March 2008

Here I am again - were you starting to wonder if I'd quit writing newsletters? It has been a while since the last one - a lot has been happening in recent months, and with the coming of spring the touring season will soon be getting underway again, so while I'm still home in Tripleval (and Thisbe the cat is fast asleep on my lap so I can't go anywhere anyway), let me fill you in...

This past November through January might well take the prize for my busiest and widest-ranging tour schedule ever. It started off with the Celtic Fiddle and Feet Festival in West Virginia (big old fun, a reunion with my Greenfire colleagues Ken and Laura, plus I made the acquaintance of the incredible Québecois trio Genticorum), followed immediately by a week in western Canada's breathtakingly beautiful Vancouver Islands with my Celtic guitar duo partner Steve Baughman, followed immediately by the annual Christmas concert tour which saw me scampering up and down the eastern U.S. from Maryland to Georgia, joined at various times by Steve, Al Petteway and Amy White, and Helicon, and after a brief break for Christmas itself I was back on the road in England, Scotland and France opening for and accompanying my old friend Tom Paxton on his Comedians and Angels CD release tour. Yowzah! I've often said that if you think musicians are lazy, try keeping up with me on the road. Well, Tom turned 70 last October and is sounding better than ever, so if he can keep doing this so can I...

Somewhere along the way I got word that my own new CD, Rosewood Castle, was a semifinalist for a Grammy Award in the traditional folk category - it didn't make it as far as the final nominations, but what the hell, it was flattering just to be on the initial list. (Congratulations to the winner in that category, Levon Helm - I don't mind losing to a member of The Band!) The reviews of Rosewood Castle I've seen so far have been extremely gratifying, and the CD went into its second printing after only five months - I guess that's what happens when you record guitar duets with the likes of Alex de Grassi, Tony McManus, John Doyle, Al Petteway and Steve Baughman!

Looking ahead on the recording front: since Dorian Recordings changed ownership three years ago, the Christmas CD I shared with Al and Amy, A Midnight Clear, has been out of print (though you can still get it from us while supplies last). So, I've decided to make a new solo Christmas CD this year that'll incorporate all the tracks I contributed to A Midnight Clear, along with new pieces I've been playing at the Christmas concerts that folks say they like (solo guitar versions of "O Holy Night," "'Tis Winter Now," and "Once in Royal David's City," for example) and a few surprises. It'll be out on Dancing Wolf Records in plenty of time for Christmas this year, so now you already know what you're getting everybody on your gift list and you can relax.

Spring Tour 2008 is just around the corner, as I mentioned, and I'm especially excited this year because I'm playing quite a few places that I either haven't played before at all or haven't played since going solo: Norfolk, Virginia; Newnan, Georgia; Bloominton, Illinois; the amazing Celtic music gathering Tionól in Saint Louis (where I'll be joined on the instructor staff by lots of old friends and musical heroes, most of whom are the same people), and my first-ever completely solo concert in my home-away-from-home of Asheville, North Carolina, along with return visits to familiar haunts in Baltimore, Charlotte, and Dahlonega, winding up with two more shows with Tom Paxton in northern Virginia and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The summer tour will be just as busy, with a return to Steve Kaufman's Mandolin Kamp in east Tennessee (armed with my 1920 Gibson A mandolin, a.k.a. The Feral Cat), my traditional two weeks on the faculty of North Carolina's Swannanoa Gathering, and solo concerts from the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC to the Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia, with more still being added, so keep an eye on that Schedule page. And come by and say hi.

Finally, a very special thank you to Jerry Garland, who designed this website and maintained it for the last nine years, and to my brother Dan, who recently threw himself on the live grenade of taking over its maintenance. Fair play to ye both, lads!

Cheers till next time,

Robin

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