“Give the people what they want.”
– The Kinks

Next month I’ll be heading back to the UK for a tour that’s been in the works for almost a year. The idea for the “Circus Girl – Without A Net” tour grew out of many conversations after shows that began something like: “Great show, but I wish you’d sung ______”, or “________ is my favorite song, why don’t you ever play it anymore?” When you have a new album out, it’s natural to want to showcase it, and introduce everyone to the new songs. With “Circus Girl”, we’re going to look back and revisit some of the overlooked ones, and some that just fell off the list along the way. In that spirit, this will be an all-request tour – you will make up the set list. I’ll begin taking your requests on April 1 via my website, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Or if you prefer you can just email me. Please keep a few things in mind:

• specify the particular show (venue, date and city) that you will be attending. We don’t want to do your request without you there.
• give us your name, and any other information you’d like to share – where you’re from, how long you’ve been a fan, a personal anecdote, dedication, reminiscence or just your thoughts on the song you want to hear most.
• please limit your requests to songs that I’ve either written or recorded. No “Free Bird”!

Given the retrospective nature of this tour I thought it would be fun to add a visual component, too, so I’ll be spicing up the set with some slides and photographs – along with the stories behind the songs, behind the scenes, and sometimes behind the stars… It’s going to be a lot of fun for us, and hopefully for you, too. All the tour dates are now confirmed and listed on the Tour page. We can’t wait to see you out there.

RIP Alex Chilton

Sad news last month about the death of Alex Chilton, Memphis singer and songwriter and founder of the seminal bands The Box Tops and Big Star. I knew Alex just a little bit from meeting him at gigs where my partner Barry Walsh played for the past nine years in the Box Tops. He always seemed to me to be smart, unsentimental and absolutely original. Barry’s remembrance of Alex can be found here in the Blog section of my website (the blog previous to this one). RIP Alex.

Second-chance auction

If you missed your chance to bid in our auction last summer, you may want to get in on this one: to launch the “Circus Girl – Without A Net” tour, we have put a few rare items up for auction on eBay. This isn’t a big auction like we did last August, but there are some great items to bid on, so be sure to check them out. The auction began April 1, at 10AM Nashville time (CDT). Part of the proceeds go to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, an organization dedicated to protecting these highly intelligent and amazing creatures. And while I’m on that subject, if you haven’t already please see “The Cove“, which won Best Documentary at the 2010 Academy Awards recently. I’d consider it a personal favor if you would donate a few dollars to help their cause.

Going, going, gone

Just a reminder that the Limited Collector’s Edition, 2-CD version of “Circus Girl: The Best Of Gretchen Peters” is just about sold out. We still have a few copies available here. After those sell, they’ll be gone for good, so if you’re still thinking about getting yourself a copy don’t wait too long.

Cambridge Folk Festival

The lineup for the 2010 Cambridge Folk Festival (29 July – 1 August) has just been announced, and I’m excited to be on it! Read the full lineup at the Cambridge Folk Festival website. Specific stages and times will be announced soon on the Tour page of this website.

up North; down South

We are happy to be returning to Canada this month – for one show only on April 10th in Calgary; a co-bill with Greg Trooper. Tickets are available here.

Shortly afterwards we’ll be heading back to the southern US for three dates, the first of which is at the legendary Decatur, GA venue Eddie’s Attic on April 15th. If you live in the Atlanta area come celebrate Barry Walsh’s birthday (and the end of tax season!)  with us at Eddie’s. On April 16th we’re in Birmingham, AL at Moonlight On The Mountain – the former Moonlight Music Cafe which has been revived and promises to be a great music series. And we’ll finish off the southeastern run at the fabulous Bowman House Concert Series – Art Bowman informs me that once again we’ll be playing at the Red Arrow Ranch. It was a magical night of music in the barn the last time we were there, and we’re so happy to be back.

Download of the Month

This month’s download is “Snowin’ On Raton”, recorded live in Denver, Colorado at Swallow Hill Music Association in February of 2009. Barry and I had just learned and arranged the songs from “One To The Heart, One To The Head” for this hometown CD release party and the tour that followed, so they were new to us, sometimes a little ragged, but wonderfully fresh. Enjoy.

x

Gretchen