“The English summer – three fine days and a thunderstorm.”
-Charles II

We are back from our second trip to the UK in as many months. Re-entering the sweltering South was a rude awakening after spending ten breezy seventy-ish degree days in England, Charles II notwithstanding. The highlight of our mini-tour was Cambridge Folk Festival, where we received such a warm reception we never wanted to leave. Close behind were our stints on ‘Weekend Wogan’, the Trowbridge Folk Festival and a cozy gig in Bristol. But for now it’s back to Tennessee, in the red hot center of the warmest summer on record.

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Links, links, links

There were a lot of people with microphones and/or video cameras at Cambridge. Here are some links:

Our performance of “On A Bus To St. Cloud” from Saturday night at Cambridge Folk Festival

A post-show dressing room chat with Mandy Morton from BBC Cambridgeshire (listen at about 1 hour in)

An Irish Music blog with nice mention of our Cambridge appearance & the songwriting workshop I did on Sunday morning

A blog by songwriter Malcolm Guite about a song he wrote as a result of the songwriting workshop

An interview with the Northern Sky blog after our first Cambridge show on Saturday night (audio)

Another Cambridge review

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Other news from the mother country

We started our mini-tour with the popular live radio show Weekend Wogan where they boast a fabulous crew and band, a beautiful studio and of course, Sir Terry himself, the most gracious of hosts. Everyone was so lovely to us. The queue to get in wound all the way around the BBC Broadcasting House – this is a serious ticket.

After doing our three songs we raced to Trowbridge in time for our set on the main stage, just before Mary Black. Mary is one of my favorite singers on the planet, and I finally got the chance to tell her so after both our sets. I asked her to sing “Columbus“, a gorgeous Noel Brazil song I’ve loved for years. It wasn’t on her set list, but she obliged gracefully and we watched from side of the stage. She just gets better.

Mid-week we found ourselves playing a sweet, intimate little gig in a jazz venue in Bristol. We had a lovely, warm crowd, so we tried out three new songs on them. It’s a little scary to do new songs for the first time, but they have to be debuted somewhere, and this seemed as good a place as any.

In between shows we watched swans on the Thames, had a delicious curry in Reading, and shopped too much on Oxford Street in London. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

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Hey Ladies

Awhile back, I participated in a survey by National Public Radio of women musicians. NPR asked hundreds of working women musicians to describe what it’s like right now: the good, the bad and the same as it ever was. ” Click here to read more about the project and see the responses. To read my full questionaire, click here. My responses are also featured in the collections “The First Time“,  “Old School/New School“, “Advice” and “Gear“.

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Upcoming Tour Dates

Upcoming tour dates include Durango, CO where we will be at the historic Henry Strater Theater (otherwise known as “The Hank”); Vacaville, CA (the Art, Wine & Brew festival) and Venice, CA (a special night presented by Grassroots Acoustica to benefit Alzheimer’s research). A European tour is being planned for November 2010 – we’ve already posted two Dutch dates, with more to come. Dates are still being confirmed – check out the tour schedule and keep checking back for updates.

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Download of the Month

This month’s free download is “Germantown”, recorded live at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Georgia on April 15th, 2010 (which also happened to be Barry Walsh’s birthday). The song first appeared on the “Halcyon” album, and has been a staple on the setlist ever since. This version was recorded from the mixing console by Shalom Aberle, one of our favorite live engineers. Big thanks to Eddie & Shalom! Enjoy. Visit the Download page to get August’s free download. Enjoy.

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