Hey folks!

I just wanted to let everybody in the Carolinas and Georgia know that we will be coming close by this summer.  I'll be playing with my friend Chris Ayer and he is awesome. 

Charleston/Goose Creek/Summerville Folks:
We are playing a free show on Daniel Island! Come out on to the Daniel Island School on June 27th. The show starts at 7pm and will feature Michael Costa as well. 

Thanks for stopping by!
-John

I've decided to start posting to a different blog site...

Go check out http://blog.johncallawaymusic.com . I'll be posting new songs, photos, and ramblings on there. I'd love to have your feedback on the new songs!

-John

It is almost bittersweet being back in South Carolina. The road really teaches you a lot about yourself. There is just something about a long stretch of highway in a car alone. Traveling has always been one of my favorite past times and it also becoming harder and harder to do. I really didn’t realize how great Costa and I had it last summer when we where on tour until I got back to a full time job. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful by any means! The full time teaching position has really allowed me to do a lot of things, meet a lot of great people, and have reasonable health insurance. Overall, I may not have the personality or patience needed to survive in a middle school but I am excited about one more year of maturing and learning in that environment. The music and the little bit of traveling I get to do does keep me somewhat sane.

Two weekends ago I boarded a plane and headed up to Richmond, Virginia to play Saturday and Sunday at Central Baptist Church. In case you are wondering, it was much cheaper to fly to Richmond and back than it was to drive my Jeep. Gas prices are amazing, aren’t they? This little weekend trip actually took me back to one of the stops from our summer tour. My good friends Casey and Martha Ann put me up for the weekend just like they did in May. The conversations about politics and religion were lively and fun. I really love talking to good friends who challenge me to think. The church group was great as well. I have seen very few youth groups who just seem to "get it" the way this group did. The older folks in the group stuck up for and hung with the younger kids and there really weren’t any cliques. How many times do you see that with middle and high school kids?

Spring Break started on Friday March 14th at 3:45 for me. I ended up staying at the school until 4pm to let a few students serve detention. I have honestly never needed a break so bad in my entire life. I headed to bed early in order to catch my 7:30am flight the next morning. At 4 am I received a Delta call explaining that my flight had been moved to 12 noon. There were only 7 of us on this 142 seat plane and after we were airborne the captain comes over and says, "We are having some mechanical difficulties and we are waiting to find out if we will be heading back to Charleston or on to Atlanta." Luckily, the plane landed in Atlanta safely and ran across the airport to barely catch the next flight to Dallas in time. That flight ended up running an hour late so I completely missed the Clemson/Duke game in the ACC Tournament semi-finals. I still can’t believe the Tigers pulled that one out!

Texas brings back even more memories from the summer. I was able to hang out with fairly new friend Katie Beth and extremely new friends Jason and Carrie. They made Dallas a whole lot of fun! They also made me want to get a big dog very soon. Last summer we toured through the towns of San Antonio, Houston, and Galveston. Driving on those roads again brought everything into perspective for me. Something special happens on the roads of Texas as you drive through the plains. I love it! My top 3 states now are easily South Carolina, Texas, and Hawaii. Since I will never be able to afford to live in Hawaii, Texas seems like a possibility one day.

I met up with Chris Ayer in San Antonio and played a small church there. It was great meeting up with Chris again and then heading out to one of my favorite places. New Braunfels, Texas was one of the best stops on the tour last summer and it was just as nice this time. The Krafts have the coolest house imaginable and they are some of the coolest people I know. Maybe I’ll get to spend a lot more time in that area one day. Galveston was the next stop on the trip. The Clemson CSF group was on spring break also and spending their week on a missions project. Five years ago I was involved with a group working in these same places and it was a little weird being back and seeing how well some of the work we had done lasted.

One of the best parts of the trip was spending time with my campus minister on his last mission’s trip before retirement. Tim has been a great mentor for me and has always helped me see the world through different lenses. It was fun reminiscing about old times and talking about the beginnings of new chapters in life.

Texas is a special place. Go check out some of the photos and let me know what you think.

It has been a while....

I hope this message finds everybody doing well! I just wanted to write a quick update to let you know about the new website. JohnCallawayBand.com is now up and running. Go check it out and let us know what you think.

Much Love,
John

Hey everybody! I hope this message finds you in the middle of a great summer/spring.

Just wanted to let you know that Costa and I are touring around the country right now, and you can keep up with us on americanstereotour.com. Check out some pictures and leave us some comments on the blog! Have a great weekend!

-John

Hello folks!
Just wanted to let you know that Costa and I will be on the road, starting next Wednesday. We will kick off the summer tour with a stop in Charleston. Be looking out for a link to our Summer Tour page. We will have road stories, gigs, music, and even some scandalous pictures of Costa. It will be up very soon!

In the mean time... check out my interview with Susan Snider from Southern Fried Magazine. Thanks again Susan!!

More info soon!!!

What a week it has been. I know so many people have been writing on these topics and the news is full of the grim details all of the time. I just thought that I would write a little as well....

I teach a class at Clemson right now and I love every minute of it. I love watching the students walk in and reading their faces. You can almost see what is going on in their minds. The emotions are all there, but the subjects are different for each person. On Wednesday morning my class walked in and I could see it in every student's face. This tragedy really hit home for the students at Clemson. Virginia Tech and Clemson really couldn't be much more alike. Both of these universities sit in a rural area where the town was built around the school. The towns need the schools and the schools need the towns; a true college town atmosphere. Each school was started as a Land Grant College with a military background, and the atmospheres are so much alike. Clemson students love being Tigers and really love Clemson for the family feeling that the school offers. You hear the VT students talking about the "Hokie Nation" and it really does feel like that. It is a family. As I taught, I couldn't help but think about all of these similarities and how broken we all felt.

I am just about to finish up a master's degree at Clemson and it is painful to think that my time as a student here is just about up. So many students came right back to school in Blacksburg today to attend class and to be with their "family", and I know I would be in that same boat.

There really isn't a whole lot to be said, that hasn't already been said by the rest of the world, about this tragedy. I would like to mention a quote by Ernest Hemingway that I heard in a sermon on Sunday.

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places. "

Bad things in life will happen. Bad things will happen to good people. The world just isn't fair. THE QUESTION IS, how will we respond? There are a couple of different stages in the grief process, but the important thing is to not get stuck. We have to find a way to build each other up, and strengthen each other in the broken places. We all have them. We all had them before last Monday. Now, more than ever, is a time to not be selfish. It is a time to help each other, and love each other. Learn from our mistakes, grieve what is lost, and keep moving, while helping others to keep moving. All is not lost. The world isn't going to hell in a handbasket. Respond with love for our brothers and sisters.

Peace be with you,
John

Hello again!

Just wanted to write a quick blurb about the show coming up on Thursday. I couldn't be more stoked about this one. Everything will go down at 8pm at First Baptist Church Clemson, inside the new Family Life Center. Tickets are $5, and I really feel like that is a GREAT price considering everyone who is playing.

Rich Ramsey will kick things off, followed by Chris Ayer. Both of these guys are incredible songwriters and will put on a great show. Costa, Will, and I will play next with Graydon Tomlinson and his full band bringing up the rear.

You don't want to miss this show! Click on the banner on the front page to buy tickets. I hope to see you there!

First off.... I was just asked to be myspace friends today with "Nickelback Sucks". That really made me happy and started the day off right! Apparently there is a huge group of people out there that hate the sounds of Nickelback and Hinder! Keep rockin' folks!

THE BAND - So we haven't played in a while as a full band, BUT, we do have a huge show coming up with Corey Smith in Charleston on April 14th. They should be selling tickets there the day of the show and we would love to see you come out. I'll update the venue when it is finalized.

The demo (full band) I'm shooting for to be out by April. I don't know if that is possible or not yet but it is a good goal to have. Matt Holmes and Taylor Moore still rock my face off. Will Tucker smells like Burritos.

SUMMER TOUR - Who starts planning the summer out in January?? We do! Costa and I will be hitting the road starting May 12th and we won't be home until Mid-July. We are still nailing down gigs, but we should be coming to a city near you. More info will be posted about this in the next few days.

PLEASE JOIN THE EMAIL LIST!! I will start emailing out through it in a week or so.

So what to talk about today.... How about politics in music? I am still boycotting Pearl Jam (unless I'm riding with Matt Holmes) right now. In 2003 I paid $50 for a ticket to a Pearl Jam show in Atlanta, Ga, at HiFi Buys. About an hour into the show, good ole Eddie Vetter stops, for about 30 minutes, to give his take on American politics. I personally don't care what Eddie Vetter has to say on politics. More importantly, I paid $50 for a ticket and was gypped 30 minutes of music. Write a song about it! Or, how about this.... quit making terrible music and then maybe I'll buy another cd.

I guess that wasn't intended to be a complete jab at Pearl Jam. I am pretty angered at musicians in general. I just don't think a CONCERT, where people have paid money, is the place to let your views on politics be heard. Now, I don't have a problem with actors or musicians going on to become politicians, but the difference is, we aren't paying to go hear music when that happens. So my suggestion, "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World", but the key word is Rockin', not Talkin'.

I just figured it was time to write something a little controversial. Let me know what you think, even if you disagree!

I hope everybody is doing well, and we will see you on the road...
Much Love!

For the 2nd half of October our band has been involved in an online vote for an opening spot on the Gimme 3 Days cruise. We would love for you to go and vote for us online and place an add on your page for people to vote! You can vote everyday/per email address, and every time you do, you are entered to win a cabin on the cruise! The cruise will feature Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sister Hazel, Corey Smith, 38 Special, The Blue Dogs and many more bands. Please go vote for us, we need your help!!!