So the new year is upon us. It’s always such a great reminder of the hope we have, that making a change, starting over, that these things are really possible.

For me this feels a bit less metaphorical this year. A season of change is here, and I think it’s a good one. After a lot of prayer and conversation I’ve decided that this year I’ll be spending off the road. I’m going to dive in deeper with songwriting, production and session guitar work here in Nashville.

I may do a few shows, maybe short solo runs in the Spring and Fall, and I may do a bit with Caedmon’s, but it will be very minimal. I’m ready to be able to more fully invest in my relationships at home, both with my family and my friends, and with work opportunities here in town.

Being gone three days over the weekend means the next three days in town are always spent at home, then you’re about to leave again so you spend the last day at home, thus ensuring you fall off the radar with your friends, unless they’re on the road with you. I’m really excited to not always have a NASA-style countdown to departure running in my background. It will feel weird, I’ve been on the road for eleven years now, but I think it will be good.

I’ll still be playing shows in Nashville, probably more so, and will stay posting and working on solo material. I hope I’m able to keep things interesting on here, and I somehow imagine it will be easier, as I might have some more free time.

So that’s my big news, not that it’s really that huge. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas season and sees hope somewhere in this new year. The AP Christmas tour was, to me, the best and most fun yet. Knowing it would be my last road experience for a while allowed me to really embrace it and enjoy it.

So now it’s time for me to get to work, I have some bgv’s to do today, and a few meetings. You guys have been the most amazing support for the past many years, and I hope it’s just the beginning. Happy New Year.

—–
The Last Show’s Songs:
Canada
I’ll Be Home Soon

Sitting on the bus in Michigan
driving to Ohio to play again
It’s Christmas time and there’s one more show
then back home is where we’ll go
We’ve had fun but we’re getting tired
but still give our best and we don’t get fired
I just ate a cupcake and feel a little sick
or maybe the Burger King did the trick
The bus is driving through some crazy weather
I hope we don’t die in the front lounge together
Cason and I might watch “The Prestige”
or I might try to go get some sleep.

—–
Nashville, TN Song:
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates

Kokomo, IN Songs:
Canada
New Beginning

Montague, MI Songs:
Canada
Early in the Morning

Andrew Peterson’s Rabbit Room website is one of the finest iStablishments on the web and I finally took the time to write a post and become a contributor.  This is a topic I somewhat covered a few months ago, but here it is in more depth.  You can see the real post here, but here it is in its ridiculous glory…

——————

So Andrew Peterson has been telling me for well over a year that I was welcome to post here at the Rabbit Room. He came to me a few days ago and said “Hey, remember that terrible book you sort of read? Want to review it on the site?” It seems like the perfect opportunity for my inaugural post. Russ Ramsey and Jason Gray write about theology and Paul Simon, I will write about teenage vampires.

To begin: I sort of read the book “Twilight”. By that I mean, I read all but the last ten pages. I knew there was a sequel, which meant that at least most of the characters did not die in an atomic bomb during those last ten pages and therefore there was no ending that would have satisfied me.

“Twilight” is the worst book I’ve ever read. And I read half of the first “Left Behind” book. I picked it up because I was told it was in the vein of Harry Potter. I love the idea of secret societies, whole new worlds right within our own to discover and enjoy. That stuff thrills me. “Twilight” is not like that. None of the characters have any personality whatsoever, so even their illogical actions and stupid decisions aren’t interesting.

One of the big scenes in the book is when the superhuman vampires play baseball. I went to Wrigley Field for the first time this year, and saw the Cubs beat the Pirates. It was cold and boring and I left after three innings. If someone had said, “would you rather watch this game with vampires playing?” I would of course have excitedly answered yes. Somehow, this book has shown me my instinct would be incorrect. Vampire baseball is also boring, and I imagine the beer is just as bland and expensive.

Basically here is the plot of this book, which you all have probably heard by now. A boring girl moves to the Pacific Northwest and meets a vampire who is mean to her, but only because he wants to eat her because he’s in love with her and he’s gorgeous. So he falls in love with her, because he’s beautiful and that is what the author wishes would have happened to her in high school. There is an Encyclopedia Brown twist at the end (i.e. a third-grader should see it coming) and that is the big finish. Again, and unfortunately, every character is probably still alive at the end of this book.

The heart of the tale, though, lies in this simple conversation that is had, and this is no exaggeration, probably 200 or 300 times throughout the book:

Her: “I love you, you’re so beautiful and perfect.”
Him: “Yes, I am.”Her: “But I’m so clumsy!”
Him: “Yes, you are, and I love you.”
Her: “I love you, you’re so beautiful and perfect. And cold.”
Him: stares off in the distance, looking like a model.

If you cut that conversation out of the book it would probably be twenty pages long. And probably no better. There’s also the sad commentary on how teenage girls LOVE this book, and how this girl decides to completely give up her friends, family, personality and everything else to be in a relationship with a rich, good-looking guy who treats her terribly. I hope my daughters read this when they get older and learn that valuable lesson.

And yes, I will probably watch the movie “Twilight” at some point. It looks as if the movie is somehow worse than the book, and that type of terrible is probably pretty hilarious. Like Gymkata with fangs.

—–

Tonight’s songs:
Canada
Hold the Light 

Can I just say how odd it is that church buildings are the most locked up places in the country? I’ve been in 15 churches in the last 17 days and everyone is locked like Fort Knox. There are thirty doors and only one is open, and sometimes you need a code or a card for that. Why is this? It seems odd to me, sort of the opposite of Jesus welcoming people in.

Sure, stuff might get stolen if we leave the doors open, but who cares. We’re insured. We believe in eternity in heaven. The stuff we own ought to hold no sway over us. We’re to give our coats and walk the second mile. Nothing can snatch us from the hand of God. So why can’t we open up a few doors. Not make it quite so hard, physically or metaphorically, for people to come on in.

What are we so afraid of?

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Huntsville, AL Songs:
Canada
Hold the Light

Birmingham, AL Songs:
Secret Country
New Beginning

Greensboro, NC Songs:
Canada
New Beginning

Andrew Peterson just stuck his head out of his bunk as I was opening the door from the back of the bus and the sound of the door and the head colliding was thunderous. Poor guy. I’m sorry I laughed.

We’re stopping at a Chik-Fil-A in Knoxville right now, on our way home from New York for a day and a half off. That will be good. Both the Chik-Fil-A AND the day off. It’s been a good first week of the tour. No drama, great crowds, much laughter, physical education, etc… but it will be very good to be home for a bit.

My friend Stephen passed this link along to me of Christianity Today’s review of my second Letters project. CLICK HERE. It’s a very nice review, and I’m thankful. For anyone interested you can purchase both volumes, and some bonus tracks, on CD right HERE or download Vol. II HERE.

All right, I believe the chicken has made its way onto the bus, so I’m going to post this before I lose this borrowed internet connection. Thanks to everyone who’s made it out to a show so far. You guys have been amazing. Next stop: home. Then, Florida!

—–
Last Night’s Songs:
New Beginning
Hold the Light

It’s amazing how quickly a group of parents who normally wake up in the 6 o’clock hour start staying up til 3 talking when they’re on a bus and have nothing to do til noon the next day. It’s been wonderful having this conversation, some unpressured time to just let ideas swirl, plant and bloom.

Also, today we played kickball for hours.

—–
Last Night’s Songs:
New Beginning
Let Us Know You

Tonight’s Songs:
Canada
New Beginning

Today was my daughter’s second birthday. She was in Nashville and I was in Kentucky. Bummer. We’re having a great time out here, but I’m sad I missed on the day. We’ll have a party for her when I get back home.

She’s pretty great and we’re blessed to have her in our family. She’s the life of the party, honestly one of the funniest people I know.

Andy P and I made everybody (who was still awake at 1 am) watch the first episode of Battlestar Galactica last night, and that was awesome. Hopefully we’ll be watching more tonight.

Oh, there were a bunch of home-schoolers in the gym at this church all day today, I’m not sure why. But it was a high of 35 degrees today so we couldn’t really go outside either, so no P.E. today. Guess we’ll have to do extra push-ups tomorrow.

All right, Cason, Ben, Andy G and Andy P are playing Speed Scrabble behind me and they need to be destroyed. By me.

—–
Last Night’s Songs:
Canada
Hold the Light

Tonight’s Songs:
New Beginning (for Sadie)
Hold the Light

It’s the day of the second show, we’re here in Michigan City, IN. We’ve played at this particular church four or five years in a row now, and of course, it’s the first time I’ve ever gone for a run here. And it was wonderful. Snow sitting on the sides of the road and on the naked tree branches, crisp and clear air. So fun.

We’ve also been starting a tour Physical Education program. That’s right. Read it again, it will still be true. Andy Gullahorn is our teacher. We have uniforms. With nicknames on the back.

Stretching…

Actually in motion…

Yesterday Gabe and I did eachother favors. I organized, re-wired and tightened up his pedalboard. And he, in turn, let me. I should have taken a before picture, but here’s the after…

Here’s my board for this tour. I swapped out the leslie pedal for a reverb.

So, that’s about it. We’re having a good time. Everybody’s on one bus again, which is really fun. It means we get to be together more, and that’s a good thing. If we’re leaving our families at this time of year to be with these people, we better freaking be with them.

Oh, yesterday in P.E. Ben threw a dodgeball right at Peterson’s face and bruised his eyeball. Fact.

—–
Last night’s songs:
Canada
New Beginning

I want to clean out my basement AND give you great gifts to give all your friends, neighbors, boyfriends, bosses, stalkers, etc…  

I’m making everything cheap. T-shirts are ten bucks, CD’s are twelve (except for the limited copies of Souvenirs and Postcards, which are also ten, and the special deal on Coming to Life.) If you’d like me to autograph a cd for you, just leave that in the notes section when you check out.

Shipping is $2 for 1 to 3 items, $4 for 4 to 6 items and free for anything over that.  (In America, that is.  International shipping rates will vary.) We’ll ship them out within a day or two of your order.

So without further adieu, here are the goods…

Letters to the Editor, Vols I & II - CD - $12

BROWN ILikeAndy.com T-shirt (Tell Me About Your Pedalboard) - $10

Sizes

Small Medium Large X-Large

GREEN ILikeAndy.com t-shirt (Tell Me About Your Pedalboard) - $10

Sizes

Medium Large X-Large

YELLOW ILikeAndy.com t-shirt (Anna and the Aliens) - $10

Sizes

Medium Large X-Large

BLUE ILikeAndy.com t-shirt (Anna and the Aliens) - $10

Sizes

X-Large

TRACTOR ILikeAndy.com t-shirt - $10

Sizes

X-Large

The Morning - CD - $12

Photographs (Remastered) - CD - $12

Souvenirs and Postcards - CD (Limited Supply Left) - $10

The Normals - Coming to Life - CD - $6

Well, if all things go according to plan I’ll have printed CD versions of Letters to the Editor, Vols. I & II by the Christmas tour. There will be a couple bonus tracks as well. I’m hoping that this will enable people to give them as gifts, and to support in a more tangible way. Also, some folks don’t like the whole “computer downloading” thing and would rather just buy a cd at the show. I was going to do vinyl but it was just far too expensive/involved for what I could do now. Hopefully it will still happen in the future.

I’ve been crazy busy this past two weeks. I was working on three or four records and they all needed to be finished in time to be ready for Christmas. I was producing/mixing all of them and then working other sessions in the midst, and barely sleeping. And now it’s done. Well, except for one. A record that Vance is mixing for me got screwed up and half the files disappeared when he opened the sessions. Not good. I was able to find everything on another drive but one background vocal. So Alison gets to sing again today! Other than that, I’m basically done working this year, with the exception of the Christmas tour. Crazy.

I’m playing two shows tonight in Nashville that I’m really excited about. At 6:30 I’ll be at the legendary Bluebird Cafe. It’s my first time playing there, which is nuts, but the show is sold out. They never pre-sell the bar or a row of pews at the back of the row, though, so you might still be able to get in. Matthew Perryman Jones and Lizza Connor will be in the round there with me.

Then at 11 I’m playing at Windows on the Cumberland with Kenny Meeks as a part of the Southern Soulmasters. Kenny is a local guitar hero/southern gentleman and he’s put together a killer band. I’ll be breaking out the Fenders (guitars and amp) and putting on my blues hat. I can’t wait.

Saturday Jason is helping me tile a bathroom floor and we’ll leave Monday to spend Thanksgiving in North Carolina. Also, right now, Tigo is taking Dora and Boots to the volcano, rapido, and that means I need to wrap this up. I’ve got the day off and my presence as a prince/dancing partner/referee is soon to be needed. These are good days. See you soon.