Gotta write fast, as I'm practicing up for the big Elmo Buzz & The Eastside Bulldogs Christmas Party tonight at the Three Crow Bar in East Nashville. Mr. Buzz bears a striking resemblance to Todd Snider, of Todd Snider fame. If you're not at the Three Crow tonight, you shall miss both rock and roll. 9 p.m. $5 cover, with proceeds going to help Operation Bartab Bailout 2008.

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to an ease-filled last couple of weeks of the year. January will bring the Nashville release party for the Eric Brace & Peter Cooper album, You Don't Have To Like Them Both. We've already been getting some nice comments on the album from across the pond, as the legendary Bob Harris has been playing tracks on BBC2's Bob Harris Country show. Eric and I were thrilled to be guests on the show as well: We visited the studio in London at Thanksgiving (a traditional British Thankgiving, yes), gabbed and played a couple of songs. We had a great time in England. We played shows, ate Sri Lankan food, bet unsuccessfully on soccer matches, saw Stonehenge (it costs a bunch of dough to tour, and they STILL can't tell you how those big rocks got stuck out there in that field) and mastered the tube (The secret? You've got to mind the gap).

If anyone is interested in getting an early copy of You Don't Have To Like Them Both, you can do so through www.redbeetrecords.com or www.cdbaby.com. Points of interest include: New songs by myself, Todd Snider, Jim Lauderdale and Eric Brace; steel guitar from Lloyd Green, and beautiful music from Tim O'Brien, Jen Gunderman, Kenny Vaughan, Tim Carroll, Dave Roe, Paul Griffith and other luminary-types; a whole lot of harmony; art by Jim Gleason of Talkeetna, Alaska; a picture of my new puppy, Loretta.

Just got the word that the influential PopMatters site has named Mission Door as the fifth best country album of the year. I'm higher up on the list than Randy Travis and Lee Ann Womack, though it's a big ego blow to once again fall behind Hank Williams Sr. and Johnny Cash. I'll get 'em someday. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/66420-the-best-country-music-of-2008/

As for my favorite 'Country' album of the year, I'll have to go with The Wrights' In The Summertime. Followed by Jamey Johnson's That Lonesome Song. If we count reissues and archival material, I'll agree with PopMatters that the year's essential purchase is the Time-Life box of Hank Williams' unreleased recordings. It's just incredible. And if we move outside of 'country' and into the Americana-or-whatever world, I highly recommend Emmylou Harris' All I Intended To Be, Phil Lee's So Long, It's Been Good To Know You. And if we're counting EP's, I love the vinyl edition of Elmo Buzz's... er, Todd Snider's Peace Queer.

Next year, I'm looking forward to Snider's new one (produced by Don Was, and featuring yours truly playing sweet, fine bass on a duet between Todd and Loretta Freaking Lynn). Also looking forward to new albums from Buddy & Julie Miller and Kevin Gordon. And then there's the matter of a Peter Cooper/Lloyd Green duets album...

Too much to write about lately, so I haven't been writing. I'll get a good catch-up blog in soon. Since the last post, I've met played Florida, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, done three radio show visits, gotten the masters back on the new Eric Brace/Peter Cooper album and met Keith Richards. These are eventful times. Oh, I voted, too. Electronic, touch-style machine. And, yes, it was hard to make work correctly. And, yes, I'm familiar with our new space-age technology.

If you're reading this on Thursday, I'd like you to high-tail it from wherever you are to a little Nashville listening room called The Bluebird Cafe. It's a great place to see a show, and I'm playing there this early evening. 6 p.m., in fact. With Jim Wilson of Memphis, Fayssoux McLean of Spartanburg and Phil Lee of... well it's hard to find a place that'll claim Phil Lee. But after you hear his new album you may want to offer him a key to the city of your hometown. Or you may want to put him in a jail cell there and swallow the key. Hard to say. Wildly talented guy, in any case. And his new record takes a place with The Wrights, Todd Snider and Jakob Dylan on my list of the best stuff to come out this year.

No cover charge for the early show at the Bird. 4104 Hillboro Rd.

Hi folks,

In the past few weeks, I have...

* Played a fun, full band show at Station Inn as part of the Americana Music Association hullabaloo.

* Performed with Tift Merritt, Julie Lee and Casey Driessen as part of the Americana Music Association hullabaloo.

* Finished a duo record with my pal Eric Brace. We're going to call it, "You Don't Have To Like Both Of Them." Ah, yes. We're both really pleased with the songs (some of which we wrote, but others of which we pilfered from folks such as Kris Kristofferson, Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider, Kevin Gordon, Karl Straub and David Olney) and with the tracks. We got help on this one from a core band of Lloyd Green, Dave Roe, Paul Griffith and Jen Gunderman, and from guitar slingers Tim Carroll and Richard Bennett and anything-with-strings slinger Tim O'Brien. Oh, and there's a ukulele on there, too, and a flugelhorn. Holy cow.

* Scheduled a U.S. album release show for "You Don't Have To Like Both Of Them" at the Station Inn on January 24, 2009. Yep, that's the weekend in between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. You don't think we checked that out, do you?

* Interviewed Bill Cosby for a story that ran in The Tennessean on Thursday, Sept. 25. One of the sharpest and funniest (of course) people I've ever spoken with, for sure.

* Been featured in the same Vintage Guitar magazine that has a big story about Warner Hodges of Jason and the Scorchers fame. They even ran a photo of me with my little Badger State guitar.

* Witnessed a revelatory reunion of Jason and the Scorchers at the Ryman Auditorium.

* Packed the van to drive to Iowa in just a few minutes. I'm playing a house concert in Des Moines on Saturday night. If you're around those parts and want to go, contact Brian Joens (yep, I'm spelling it right) at 515-277-6329. Big fun. Alright, I'm going to drive off, so I can make good time, visit Euclid Records in St. Louis and find a motel with CNN before tonight's debate.

All best,

Peter Cooper

 Thursday afternoon, we returned to Talkeetna and got ready for the Whole Wheat Radio show. I can't say enough about this station (www.wholewheatradio.org) or about the way that station owner Jim Kloss has organized his concert series. When we went on the air, we had listeners in Holland, Germany and Singapore, in addition to the folks tuning in from the Lower 48. By evening's end, there were people buying CDs from all over the world, and even putting money in the website's "virtual tip jar." I have no idea how all this stuff works, but for us it turned a cozy and fun show into something like an Event. I believe the show is archived on the website. I was pleased with the show, though disappointed that I had a brain cramp and lost the second verse to "Elmer, The Dancer," which is a new song about a bar in Milwaukee. I did, however, manage to recall all the words to "Denali, Not McKinley," a spirited little defense of that mountain's proper name. Native Alaskans had been using the name Denali, meaning "The Great One" or "The High One," for thousands of years, when some dude came over from the Lower 48 and decided he'd just up and name it after William McKinley (then a presidential nominee). That's kind of like me deciding to call The Vatican "Wrigley Field," or me deciding to call Wrigley Field "The Vatican." Except that the name change thing actually worked, because all I saw in my elementary school textbooks was "Mt. McKinley." Go figure.

Friday, we rose early and drove back to Anchorage, eating a seafood lunch at F Street Station (it's located… on F Street) before catching a charter plane to Seldovia. The pilot not only flew us there, he offered a guided tour of the glaciers, mountains and wildlife of the Anchorage area and the Kenai Peninsula. Eric even shot a bear… well, actually Eric shot a picture of a bear, from the air. The bear was fine. If you're ever in Alaska and need a charter, try Sound Aviation.

Seldovia, Alaska, is a place I think I could live. It's a tiny place, connected to a stretch of land on one side so that it can't be called an island but completely inaccessible by car. You have to either fly there or boat there. We flew, of course, and were met at the airport (a dirt runway) by Susan Mumma, who runs the Seldovia Rowing Club and the Crazy Crow Concert Series. Susan is also a singer-songwriter, and she also heads up the Seldovia Arts Council. A talented and involved lady, then. She drove us to the Rowing Club, and Eric, Mary Ann and I walked around the town for a bit and had a seafood dinner before the gig. We stopped down at the dock, and watched some fishermen weigh and filet a 160 pound halibut. While the fish was on the scale, Eric and I made Mary Ann take our picture, posing as if we'd caught the fish. A proud moment, for sure. Then I heard someone call my name, and it turned out that my friend Bill and his family had boated over from Homer just to see the show. There is nothing like being thousands of miles from home and realizing that people are happy to see you. That puts a quick end to any loneliness. Before the show, we had a seafood dinner at one of Seldovia's two major dining establishments. While eating, we saw:

1)       A bald eagle flying

2)      A sea otter playing in the water

3)       Bill and his family puttering around their boat

4)      Snow-capped mountains

5)       Fresh mussels, salmon and halibut, prepared beautifully and devoured with speed

Then we played, and it was an absolute blast. We drew more than 10 percent of the town's population, so on a per-capita basis we might as well have been doing Central Park in New York. Except I think I'd rather play for a capacity crowd of 35 people in Seldovia (pop. 282) than play in New York City. The mayor showed up, as did several young musicians and many of the folks who'd seen me play last year. Eric and I sang and played without amplification. It sounded like two guys singing in a living room, because it was essentially two guys singing in a living room. There's an energy to Seldovia that I haven't found anywhere else. I'd love to hunker down there for a winter week or two. After the show, we hung around with Susan for a while, and then we went to bed in great rooms at the Rowing Club. Perfect.

Saturday, it was another early rise, followed by a 10-minute flight from Seldovia to Homer on trusty Smokey Bay Air. At Homer's airport, we were met by Mindy and Alan Parks, who were hosting us at their Alaska Ridgetop Inn, which is easily the best bed & breakfast place I've ever stayed. I think there's an alaskaridgetopinn.com, or .net or .something. Since neither Eric nor Mary Ann had been to Homer before, Alan drove us around the town and pointed out some highlights, and we stopped at the docks where the fisherman unload their catch. Alan is a fisherman himself, so he was able to tell us about the whole operation from an insider's point of view.

Alan is also a guy who takes exquisite photographs (including some that are featured at the museum in Homer), who advises lawmakers on legislation that impacts the fishing industry and… jeez, it seems like the guy can do most anything. He tells great stories, and cooks wood-grilled salmon like nobody's business. He and Mindy run the aforementioned Ridgetop Inn, which is located on one of the most beautiful pieces of property I've ever seen. As the car wove its way up a ridge above Homer, the mountains seemed to spread out and the view was nothing short of staggering. Then we got to the place, and its amenities and appointments hold up to the high standards set by the view. Once we got to paradise there, the first thing Eric and I did was grab a couple of table tennis paddles and start playing.  Eric is quite good, actually. My game? I'll be generous and go with "a little rusty."

We showered up after the strenuous ping ponging, put on our show clothes and went to the gig, which was KBBI's Concert On The Lawn. The guy playing right before us was an Alaskana singer (yes, there's such a thing, and he's really good) who also happens to be the father of "Who Will Save Your Soul?" thrush Jewel. Yep, Jewel is from Homer. As is Tom Bodet of "Motel 6: We'll leave the light on for ya" fame. The Concert on the Lawn is an annual fundraiser for KBBI Radio, and this is my second straight year there. KBBI was the first station in America to play songs from my Mission Door CD, and they've been incredibly supportive. I was glad to get some hang time with the folks who work at the station, and glad to play in front of a rain-soaked but very appreciative crowd. Eric and I gave 'em all we had. I don't want to jinx anything by going on about how well the shows are going with Eric, so I'll just say that we've got a "thing" that I'm real happy about. We'll be putting some of that "thing" down on tape in a few weeks, and perhaps I'll be able to post something soon to give you an idea. It's fun for me, because I get to spend half the show singing harmonies, and that's one of my favorite things to do.

We played a mid-afternoon set, and it was raining a lot by then and we were pretty tired from the traveling. Mind you, this wasn't a "the road is hard" kind of tired. It was a "we've seen more incredible things in a five-day period than some people see in their whole lives" kind of tired. So we took instruments back to the Ridgetop and then Alan and Mindy let us borrow their car for one last Homer excursion. One of Homer's neat shops is the Ring of Fire Meadery. Wine is made from grapes. Mead is made from honey. They taste quite different, and I usually veer to the wine side. But Ring of Fire makes some meads that have the depth and character of a fine wine or a well-aged bourbon. Trouble is, they were closing at 5 p.m. and it didn't look like we could make it. Fortunately, the owners are music fans and they were familiar with my stuff from my previous trips to Homer. Mindy called them up, and they said they would make a post-5 p.m. exception for us. When we got to the Meadery, there was a sign on the door that read, "Closed for Concert on the Lawn. Peter and Eric, come on in." Now that kind of thing will put a spring in your step. We got a private tasting, and we wound up buying several bottles to take back to Nashville. It is a felony offense to have mead delivered by mail to a Tennessee address, but it's fine to stick some in your checked luggage. What? I dunno, but it's true.

Mead secured, we drove to the Ridgetop, where Mindy and Alan were making dinner for us. I'm telling you, folks, it's a tough life for us troubadour types. Just a constant barrage of kindness. Eric and I wound up having a little jam session with 8-year-old Ella and 9-year-old Hoxie. Ella plays the fiddle and sings, and Hoxie plays some keyboards, sings great lead bluegrass vocals and, as of Sunday night, plays a clean, clear D chord on my Martin D-28. At first, Hoxie didn't want to sing "You Are My Sunshine," because he said the lyrics made him sad ("The other night dear/ As I lay sleeping/ I dreamed I held you in my arms/ When I awoke, dear/ I was mistaken/ And I hung my head and I cried"), but then he had a change of heart and decided that it was a good kind of sad. Bright kid. We also got to play with the kids' guinea pigs, Ginger and Allspice, and even with a visiting hamster. Oh, and how could I leave out Nick, the great big, good dog? I know touring musicians who seek solitude on the road, and I guess I understand that. I certainly respect it. To each his or her own. As for me, I hung around with an extraordinary family, on an extraordinary night. And then we went outside in the Alaska midnight and watched the sun set while we sat in a hot tub at the top of a ridge that overlooked what seemed for all the world like all the world.

Monday and Tuesday were travel days. Up in the morning on Monday, and Alan drove us to meet a bus that would take us to Anchorage, where we stored bags at the airport and cabbed it back into town for lunch at the Glacier Brewing Company. I had fresh Norton Sound Red King Crab Legs, which were fantastic even though they didn't sound a thing like Norton. We bummed around downtown for a while and had a quick dinner at the Snow Goose before returning to the airport in time to catch our 12:30 a.m. flight from Anchorage to Seattle. We were expecting to spend the morning in Seattle, but I called Southwest Airlines upon landing at 5 a.m. and they were nice enough to let us switch from our 2:30 p.m. flight out to a 7:15 a.m. flight. So then it was Seattle to Boise, Boise to Last Vegas, Las Vegas to Phoenix and Phoenix to, believe it or not, Nashville. Just in time for dinner at Genie's Persian Palace. But where are my crab legs? And where is my hot tub? I'm not accustomed to this kind of treatment, and I deserve some respect around here.

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Greetings from the first day of the Alaskan summer. It was supposed to be summer here a while back, but the weather in eastern Alaska has been cloudy and cruddy, with only two days in July reaching 65 degrees. When we (meaning myself, singing pal Eric Brace and our trusty tour manager/label boss/Eric's wife Mary Ann showed up in Anchorage, it was misty and rainy. Now, though, we're riding down the highway to Talkeetna, having just seen Mt. Denali's peak poking up into a clear blue sky. Magnificent. For photographic evidence that we are ACTUALLY IN ALASKA, please go to www.myspace.com/lasttrainhome. Eric has posted some pretty pictures there.

Here's the tour thus far:

Tuesday morning, we took a 6:35 a.m. Southwest flight from Nashville to Kansas City, then stayed on the plane while it hopped from Kansas City to Albuquerque. We only had 30 minutes to catch the plane from Albuquerque to Seattle, so we did not have enough time to roll another number and rent a car. That's a Neil Young reference, folks, and probably a tired one. That's okay, 'cause I'm tired. Happy, but tired. We landed in Seattle around noon, and then we stored our guitars and suitcases at the airport and headed into Coffee Town, because we didn't have to be back at the airport until 7 p.m.

We found a late-ish sushi lunch at a Japanese place called Wasabi Grill. I'm not much of a sushi guy, but I sure enjoyed the seared albacore tuna. Delicious, and light, and the light part was good because we had an early dinner coming that I was very excited about. We walked around for a bit, looking at the buildings and the parks and the water and a couple of antiques stores, and then before we knew it we had to head towards The Flying Fish for dinner. As much as I love Schultz's Charcoal Grill in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, The Flying Fish is likely my favorite restaurant in the U.S. I know for sure that it offers my favorite meal, which is the Salt & Pepper Dungeness Crab Legs. Expensive, messy and all such as that, but just incredible. I can't describe it. You just gotta go. Don't miss the mussels appetizer, either. Fantastic, especially when dipped into the chili lime sauce.

Our plane to Anchorage left at 9 p.m. and boarded at 8:15, so we had to be in the cab headed towards the airport by 6 p.m. We had a great ride, and I had my first experienced with bombastic liberal talk radio. The host was talking about how Laura Bush doesn't even sleep at the White House anymore, and he had all these conspiracy theories. Then the cabbie started telling us about how George W. Bush is zoinked on prescription drugs and how Cheney is an alcoholic who pounds Miller Lites like his whole life is one Packers tailgate party (side note: I can't even talk about this Favre thing yet…. I'll lay all that on you when the time is right). I'm not sure how our cab driver found out all this information ahead of the press corps, but he seemed pretty sure of himself. So I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. I even tried to get my buddies at the Sheboygan Elks Lodge to invite Cheney to a Packers game next year, but they're all hunters and they're kind of scared of him.

The flight to Anchorage was long but fine, though I felt as compressed as an MP3 file by the time we got to Alaska. We got our bags and were met at the airport by Michael McCormack, Alaska's top music promoter for our kind of sweet, fine Americana music, and he drove us to our dorm rooms at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Yes, dorm rooms! Unfortunately, the campus is pretty empty in the summer, so we missed out on a chance for an Alaskan keg party. So we just went on to sleep (soundly, I might add).

The next morning, Michael came and picked us up for our first gig, which was at UAA's Student Union. We played four songs at an incoming freshman orientation, explaining to them that we would be expecting a lot out of them this year academically, and that we wouldn't tolerate anything but their very best. Eric told them that he was the Dean of Academics, but then the real Dean showed up and looked none too pleased. Oh, well. What are you going to do? We finished our set, and then played some more music in another part of the Student Union. Big fun, and we got to speak with some students about how we became rich and famous music stars.

Wednesday evening, we played at a public park in downtown Anchorage, and that was a lot of fun. The night was a little cool and misty, but people showed up and listened and clapped, and Eric and I had a great time singing our songs. The show was brought about through a collaboration between the Downtown Partnership and the University, and there was a nice mixture of civic-minded adults, music lovers and students. I had worked with the sound man, Nick, once before, when I opened for Todd Snider in Anchorage, and he did a wonderful job running sound both times. If you're ever in Anchorage and want to play a feedback-free, enjoyable show, ask for Nick. After the gig, we went to the Glacier Brewhouse for fresh fish and good beer, and we had fun talking with Jim and Nick, who are on-air personalities at FM 90.3 in Anchorage. Really funny, nice guys, and Jim even bought our dinners.

Oh, I nearly forgot the line of the day: Mike McCormack drove us to the show that night, and he was bemoaning the lousy weather. "Look, there's even new snow up there on the mountain range," he said. I said, "How can you tell that it's new snow," and he said, "Because it wasn't there before." Ah, I see.

Thursday, Michael drove us to the rental car place downtown, and we rented a minivan for the drive to Talkneetna. "No smoke, no fish, no pets," was the sign at Enterprise Rentals, Rats! I made some crack about how I was hoping to bring my pet smoked fish along, and the not-amused lady there said that we could have fish in the van as long as they were smoked or cooked in some way. Just no raw fish. Apparently, fresh-caught salmon and Dodge floorboard fabric are not a good one-two punch. Before we headed too far up the road, we stopped at the Snow Goose Brewery for lunch. Very good. I had a halibut sandwich. Mary Ann had some fried halibut fish 'n' chips (tender, and almost as sweet as good fried scallops). Eric had, I kid you not, a "Philly-style Salmon & Cheese" sandwich. He loved it, but he knew full well as he ate that somewhere in Pennsylvania, a guy named Geno was shuddering involuntarily for no apparent reason.

The drive to Talkeetna got prettier and prettier, though there were still clouds in the sky. There's one hill on the way where there are tons of tire-skid marks at the top, and that's because it's the first hill where a traveler can see Mount Denali on a clear day. People see that amazing thing and slam on their breaks, apparently. We couldn't see the top, though, because of all those clouds.

We were in Talkeetna to play a show for Whole Wheat Radio, which is a unique and very cool operation run by a guy named Jim Kloss. If you've never gone to www.wholewheatradio.org, I recommend it heartily. It's a remarkable Internet radio station, and Jim runs the whole thing out of a little house in the middle of gorgeous nowhere. He plays only what he wants to play, when he wants to play it, and occasionally he gets on the microphone and talks about music and/or life in Alaska. Thursday, he went on a hilarious rant about taking trash down to the dump. When he talks, he raises the microphone up off the desk, and he speaks kind of like Hunter S. Thompson. Awesome. He has also hosted concerts by dozens of big-time performers, and he puts those concerts on his radio station, live. If you want to hear what Eric and I sound like tonight, you can go to www.wholewheatradio.org at 11 p.m. Eastern Time (or 10 in Nashville, or 8 on the west coast, etc.) and listen in. Jim isn't regulated as to what he can say or what he can play. He's a real-life Rex Bob Lowenstein (for those who don't get that reference, please check out the music of Nashville great Mark Germino).

After hanging with Jim in the afternoon, we had dinner in downtown Talkeetna (home of the Moose Dropping Festival!) at the Wildflower restaurant. Fresh fish. Wow. Then we checked out the Fairview Inn, an old-school barroom that draws fisherman types along with some stray tourists. The Fairview also has live music sometimes, and we were delighted to find our friend Kylie Harris on their Wall of Fame. Back when she was singed to BMG Records, she played the Fairview and autographed a photo, and the patrons still gaze on her picture. We didn't have the heart to tell 'em that Kyle is married now, to drummer extraordinaire Marco Giovino.

Done with the Fairview, we drove back to Whole Wheat Headquarters. I practiced a little guitar and we all sat up and talked with Jim Kloss for a couple of hours. Somewhere near midnight, the sun finally went down, but it never gets very dark in Alaska this time of year. Crazy. By 1 a.m., we were ready to go downstairs and sleep, 'cause we knew we were driving towards Denali in the morning.

This morning broke fair and warm-ish. Relief. We got back in the van and wound our way north, towards the big mountain. Denali. The Great One. The High One. Eric read somewhere that the mountain's peak is covered by clouds about 80 percent of the time. But within ten minutes of driving, we saw Denali in all its glory, completely unimpeded. I've seen it from an airplane before, and from far distances, but never this close. And then we got closer. After standing at the south observation station and looking at Denali, I cannot believe it's taken me this long to get here.

I remember singer-songwriter Eric Taylor telling me that he doesn't like to go see rock shows now, because he saw Jimi Hendrix back in the day and he knows that any rock show will pale to that. I always thought Eric was being a little smug when he said that, but now I kind of understand. Mt. Ranier is a little child. Niagara Falls is a water faucet.

So, what's been happening around here? Glad you asked.

1) I've been working to sequence a very special (to me, at least) album that will likely come out next year. We've recorded it, mixed it and mastered the songs. Now, if I can ever figure out a proper order for the things then we can start working on artwork, liner notes and other pesky little details. In any case, I'm really happy with the music that has been recorded, and can't wait to share it with the loving public.

2) I've been playing some really fun shows. Returning to IOTA in Arlington, Virginia was a blast, and I broke out my brand new, 100-year-old guitar for the occasion. It's a tiny parlor guitar that says "Badger State" on the inside, and I love the way it sounds. No one knows who made it, or exactly when, but, after luthier Joe Glaser spent some significant time with it, it's a real dream instrument. Look for it in an upcoming issue of Vintage Guitar. Other fun gigs included my folka (polka plus folk equals...) show with Polka Queen LynnMarie in beautiful Hartford, Wisconsin and a remarkable time at Spruce Street Studios in Columbus, Ohio.

3) I've been getting set for the big Alaska tour in July and for a rare Nashville date with full band in July at Norm's River Roadhouse.

4) I've been celebrating the induction of Tom T. Hall into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Put that one in the "Way Overdue" category, but better late than not at all.

5) I've been planning what I think will be an interesting album, details TBA. I'm starting to feel like Jim Lauderdale here, with all this recording going on. I wish I was starting to SOUND like Jim Lauderdale. Maybe that'll come in time.

6) I've been listening to David Olney & Sergio Webb's Live At Norm's River Roadhouse album. It's only available online at this point, over at www.davidolney.com. Tremendous piece of work. Frightful intensity, unebelievable poetry, etc. 

7) I've been mourning the loss of Joyce Cook, who many of you will know as the mother of frequent Grand Ole Opry performer Elizabeth Cook. Joyce was one of the sweetest and toughest people I knew.

Hope all is well in your world.

-Peter Cooper

Two days after our formation, The Missing Years are facing some fundamental problems. Essentially, we are rocking SO hard that we are afraid of hurting the audience, and we need a little time to be sure that we don't do any damage when all we really want to do is play rock 'n' roll versions of John Prine songs. Thus, we are sad to announce that our barely-scheduled gig at The 5 Spot next Tuesday has been postponed indefinitely. We reserve the right, however, to put on a big show sometime this summer or fall. Apologies to anyone who made travel plans.

All best,
Peter Cooper, on behalf of The Missing Years (yours truly, Elmo Buzz, Jen Gunderman, Tim Carroll and Mark Horn)

I was over at a friend's house the other day, and we were talking about John Prine. And then we got to singing some John Prine songs. And then we got so excited that we called up The 5 Spot in Nashville and said, "We want to do a John Prine Tribute Show on Tuesday, June 17." And since the folks at The 5 Spot love John Prine (and also since they're keen for my high-profile friend, whom we shall call "Elmo Buzz" in order to keep up with contractual obligations, to do a show), they said, "Great." So on that night, at The 5 Spot in Nashville (www.myspace.com/the5spotnashville) we're going to be Prining and shining at about 9 p.m. What's more, it won't just be musicians trying to sound just like Prine. I mean, Prine lives in town, so that'd be silly. What we're going to do is do all Prine rock 'n' roll. Chuck 'n' Duck. Like, "What if the Stones were playing all Prine songs?" And to that end Elmo and I have recruited Mark Horn (the Derailers, Amazing Rhythm Aces) on drums, Jen Gunderman (The Jayhawks) ..s and Tim Carroll (Tim Freakin' Carroll!) on the electrified guitar. Prine actually recorded one of Tim's songs once, so Tim gets to sing that one and call it a Prine song.

So, if you like me, John Prine, Elmo Buzz, The Derailers, the Rhythm Aces, The Jayhawks, Tim Carroll, beer and/or America, I think you should really consider heading to The 5 Spot on that Tuesday evening.