June 2017


June 2017

SOUTHWEST // MONTANA // AUGUST // BEARGRASS
 

     We run a tight ship here at Jeffrey Foucault (TM) but sometimes exigent circumstances intervene and the mailer arrives late. Was it that fifty percent of domestic production staff decamped to an island somewhere to write songs, causing me to move my electric guitar rig into the kitchen and play Neil Young real loud for hours on end? Was it that until the last week's epic low-pressure system blew the rivers out there was a certain place, reachable only by a quarter mile upstream paddle, where large Rainbows could reliably be had on the dry fly, and this required that the fleet be mounted with a canoe on the roof rack at all times? Was it the six new baby chicks left in my sole care, which turned out to require new food, water, and litter every hour and a half? These things certainly played a role, as I explained in the conference call with shareholders. Running a corporation of this size and complexity is simply not an exact science, and allowances have to be made, the passive voice used, when things go wrong. Now friends, let' have a look at the projected third quarter. As we like to say, it's a good time to be white and a billionaire, so Billy and I are sitting pretty.

SOUTHWEST - This week the band convenes in the trio formation, with Eric Heywood on steel and Billy on the drums, for a brief tour of the desert southwest starting at the Highlands Nature Center Amphitheater in Prescott (6/13), moving on to the Fire Creek Coffee Company in Flagstaff (6/14), the Summer Nights series at the Albuquerque BioParkin Albuquerque, NM (6/15), the Pecos Flavors Winery in Roswell, NM, (6/16), and then finishing up at the Kitchen Sink Recording Studio in Santa Fe, NM (6/17). Nolan McKelveyopens Prescott, Brian White opens Flagstaff, and Austin's Christy Hayes opens the last two NM shows, joining the band on backing vocals.

MONTANA - We'll spend the second half of July in Montana to play the Bob Marshall Music Festival in Seeley Lake (7/14) and Red Ants Pants Festival up in White Sulphur (7/29). Both fests feature great line-ups and beautiful country, and we'll play the Bob Marshall with Bo Ramsey holding down first chair electric guitar, then play the Red Ants Pants Festival full band with Moses on bass and Eric Heywood on steel and electric.

AUGUST- August 12 we'll fly out to Park City, Utah for the Big Stars and Bright Nights Series at Deer Valley Resort on a triple bill with Parsonsfield and Lanie Jones and the Spirits, where we will be in charge of feeling old. From there we cross the border north and head up into Canada for the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival in Salmon Arm, BC (8/18), before flying back east for the  Jam in the Trees Festival in Asheville, NC (8/26). All great festivals and bills, with musicians I'm excited to hear and see.

BEARGRASS - We'll close out summer with a return to Greenough, Montana and the Beargrass Writer's Retreat, as Songwriter-in-Residence (8/26-29). That's a job title cooked up by my friend the author and poet Chris Dombrowski who founded the retreat, and it describes the responsibility of performing at cocktail hour and fishing on the Big Blackfoot river as much as possible, possibly giving a talk about collaboration if Billy and I can stop arguing long enough to make an outline. To quote the literature, Beargrass "...Gathers some of the West's most celebrated and promising writers at the storied E Bar L ranch for four days of readings, workshops, craft talks, and generative writing opportunities that connect writers of all experience levels with self and place."  If you're a writer, or you just want to consider the act and process of writing in the company of published writers from a variety of disciplines, in a beautiful place with good food and a not unreasonable emphasis laid on cocktail hour, Beargrass is for you. Reserve your cabin now.

     This fall we'll tour North America family-style between October and December, on a full-band split bill with Kris Delmhorst for the release of her fantastic new album THE WILD, which I played on and co-produced. Dates are coming together and we'll announce them some time this summer.

Thanks, and we'll see you out there.

Jeffrey Foucault2017