I'm sitting here having a glass of wine, some good cheese and celebrating the launch of our new http://www.katybowser.com .

Y'all come visit.

The state of things?  We're working on getting to where you are.  I've been spending my days this month (or two) with coffee, my computer, and a phone, and I'm wearing my booking agent hat.  Figuratively.  Kenny is in fact wearing his railroad engineer hat.  Literally.

A favorite Annie Dillard passage that applies lately, as I sit in our Eastside Portland Brew here in the neighborhood for may more hours than the things I'm buying allow for:

"To crank myself up I stood on a jack and ran myself up.  I tightened myself like a bolt.  I inserted myself in a vice-like clamp and wound the handle till the pressure built.  I drank coffee in titrated doses.  It was a tricky business, requiring the finely tuned judgment of a skilled anesthesiologist.  There was a tiny range within which coffee was effective, short of which it was useless, and beyound which, fatal".

Amen, Annie.  As I decided to write again, I wondered if I really ought to pull back the curtain in the great room of the emerald city and let them see that Oz is often...me.  And then I thought "yes, dangitall, I will". 

I want you to know that we really, really love to make music for you.  We love to tell you stories.  I love to sing my heart out, and Kenny absolutely loves making the unbelievable things that he makes at every show on every last instrument.(You'll never hear it just like that again.) We adore your smiles, and we love it when you enjoy.  We love giving you a good gift, and want to do it more. That's why we do this- we want you to be delighted in all kinds of ways.

Being at the Americana Folk Festival and doing it, going to WDVX and doing it, playing a house concert, playing at the Farmer's markets- remembering kids dancing at festivals and people having a beer with friends and enjoying the time is why I do this.  It's not altogether on our own- we have a number of talented friends who throw in and do things that I could never do, but we'll keep them nameless right now so they don't feel pressure.  But so they will feel our gratitude for their hours, ideas, and every breath they blow in our sails, to bring us to you.

So here we come.

Friends, you can now find us on iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic... some others coming.  Tell the world!

Also, come on out this Saturday,Oct 21, to the Americana Folk Festival- with Patty Griffin, Mindy Smith, Old Black Kettle, lots of other friends, and us- it's truly going to be delightful.  C'mon.  http://www.americanafolkfestival.com. 

More news soon- we're coming to radios near you.

Hey all, from the lovely Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania.  Kenny's out on the road, and I'm visiting my folks for a few days.  We've already had a number of adventures.  Mom and I went kayaking yesterday, and saw bear tracks, an enormous tom turkey and a bald eagle eating fish off of a fisherman's line.  The fisherman said he didn't mind so much.

Today, we went to the Crawford County Fair, and saw prizewinning quilts, jellies, pigs, horses and sheep, as well as riding the ferris wheel and eating a wide sampling of fair food.  We're all sitting in the living room having parallel play right now- Dad's reading a magazine, Mom's doing Sudoku, and here I am with you, before I get back to Mountains Beyond Mountains- more on that when I'm done, but I can already tell you that it's been such a healthy read, good for my heart and worldview.

I need to give deep thanks to all of you- the voting at American Songwriter is over as of last night, and who knows what will happen- but I couldn't be more thankful.  Cheers, all, and we are so humbled by your help.  We'll tell you what happens on Monday.  And if you are up for continuing to vote for me at Americanahighway.com for Future Favorite Female Vocalist, please do- both in the poll and at jack@americanahighway , one of each every day- looks like we're doing well!

Kenny is in DC today, rocking our nation's capital with Eliot Morris on the Counting Crows/GooGoo Dolls tour.  Go have a see- it's a great night- and look for a special guest appearance of Eliot's band with Counting Crows- so much fun.

Well, back to my book- this is break time, and I'm gonna sit and settle a while, and listen to the crickets and tree frogs outside.  Enjoy the night...

Did we mention the EP is done?  Did we mention it's available?

Did we mention we're thrilled?

It is.  It is.

We are!

You can order at http://www.katybowser.com or right here on the site with the Buy CD button. 

Can't wait to see what you think.  Also, join us at our neighborhood joint, Radio Cafe in East Nashville on Thursday, July 6 at 8:30 pm for an EP release celebration.  Can't wait to see y'all.

-Katy

Isn't that just how it goes?   You're a week away from sending your new project to press, and you get a whole new batch of songs.  I'm not over the ones on All Of My Friends Yet- I don't mean that.  I've been surprised that I still like singing and playing those after the studio and the whole process of beating them to a pulp and squishing them onto a disc. 

But it's fun to know that I'm ready to make again- maybe we'll try some of these on at the CD release (that's still coming together- we'll fill you in).  There's this kind of spent feeling I have after recording sometimes, with all of the business that needs to happen to get it out.  Like having a baby and having to fill our a million insurance forms when you  just want to look at the little miracle you just pushed out.  (Or so I hear.)

  I went to the Habitat Home Store a few weeks ago and bought a desk for $17 that Fisk University had donated.  A solid little dark wood desk to sit in the corner of our nook, the last room in our house that needed to be put together.  When we started to work on our house, all the random things got pushed from room to room until they found their proper places.  The last frontier was the nook, the most charming room in our home.  Full of sewing materials and machines, pictures, wedding stuff, CDS, office equipment- utter chaos and hodgepodge.  I cleared it all out and declared it the writing room, and put that little desk in the corner.  The desk is only for writing- no computer, no bills, no stupid stuff.  Writing. So when I sit there, I write.  I pull out my legal pad from the top drawer, set my coffee on the coaster and write.  It's a special place for special work, where I stuff my organizing head away, or at least out it in the employ of the stories, thoughts and ideas working their way out onto the page.  And then I grab a guitar. And here they come again!  I'd love to just send 'em on through and get them on the CD- all things in time, I suppose. 

I saw some amazing music last night- Thad Cockrell, Dawn Kinnard and Roman Candle.  My my.  They'll be playing at the Basement every third Wednesday for a bit, and I suggest you make your flight arrangements or plan your road trip now.  Such a good time, such good, good, music.  The stuff that makes you go "THAT's why we make music- I NEED that!".  

Peace to you all- may you make good things today, like you're made to.

Oh friends, it's getting so close.  Presales for All Of My Friends are available at the newly begun http://www.katybowser.com . Go see, go order, enjoy!  Shipping's on us for pre-orders.

Also, a few tracks will be streaming shortly (requests, anyone?)- just waiting for MySpace to catch up a bit.

Cheers, friends.

Today I picked up our repaired dehumidifier and listened to the final mixes of the EP.

Then I sent the final mixes of the EP in to SESAC for their records and had another cup of coffee. 

Then I looked over the artwork for the EP and figured out how it's all going down.

Then I bought tomato plants because while working on the EP, I managed to let my poor little tomato seedlings die.

Ever Present.

Extra Precious.

Energy taking Project

Excitable Performer

Expressive Paeans

Effervescent Pieces

EP.  Coming your way soon.

Stick a fork in her.  She's so close.

(ouch.)

We'd like to extend our thanks to Mr. Scott Simontacchi for our new pictures!  Scott wields a camera with grace, in addition to playing a mean mandolin and writing like a banshee. 

As you can see, we're getting dressed up and ready to hit the town- we have the mixed CD back, and we're nearly there...  see you soon.