It started at Tonic in January, a great club that is now closed due to the malady of urban renewal. We played there with the always innovative and eclectic jazz trio Radio I-Ching. Then we went on to play the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago for Robbie Fulks' radio show. A wonderful experience as we got to play with Butch Hancock.

Then winter turned into spring as we went from playing the Folk Alliance convention in Memphis, to South By South West, in Austin, where we were joined by Louis Meyers on Banjo. After which we came back to New York all nervous because the next day we had to open for Ralph Stanley. How is that for a kick in the pants? Then we got to play the famous Club Passim in Cambridge with the Punks are Folks Too gang led by Peter Walsh of the Gobshites. After which we joined the variety extravaganza of the fabulous Anna Copa Cabanna at the Bowery Poetry Club.

Then in May we started off on our first tour of the South, playing Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia. It was a special time for us as we made lots of new friends and got to see many of the places where our musical influences originated. We did our first TV show at Woodsongs in Lexington, KT, and got to play with the extraordinary Forge Mountain Diggers in Asheville, NC. Also in May our CD hit record stores and we were happy to get some great reviews for it.

For the second half of the month we went to California, and got to do some cool shows in LA, Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco. We played with Lee Ving, Simon Stokes, the Whoreshoes, and Kepi (of The Ghoulies). We also had a chance to drive through some farm country; and it was great to see where our food comes from.


When we came back east, we played lots of shows in New York State including the famous Café Lena in Saratoga. We also had our first show at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY. Then we joined our friends the M Shanghai String Band for a show at Union Pool, in Brooklyn, which also included the entertaining indie bluegrass group Hogzilla. Then as fall came around we made our first appearance on, fine artist, Mark Kostabi's "Title This" TV show.

To top off the year we had the unimaginable honor of opening for Earl Scruggs at the BB King Blues Club. Two bluegrass legends in one year - Amazing!

We are now getting ready to start work on our next record, so stay tuned and we will let you know about our progress. And please keep checking our website for future tours as we plan to visit the Midwest, Canada as well as the South and West Coast.

Hope we see you at one of our shows!

Cheers,

Tommy & Claudia