April 4th, 2008 - Seattle, WA

The best line up I've had the honor of being a part of. Ever.
I opened (my good friend/Feb tour-mate Justin Bennett accompanied me on guitar and added some sweet harmony), then The Beautiful Clarks captivated everyone as all 4 of them sat around one condenser mic. Then Karli played a heart wrenching, weep inducing, joy inspiring set (per usual) with her guitar pro bro, Zac, good friend Caroline Fowler singing and adding the perfect amount of glockenspiel (played with Zac's pipe as she forgot the mallets) and bad ass pedal steel player Scott Ellis. Pickwick ended the evening by breaking our hearts and rocking our faces off at the same time. Yeah, I said it.

April 4th
..





April 5th, 2008 - Portland, OR


Home town. Cake.


Mississippi Pizza Pub was packed with familiar and not so familiar faces. Ali Marcus shared the evening with us and we filled the room with love and sounds.

I got spoiled by having my full acoustic band there. Todd Bayles, Justin Bennett, Karlee Griffiths (cello, guitar, fiddle) blow me away every time we play together.

Good times.



April 5th
..





April 7th - San Francisco

Have you ever played music in a cafe/laundromat? Well, I can now say that I have. The Brainwash Cafe.
Killer stir fry, not so killer mic stands.. but a super cool place in general.
We met some awesome San Fran peeps and then I almost lost my laptop. Thank the good Lord, I recovered it before the end of the night. We hit up the Hotel Utah and Karli sang my favorite song of her's at the open mic. We also enjoyed the vocal stylings of many of San Fran's um "finest"...




April 8th, 2008 - San Fran

No show today. San Fran was cold and windy and beautiful and full of life and culture. We walked up hill and down and I smoked too many cigarettes (yes, mom, its true. I'm on tour! I have to indulge in the rock'n'roll lifestyle a little). We ate amazing chocolate cake and drank red wine to celebrate Karli's 22nd birthday.

We walked through China Town. All the smells and sounds were intense. I was so fascinated by all the people around me. Talking and living a much different life than I am. They don't care about skinny jeans or hip new hair cuts or the Jack Kerouac book I read the first chapter of in a book store today. They work unsexy jobs to live and provide for their families. They stand out on the sidewalk unloading crates of little shrimp. They buy and sell fresh veggies and fish and smile at each other when they talk. I love them. For reals.

We're staying with my friend Julia that I haven't seen in two years. Her 7 month old baby is beautiful and perfect. Her hospitality has blown us away. I called to make sure she had a cork screw when I bought the wine this evening and when we got back to her quiet house (after her family had gone to bed), we found 4 wine glasses and 4 chocolates sitting out for us. That's love, man.

:o)

Now i'm sitting at her dining room table while Karli uploads videos she took today.


April 7th
..

The ATM was a nice touch, don't you think?

Its bedtime... well passed it, in fact.


More to come.









April 10th - Modesto, CA




April 10th
..



April 11th - Newport Beach, CA


(4/12 8:15am)


The ocean is crashing.
Im in a bunk in a house of 9 surfer boys.
Last night is still fresh in my mind.
Pieces of conversations are floating around in there.

A few hours of Chad and Elissa will hold me over until July.
How my heart danced to see their faces!

I hadn't played a house show.
These were good people to "first time" it with.

A house on the beach, good friends, music and wine.
I could get used to this.



April 14th - Las Vegas, NV


Parting is such sweet sorrow.
We left the boys and the beach and went East.


Vegas is one big trashy strip mall. But the people we met made up for that.

We crashed with the duo Curse Words are Verbs. Two of the most animated, passionate people I've ever met. Joel and Brenna. Intriguing, kind, genuine and generous. We met them through Joel's cousin Lindsey (a friend of a friend), who is a doll and one of those few people that I feel I've known for years even though I only spent a few hours with her.

April 14th
..


April 15th, 2008 - Torrey, UT


Small towns are the best to play in. Its true. We got a warm welcome in Torrey. David Williams, a folk musician who spends much of his time in the beautiful high deserts of Utah, greeted us with a smile and one of the most magnificent beards I've seen in real life. We played to an attentive audience and one rather boisterous fellow by the name of Dexter who had had one too many beers. We couldn't stay too annoyed with him because his interjections were generally compliments to us. Haha. Oh, Dexter.

April 15th
..


We also met Wendy Ohlwiler, a beautiful, gentle, fellow folkster who was moved by our music and invited us to coffee the next morning. We shared a few stories, traded CDs and ate some tasty bread and jam with our coffee.

The places we go, the people we meet, the moments we share.

This is the good stuff. The hardy stuff.



April 16th, 2008 - Salt Lake City, UT


Salt Lake City is beautiful. Surrounded by snowy mountains, glowing in the evening; the old buildings, breathtaking.


We played Nobrow, a hip coffeehouse downtown and met some cool Salt Lake kids there. Some of Karli and Zac's friends from Band of Annuals came to the show and hung out with us before and after. Really great guys that took us to Slow Train, a killer record store where I bought the Bon Iver record I've been hearing great things about. Karli said I couldn't be her friend if I didn't like it so I prayed that it would blow my mind...

Thank the Good Lord the album is gorgeous. I'm excited to become more familiar with it. Whew!

:o)


April 16th
..


April 17th, 2008 - Nampa, ID

Idaho! The state itself doesn't thrill me too much, but I was counting down the miles. My cousin Danny, his wife Christina and their 3 adorable little girls awaited our arrival. With golden locks and sweet smiles my little cousins greeted us shyly, but by the end of our stay were attached to my hip. It was exactly what I needed. I've realized that no matter how much I love new experiences and new people, I need familiarity.

The Flying M Garage in Nampa was suh-weet. The peeps working were super nice and the building itself was pretty bad-ass. It looks pretty old and it must have been a Firestone at one time because inside are the Firestone letters, but rearranged to say "Finestore". How clever.

Kaite Wilson opened our show with fun and catchy songs and is the type of person that you can't help but smile around.

I busted out a new song called "The Struggle" and messed up a couple of the verses, but nobody could tell. hehe. Karli has been battling a scratchy throat and decided to sit most of my set out, but made an exception on this song. She sings a killer harmony and I find myself wanting to listen to her sing more than singing myself.


April 17th
..






April 18th - Walla Walla, WA

This was our 2nd to last show and the fact that this tour is almost over hit me on the drive up to Walla Walla. With a hint of sadness in our hearts, sleep deprived, car confined and coffee filled, we watched the scenery change as we entered Oregon and made our way up into Washington. My heart leapt at the sight of green fields and oak trees and charming country homesteads.

Zac and Karli's folks met us in Walla Walla and their good friends Lauren and Gary Hemmenway took us to dinner where we ate way too much Thai Food.

At some point in conversation we discovered that the Hemmenways and I are connected by more than one person back in Portland. One of my close friends, Dan, considered Gary a musical/personal/spiritual mentor back when he lived with them ten or so years ago. Small world.

The Verve was a great venue. A lot of the people at the show were chatting it up pretty loudly, but there were definitely a good amount of listeners and we ended up selling more CDs than at any other show. Funny.




Some really cute, sweet girls were standing in the back totally dancing. I love it when that happens, especially because I don't feel that my/our music is particularly danceable.

With bellies full of homemade pastries and ears full of encouraging words, we made the drive to Spokane after the show. By this time we were a bit cracked out on coffee, sugar and 2 weeks' worth of fun so we were pretty loud and silly. We cranked up a very eclectic mix CD that one of Karli's biggest fans, Ernie, made for us. Its been a while since I rocked out to Selena.
Hellzya.

April 19th - Spokane, WA

Pre-show. The last show.

Ouch, my heart.

I don't want to say goodbye. Its been a magical 2 weeks and went by too fast. It always does.


---

(Post Show)


My heart is full, my memories fresh
My eyes are tired and fists are clenched
Holding on to the miles and the days
The sunshine in her hair

We are in the music, we are in the roads
The trees and the concrete
I am full of love and pain and scenery
I miss home and I don't and I want to do this always

--

Our final show was lovely and the Caterina was beautiful. We played to a full room of new and familiar faces. (Listen to my entire set HERE)
Part of Karli's band was there to accompany her and I was honored to be up there with them. I have to admit that my heart skipped a few beats during some of our 3 part harmonies. (sigh..)

It was a perfect way to end the tour and Karli and I went back to her house to share a celebratory glass of wine.

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who was a part of this trip. All of you that offered your home and your hospitality, your friendship and your company, your venues, your time.
We love you!

I'm sitting at the little kitchen table in my friend Wayne's apartment and the warm tones of Todd's cello are wafting in the air. With tummies full of Thai food and hearts full of laughter we are tracking one of my new songs, "These are Days". Its turning out better than I ever imagined (per usual with these friends of mine).
Recording is one of my favorite things in the whole world, it feels good to be at it again. We'll track 3 songs before Wayner moves to LA (sniffle, sniffle).

Oh! time for me to bust out the xylophone.



More to come.
Bre













mad skillz













Addy

My darling fiddle player Karlee Griffiths and I drove up to Spokane to open our good friend Karli Fairbanks's CD release show.

Friday evening:

Karl + Breep + a 5 hour drive = Lots of laughs, good conversation and suh.weet music.

The latter includes, but is not limited to selections from the following categories/albums:


"Oh, the Lovely Ladies" :

The Cardigans: Long Gone Before Daylight
Dahlia: Emotion Cycles
The Cranberries' first (and best) album: Everybody else is doing it
so why can't we?
Nikka Costa: Everybody's Got Their Somethin'
Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes

"Songs You Have To Shake Your Ass To":
Timbaland: Shock Value
Brandy: Afrodisiac
Pussycat Dolls' 'Buttons' (don't judge me for this one, please)

"'Hecka 90's":
'Just Another Day' by Jon Secada (yeah, that's right)
Silverchair: Neon Ballroom

"Country(ish) Favorites"
Dixie Chicks: Home
Alison Krauss's: Forget About It
All 3 Nickel Creek albums
Mindy Smith: One Moment More

"Old Skool Country We Would Never Admit to Liking"
Faith Hill: Take Me As I Am
Joe Diffie's 'John Deere Green"

"OMG Karlee, You Need to Hear This":
Michael Miller: When We Come To
Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelater)
Patty Griffin's 'Rain'

We got into town after nightfall. The last 10 minutes of the car ride were spent trying to remember the song "Hit'em up Style" by Blu Cantrell. With our recall-of-useless-information-and-bad-music abilities combined, we got the melody and most of the words to this ridiculous song.

We pulled up to Karli's beautiful house, peeled ourselves out of the seats and greeted her with a fit of laughter brought on by Blu Cantrell's "profound" lyrics, slight delirium, the joy of regaining mobility after 5 hours in a car and the excitement of seeing her smiling face in the flesh after weeks of anticipation.

Saturday:

The morning was cold. It bit my face. We hit up a quaint cafe downtown: Nothing to start a day like a Pumpkin Latte and Fleetwood Mac

The afternoon consisted mostly of hauling gear to the Empyrean (a sweet coffeehouse/venue), setting up, practicing, drinking more coffee and walking around the neighboring area.


Karli Fairbanks



Karlee Griffiths



Caroline (Karli's good friend and band mate.. a doll and hilariously funny)




Karlee and I went to the Library and I got a headache from looking at one of those books where a word or picture pops out if you stare at it long enough. I saw Spiderman's head.

The show Saturday night at Empyrean was amazing. It was packed, the sound was great, the crowd was attentive and I felt good about our set. We filled ears with lovelorn songs and harmony.










The trip up would have been worth it to just see Karli Fairbanks play. A solid 7 piece band, her lovely voice and soaring melodies broke my heart over and over again. Beautiful textures (slide guitar, banjo, rhodes, glockenspiel) and lush 3 part harmonies. Hot damn!








It was SO beautiful.

I. almost. died.

I snagged this photo of the audience from Karli's page. You can see me in the middle... swooning:




Back at the house we finished with wine and cigarettes on the back porch in the cold, crisp night. Perfect.

Sunday:

On the way back to Ptown:

Brilliant orange and yellow trees overhung the quaint neighborhood streets and the highway drive back home offered beautiful scenery.. Rolling golden hills flecked with all the autumn colors; pale skies and glowing clouds, sun rays pouring through them and touching down. We watched the sky turn pink and orange as the sun sank.



We sang our hearts out to Karli's new album "Bitter Blue" on the way home. One song in particular, "Whiskey Flowers", we played over and over and over again, clutching our hearts and practically weeping at every chorus.

It was as good a weekend as I hoped it would be. And went by too fast, as expected.

Every year since 2001 I've been honored to be involved with the Deep Roots Project. Deep Roots pairs high school lyricists and Portland musicians to create a CD of songs.

This year I chose lyrics by Melissa Gomes and recorded at 8 Ball Studio with Rob Stroup (he co-produced the song, played guitar and even sang a few harmonies). Check out "Moonlight Becomes You".

Good:
The CD release show at Mississippi Studios was wonderful. A sold out venue, an attentive audience, a killer band, and my bitchin shit kicking boots made it a perfect evening.

Bad:
My marvelous drummer, musical cohort and dear friend Chad Turner has relocated to LA to play in a rock band and love a girl. Luckily, both the band (Stepsonday) and the girl are pretty fantastic, which makes losing him a little easier...just a little.

CDs are off to the duplicator today!

Soon my heart, soul, hard work, time, energy, words and melodies will be all wrapped up in shiny plastic.

Hooray!

Saturday. Sunday. new studio. new songs. red wine. Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. reverie. church organ. Tony Furtado. heart palpitation. fish tacos. cold streets. warm hands. Jean Valjean. veneration. hammer-ons. breath control. assurance. low lights. little sleep. drunken tambourine. Nat Sherman. V necks. black shag. new beginnings. apple S. zebra striped thrones. lost verses. recovered choruses. money spent. satisfaction earned. confidence gained. heartbreaking banjo hooks. 3 part harmonies. art. love. magic.

It's decided.
I said goodbye to the forthcoming EP and HELLO!! to the forthcoming full length!!

You heard it, kids.

B

Hey friends,
Its about time, ay?
My 5-6 song EP is due out early 2007. Its been brewing for a while and its finally coming.
Keep checking for updates.

Yes!
Bre