lot of places here in the states; a lot of noise during the songs and then crickets afterwards. We played two sets here and at the end of the second one we played unplugged. Ryan sang ‘St. James Infirmary’ to great success and i got a request for ‘Josephine’ which i haven’t played in a real long time. I guess i did allright. Hung out afterwards with some of the first young people we encountered at one of our shows. when you play folks clubs you play to a lot of older people but hey atleast theres folks there, know what i mean?

6th Day was OFF spent in Glasgow, Scotland in preperation for Celtic Connections Festival

Show up in Glasgow the night of the 25th to the hotel the will house us (and a lot of other festival musicians) for the next four days. We’re not in the hotel but 5 minutes when the fire alarm goes off. however i was in the shower and didn’t know so when i came out the room everyone was gone. Then i went into the hall and knocked on Joey and Hoskins’ room but no answer. Then i decided to go to the elevator and go down into the lobby but the elevator didn’t work. So i went to the stairs but it said ‘only open in case of fire’ but i said to myself ‘there ain’t a fire’ but then i went by the fire exit and it was wide open. so i walked it downstairs. just as i opened the door downstairs i about got tackled by a fireman. Him and a bunch of his cronies were asking me all kinds of questions like ‘where were you’? and ‘didn’t you hear the fire alarm’? what was funny was everyone from the hotel was standing outside in the freezing cold there listening to these fireman acost me. Friends of mine like The Wiyos and Dom Flemons from the Carolina Chocolate Drops were there laughing at the scene. When that got through i went over to the Wiyos and said hello. They apparently had just got to the hotel as well but had just been through a worse fate then myself. Delta Airlines lost Parrish’s guitars and smashed all of Michael’s harmonicas and junk percussion and here they get to the hotel to settle down after jet lag and there’s a fire alarm. they soon got in good spirits though the next day when Michael got new equipment and Parrish’s guitars came in.

7th Day was OFF spent in Glasgow, Scotland in preperation for Celtic Connections Festival

Pretty uneventful. just stayed around the hotel. the weather outside was cold and rainy.

8th Day Glasgow, Scotland-Celtic Connections Festival w/ the Wiyos @ Royal Concert Hall

Our first of two shows at Celtic Connections. This one we opened up for the Wiyos was nearly a sold out show of 500 people. Good amount of young folks in the audience which helped add to good energy coming from the crowd. We played very well that night and of course so did the Wiyos. Then we all did an encore together of 3 tunes which led to a standing ovation. The big crowd response was overwhelimingly gratifying. Great times and very nice people. That night went into the wee hours of the morning with us and the Wiyos playing music in the hotel. We damn near got kicked out of that hotel when it was all said and done. Big Times.

9th Day Glasgow, Scotland-Celtic Connections Festival @ City Hall SOLD OUT

This was a more intimate gig. we played in the Recital Room of City Hall. It was like a small cathedral in that the the roof was pitched and the windeows were stained glass. Also the room was just a big box. it looked like a little churchouse. The room was painted all white with pink and yellow christmas lights from the ceiling and bright blue lights from along the trim of the floor. It was a beautiful little room with a big sound. we didn’t need to plug anything in which was great. we just used mics. hell, people were really mellow anyway then they got into it 3/4 the way throught then we played unplugged for the last few tunes which drew it’s usual positive response. The show was over by 11 or so. Then we got shuttled over to the Royal Concert Hall to see if we could play a light night set for festival staff and musicians. but it was so packed with musicians waiting to play and drunks stumbling all over the crowd so we just sat int he lobby and drank Carlsberg beer. It’s slogan is ‘probably the best lager in the world’ which i would say ‘probably’ couldn’t be farther from the truth. It didn’t stop Churchmouse who proceeded to get tight as hell sitting there. He was getting a wee bit belligerent. Almost had to carry him out on a log. While we sat there though a lot folks were coming up to us with positive feedback about our Celtic Connections Festival. A couple of which were festival promoters and bookers. One of which we just got backed for next year: the Tonder Festival in Denmark.

10th Day Newcastle, England Jumpin Hot Club SOLD OUT

Back to England in the town of Newcastle. the home of Newcastle beer (which aparrently is only served on draft in the states. There it’s all in bottles and they re-use the bottles) and the Geordies which are the girls there. They don’t wear any damn clothes. A very, very mellow crowd until we got in the audience and played acoustic in front of the stage. After the show we found out that the van broke down. It took two hours to finally realize the damn thing was better off left on the side of the road. Then we waited for a cab to come and take us to the hotel. We got back there at around 1am or so so Adam and i though we’d go out and find a drink somewhere which is hard to do anywhere in the UK at that time since everything closes early. Then it started snowing the biggest snowflakes i’ve ever seen and it was piling up. But this didn’t stop the Geordies. I literally saw no one with a coat on; girls runnin around barefoot. We barely made last call at some dumpy “spanish” bar up the biggest hill in a metropolitan area i’ve ever seen. We walked up in this place and of course stuck out like a sore American thumb. I tell you it’s like people over there have never seen a hat before. Whether fedora, hamburg newsboy or what have you. It’s like a target for drunks. So i got one too many drunk English dude grabbing for it to were i almost got into a fight at this bar.

11th West Sussex, England Blue Coconut Club SOLD OUT

Perhaps the best show of the tour. Everything about this gig was perfect. It was like playing in big cozy living room with fireplace, couches and everything. The sound was extraordinary. We played very, very well i must say. Folks were so kind there we stayed there talking with them for hours. We look forward to returning there for next summer/fall.