May 2022

NORTHEAST – In early May we tour the Northeast in the trio formation, starting at The Atlantic BKLN in Brooklyn, NY (5/4), with shows at One Longfellow Square in Portland, ME (5/5), the Bank of NH Stage in Concord, NH (5/6), City Winery in Boston, MA (5/7), The Egremont Barn in Egremont, MA (5/11), Caffe Lena in Saratoga, NY (5/13), and the 443 Social Club in Syracuse (5/14). Erik Koskinen opens the tour, joins the band on guitar (and also plays his own headline show at the Cock'n'Bull in Galway, NY (5/12).

MONTANA – I'll be on the ground in Montana much of the summer, with shows in the first part of July which, for reasons that remain obscure, we are not yet able to announce. But I can tell you that the boys and I will play a fundraiser for the non-profit Swan Valley Connections at the beautiful Holland Lake Lodge, near Condon (7/10), with a short run of shows leading up to it. Later in July, I will not be on the bill at the Red Ants Pants Festival (7/28-31), because we played it last year. However, I will be appearing at the Red Ants Pants Festival, because Kris Delmhorst is playing it, and we are married, which means I get to be in her band. That's how it works, ask Paul McCartney. It's one of the great festivals in the country, dedicated to quality over quantity and community over cash, and I'm always proud to be involved. Finally, in early August I'll be playing the inaugural Centerfest in Lewistown, Montana (8/6), which looks like a great bill in a small town, my favorite combo.

RICHARD BUCKNER – One of my early and ongoing heroes of songwriting and music, Greg Brown, recently wrote to tell me about a new Substack letter published by another of my early and ongoing heroes of songwriting and music, Richard Buckner. Titled Extractions, Buckner's letter combines memoir, observation – "I moved in as a renter. The landlord was Rose: a liverish diamante who thought of herself as a liberal due to anxiety meds and a leased Subaru. Her companion was close to her age in dog years & named Romeo. Not long after settling in, she offered to sell the place during a midnight phone call made after a tree fell on the roof. It sounded like a sound proposition — I mean, how often could that happen?" – and various previously unreleased recordings, and is one of the only things on the internet that I have recently enjoyed, as opposed to endured. Go sign up and pay the man.

DIETRICH STRAUSE – My old friend Dietrich Strause, while visiting the house some years ago, surreptitiously added his name to the door jam in the front hall where we had recorded the changing heights of our daughter and various of her little friends over the years. Because he is below average height he wrote well above it, damn near the frame. One of our daughter's friends came over to play and idly asked, Who is Diet Rich? Who indeed? Dietrich is a songwriter. He writes like a gentler Nillson, with sophisticated melodies and adroit turns-of-phrase, and he sings in a delicate crooning tenor. Beach Boys? Chet Baker? It's all in there. He can play the trumpet (and everything else), he almost beat me at table tennis last summer, and he once delivered a piano to my house. His brand new album You and I Must Be Out of My Mindis available right now, on the Blueblade Records imprint, which is less a label, and more like a treehouse.

SALMON RIVER – This September I'll be the musical guest on raft trip down the Main fork of the Salmon River via Middle Fork River Expeditions. The deal is, you sign up for the trip – September 15-20, 2022 and tell them I sent I you – and then we all show up in Idaho with a minimal amount of gear, and float that beautiful river. They handle logistics, food, and amenities, and crew the rafts. We enjoy the mountains and waters, maybe do a little fishing or swimming, and every night I'll play songs around the campfire. If that sounds like your cup of tea, get on it. The trip has a maximum capacity of 23 seats, and there are currently 8 left in play.

SISTERS FOLK FESTIVAL – Late September into October (9/26-10/1) I'll be part of the Sisters Folk Festival alongside a great roster of players, including the Milk Carton Kids and La Vent Du Nord. As part of the deal, I'll also be taking part in the Americana Song Academy, which appears to be sort of like Hogwarts for folk music.

EUROPE/UK – In November I'll be on tour in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and the UK most of the month. Official tour announcements to follow.

READING/LISTENING – Someone recently wrote to me and said they found this part useful, so what the hell. Reading: Selected Poems by Kenneth Patchen, The South by Adolph Reed Jr., The Center of Everything by Jamie Harrison, The Tenth Man by Graham Greene, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Listening (on audiobook): The Mirror and Light, by Hilary Mantel, Science Set Free by Rupert Sheldrake, The Function of Reason by Alfred North Whitehead. Listening (music): You and I Must Be Out of Our Minds, by Dietrich Strause; The Poet Game, Further In, Slant Six Mind, Covenant, (in order and without stopping) by Greg Brown; Western Bell, by Kelly Joe Phelps; How Many Miles, by Bo Ramsey; Rumor and Sigh, by Richard Thompson; I've Got My Own Album To Do, by Ronnie Wood; Bobby Charles, by Bobby Charles; Desert Rebel / Turning the Corner by Martha Scanlan and Jon Neufeld; Sunsunday, by Pieta Brown and JT Bates. Internet: Matt Taibbi's TK News Substack is a nice corrective to the depravity and hypocrisy of both flavors of corporate news media currently sold in America (his book Hate Inc. is a great look at the economics of outrage). My friend William Deresewiscz has been writing cultural, literary, and media criticism for years, and recently this stellar piece, Escaping American Tribalism, published at Unherd (presumably because The Atlantic was too chickenshit to run it).

That ought to cover it. Come find us.