With over 50 shows played since May 1^st and road trips to Corvallis, Eugene, Roseburg, Mt. Hood, Gresham and Netarts for gigs, you might think I'm tired of playing music for this season, but it isn't so. We still have a few more gigs to go before we go back to our day job in earnest this fall. The garden is in full bloom. I might actually get ripe tomatoes this year; the corn is 8 feet tall, the carrots, beets, lettuce, peas, beans and spuds are all sweet. Wish I could just garden and play music - but thankfully I get to do it every glorious summer.

For you Redmond area folks, I'm performing here at Fountains Restaurant this Thursday, 8/23 and at Redmond Winestyles Friday, 8/24. Both are 6-9 p.m. shows. If you haven't been to Fountains, the food is abundant, affordable and excellent. The ambience and the Wine are the big things at Winestyles on 7^th St. across the parking lot from the Mustard Seed Café.

Next Wed. 8/29/07 I host and play at our second 541 Folk Fest at the 541 Lounge in Bend. Proceeds benefit Sparrow Clubs of Central Oregon. Elise Michaels and husband Mark Gillum and Katie Cavanaugh with husband Doug are my featured guests. 7 p.m. is show time. 541 is hoping we can continue this as a series of benefits for worthy charities in Central Oregon; so am I. The idea is to raise awareness of acoustic and/or folk music in our area as well as raise money for good causes. We had a great turn out in July with our maiden effort with David Bowers and the Wild Roses. Dan Chavers will again do excellent sound for the event. The food and atmosphere are upscale all the way at 541. Think style. We thank Dominic and Augustine for hosting these events.

Some of you have heard me playing a couple new songs, "Guess I'll Dance" (a tune for senior citizen lovers) and "the Mystery of Dirt and Men" (a tribute to gardening and digging in the dirt every spring) at shows this summer and have asked about recordings. Those tunes and a few other new ones are in the works for another album which hopefully will feature some Bruce Cockburn covers as well with the help of Ellen Jakab and Kim Lakehomer of the Wild Roses band. If all goes well, perhaps next summer this new record will be done. It may also feature a song or two by daughter Halla Byer who is writing her own stuff these days while continuing to study guitar under Dean Prescott and voice with Don Hoxie, the Substitutes band guys. Halla has also brought her dad's myspace site up to speed by adding a slide show, a new background and other bells and whistles. Many thanks to her. It is great to work with your kids. Please check it out at www.myspace.com/allanbyerband .

Look for us out at Terrebonne at the Central Oregon Pumpkin Company this Oct. and in Sun River for a Café Libri concert as well as our regular club restaurant venues. If you know of a place where my music would fit, we are always interested in opening up new venues for music.

Thanks to all of you new fans this summer who bought cds. There is nothing so special to an artist as having audience members take the music home. It is the frosting on the cake for all we INDIE artists who are proving that it is not necessary to sign with a big record company to have a successful musical career. God bless you all. And remember that word of mouth is still the best advertising. If you like the music, tell others. Pass on this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested.

As the Doobie brothers sang 30 yrs ago, "Listen to the Music." blessings, allan byer, ed the whistler and hal w.

Thurs. 8/23/07 Fountains Restaurant, Redmond, 6 p.m.

Fri. 8/24/07 Winestyles, Redmond, 6 p.m.

Wed. 8/29/07 541 Lounge benefit, Bend, 7 p.m.

Fri. 8/31/07 Fountains, Redmond, 6 p.m.

Sat. 9/01/07 Madras Sat. Mkt. 10 a.m.

Sat. 9/01/07 Silver Moon Brewing, Bend, 7 p.m..

Fri. 9/21/07 The Wine shop, Bend 6 p.m.

Wed. 10/10/07 Bend Farmers' Mkt. Drake park, Bend, 3 p.m.

Sat. 10/13/07 KLRR Pumpkin Patch * tentative 10 a.m.

Sat. 10/20/07 Café Libri Concert @ Sun River Library, 3 p.m.

Call of Spring May 1, 07

Progression: Am C G D Am C D F

Theme: Visceral pull to dig in Dirt in Spring, garden, call of garden

The dirt is calling to be rubbed in my hands (palms)

In April on the high desert, too early to plant

But not too early to rake, hoe, dig (order ?)

Hook the weeds' roots, the tangled web of grass roots (threads)

That inhabit my garden (in early Spring)

Shovel the horse dung onto the beds

Like topping on baked goods

Shaped by my hands and the rake

Are they Earth dwellings or cocoa cakes

Possible chorus:

This is not the call of the wild

But the call of spring, the call of the garden.

It is visceral. I feel it in the muscles and sinews of my body.

A force pulling me to the outdoors like gravity on my body.

Verse:

My beloved watches through the bedroom window

Two Morning Doves working at building a nest

In the thickly branched Spruce tree in the backyard

One waits deep inside the catacombs of branches hidden

The other glides down to pick up sticks

Selects the perfect ones only

Flutters up into the limbs, suddenly hidden

To her waiting mate who assembles the puzzle unseen (from view)

Then gliding back to the Flower circle again and again

For more precious pieces of the home they build together.

As I undress my lover with my eyes

And then with my hands as she keeps watching

New chorus: ???

The first Spring they have nested here

A sign of Hope for my life, my marriage

There is Faith in April, in Spring, in Life.