Greetings everybody,
The Confessors have begun 2009 with some important things to relate.

February 14th marked the end of a fantastic era as our beloved Drummer Tim "Bubblegum" Johnson has departed our stage from being our fulltime timekeeper. Tim has been making the tremendous weekly drive from Abeline, Kansas (a 5 hour round trip) for more than 3 1/2 years and has done a phenomenal job as our Drummer and road buddy and he has dedicated himself to the band and the fans at BB's in addition to all of our other gigs throughout the years. Citing non-musical reasons for leaving the band, Tim has asked me to just tell the people and our supporters that "Tim has realized that he's not 20 years old anymore."
The fans have truly stepped up to the plate and have helped us keep Tim in our midst by generously contributing to the "TIM JOHNSON GAS FUND" each week that allowed Tim to make the same amount of dough that we did especially when gas was $4 a gallon.

Tim, we love you and miss you and we feel like Brandon deWilde's character in the western SHANE when Alan Ladd rode off into the sunset.... "Shane.... Shane.... don't go.... please come back....Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane!"

In return, taking Tim's spot in the band is our new Drummer - Bob Burke.
Bob has recently moved to Kansas City via New Orleans or N'awlins! Bob is a welcome addition and many will know Bob from the time he spent as Drummer with our other Bayou buddy, Johnny Sansone.

In March, we are pleased to announce that Lee is being inducted into the 2009 KANSAS MUSICIANS HALL OF FAME as a solo artist! We are very excited about this news and are going to back him up on a 30 minute set during his induction. The showdown will be at Liberty Hall in Downtown Lawrence, Kansas on March 7th.

Speaking of Lawrence, every 2nd Wednesday of each month we are playing from 7-10pm at the Eldrige Hotel in the Jayhawker Club that includes Lee, Ralph, Bob, Patrick and our Lawrence buddy Patrick Nichols on 2nd guitar. The previous shows have been well received and we have been asked to continue. However, in March there is not a date but starting April, be looking for it.

It doesn't stop here, in May we get the honor to share some road and stage time with our good friend RJ Mischo and are looking forward to a series of dates that will be taking RJ, Lee & The Confessors around the Midwest including a headline spot at the Eureka Springs Blues Weekend Festival at the end of May.

We have promised for a long time now that we are going to release a new record! It seems the time is right and plans are FINALLY underway to truly get the ball rolling. We have several albums worth of material that we are proud of and has become fan favorites so we are getting it together and plan to hit the studio during the interim of all that is happening. Once the record comes out Lee is planning dates around the Country and a tour of Europe. So don't worry Europa, Lee is coming back as he loves you just much as you love him!

So... till at least the Summer this is what we have planned and you never know what else may ease in.

As for The Crawl, Lee's CD's are still available through Mike Morgan (Lee's output with the Crawl) as well as on iTunes. XM Radio has been playing the heck out of the Crawl as I have even heard it myself! Over Christmas I was visiting family in Iowa and wasn't even in the car 20 minutes and they were playing a rare cut from Black Top's Christmas Cd from back in the early 90's! It's great to see all this action happening again!

Lee's solo CD's are still available through Jerry Hall at PACIFIC BLUES although 44 seems to come and go out of stock pretty quickly. SOUL DEEP seems to be pretty regular there.

Thank you everyone and we appreciate your love and support.

Patrick Recob
(Bassist with LEE McBEE & THE CONFESSSORS)