I could not improve on this collection of pics from our recent UK Tour, so I'll just direct you to the collection Gretchen Peters has compiled. I almost forgot how much fun we had until I viewed these. With Gretchen and I are the Belfast boys: Conor McCreanor on bass and vocals, and Colm McClean on guitar, steel guitar, and vocals. 

http://www.gretchenpeters.com/2015/04/blackbirds-uk-tour-2015/

        Artist                        Song                                 Album

1) Gustavo Santaolalla:     Alma                                 Camino

2) The Decemberists         Carolina Low                      What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World

3) Beck                            Morning                             Morning Phase

4) Lucinda Williams          Cold Day In Hell                  Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

5) Tom Jones                   Bad As Me…

While I have reservations about calling my music 'New Age', because I don't think it is, others have put it in that box. To be honest, when registering it on Amazon and a few other sites, we had no choice when it came to identifying Silencio by genre. We could not place it in the classical, jazz, or any other category, even though it has elements of those forms and more. New Age seemed like the only default label for an introspective, instrumental music such as Silencio, so we went with that. All I know…

"Music is an amazing thing. It doesn’t exist as a stationary object. It moves in real time and can be uplifting both to the player and the listener. The melting, trans-figurative moment, that feeling of everything being there, just for an instant, that surrender that overcomes us as players (if we’re good enough) and leads us on to the next pregnant second, patient in the knowledge that there always is, waiting in the wings, the next chance to feel this fullness and celebrate it (as it is only in the nature…

Silencio -The title track of Silencio was created late one night, alone at the piano. The title came from a photograph that my wife, Gretchen Peters, took on the wall of La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, the central cathedral in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico. That photo became the cover of the album.

Prague -  A nod to the Adagio Assai movement of Ravel’s Concerto In G, one of my favorite classical pieces. “Prague” was dedicated to a life-long friend I met in High School. He was born in Prague and passed…

Kenny Buttrey, Larrie Londin, Kenny Malone, Buddy Harmon, Henry Strzelecki, Tommy Cogbill, Mike Leech, Bob Moore, Reggie Young, Chip Young, Jimmy Capps, Wayne Moss, Buddy Spicher, Charlie McCoy, Weldon Myrick, Byrd Burton, Barry Beckett, David Briggs, Ralph Mooney (pictured below, with Mrs Moon), and so many others. A fascinating cast of characters. I was surrounded by greatness and I knew it. The combined resumés of these guys would take six months to read. I was always intimidated, and I always knew I…

The Luck Of The Irish...

How lucky are we to get to tour Ireland in October? This lucky:

The Dublin Airport taxi driver who shoved my accordion into the trunk of his cab and broke it the day before the first gig, which led us to Donal Ring on the Limerick Road in Cork City, who repaired it in about twenty minutes. The River Lee in Cork with the rowers and the ducks floating by in the morning. The Shannon River in Frank McCourt’s hometown of Limerick with those beautiful bridges lit up at night. The Walshes &amp…

Here's a sample of some of the things we've been listening to lately. I was lucky to get both the new Kim Richey and Jason Isbell albums as I was putting together this playlist. See you in the UK when the tour starts next Saturday. This is what you'll hear when you come see us:

    ARTIST                                  SONG                               ALBUM
1 Mark Knopfler                          Seattle                              Privateering
2 Kim Richey                              I Will Wait…

I seldom blog, but this year the accolades coming in about a CD I co-produced warranted a response. The recognition for my wife Gretchen Peters' Hello Cruel World CD has been gratifying.  It's her career album, and a singular artistic achievement.  This little recording, without a large Music Biz budget or record label machine behind it, has really made its mark in the world, for which we are grateful. But don't take my word for it. Here are some of the great mentions we've gotten about it in the last few…

Shortly before leaving Nashville, I put together the walk-in music you’ll hear before the Gretchen Peters Hello Cruel World Tour show. It’s a playlist of some of the things we’ve been listening to lately:

1) At The Same Time - Tom Waits                        
2) Moonight Mile - Cowboy Junkies    
3) The Best is Yet to Come - Patty Griffin    
4) Come Home - Ryan Adams    
5) Millionaire - Solomon Burke
6) Speed of the Sound of Loneliness - Jeffrey Foucault
7) Goodnight, Juarez - Tom Russell    
8) Poison & Wine -…