Having a good early evening, writing and packing and such. Tomorrow, it's a plane to Detroit, then another to London. Then Eric Brace and I will start gigging away. Please send good thoughts to my knees, neither of whom enjoys airplanes of any sort, much less the international airbus things. The payoff for my knees and I is that once we make it to London we're going to have an awfully good time. There are few things as neat as flying across an ocean, landing in a place where you know next to no one personally, and then getting to the show and finding an audience of people who are glad you came. It's absolutely worth the awful flight and the worry that your guitar may not survive the flight (I'm convinced that lots of baggage handlers are people who once harbored thoughts of making it big in music, and that they left music in a huff and decided to take the airport job in hopes that they could destroy every guitar in site. Doug Lancio has a guitar/airport story in which his instrument was not just damaged, it was murdered. It's enough to make a fellow remember to pack his free drink coupons.

Pause while yours truly collects and stores his free drink coupons.

Okay, so I had a nice time last weekend, playing shows as semi-part of Last Train Home. I played and sang on their songs, and they played and sang on mine, and it was a great time. After three nights of singing over a loud, great band, my voice sounded like Tony Joe White, only not nearly as good as Tony Joe White, but still... what a rush. We played the beautifully revitalized city of Roanoke, and then did two gigs in the DC area at LTH's home club of IOTA. Saturday night, we were joined by John Wesley Harding (the dude, not the Dylan album), and I'm told footage of that is available on the Internet. Wes was traveling with comedian Eugene Mirman, who is now my favorite comedian (I said "favorite comedian" now... my favorite impressionist is Paul Griffith when he's telling Jo-El Sonnier stories).

Things are shaping up great for the late summer and early fall. July is busy. August is easy and mostly open, which is good since Eric Brace and I are working on some new songs and we need some studio time. Then once the leaves change we'll be getting set for numerous shows, including some opening for Nanci Griffith and Chris Smither. And we have what is thus far a once-in-a-lifetime show set for Nashville's Station Inn on Sept. 25: Eric and I will perform with a band that includes pedal steel Hall of Famer Lloyd Green and International Bluegrass Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner Mike Auldridge. Lloyd and Mike have never played together on the same stage, and they're great fans and friends of each other. Also in the group that night: Pat McInerney of Nanci Griffith's Blue Moon Orchestra, Dave Roe (of Johnny Cash fame) and Jen Gunderman (The Jayhawks, Last Train Home, all of my recordings). That same crew has been helping Eric and I record a follow-up to our You Don't Have To Like Them Both album, as well. Thus far, we've recorded songs from myself, Eric, Tom T. Hall, John Hartford, Herb Pedersen and Jon Byrd. More to come.

Not sure how much digital touch I can be in while over in Europe. But I'm looking forward to the evening I get back to Nashville, on Tuesday, June 9, when I'll jump off the plane at BNA, try to pass quickly through customs and then hot-foot it to the Bluebird Cafe for a gig with great singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix, Craig Bickhardt and Walt Wilkins. That's great company. Hope some of you will head out and make it even better company.

Until then,
Nanu, Nanu