Living in Ashland, Oregon, is a mixed blessing. We have great weather, if you can handle a slightly cold and rainy winter; and in terms of a music scene, there are still a lot of cover bands that make it a bit hard for original music to flourish. Sometimes it feels like I am writing roots-pop in a vacuum, which is why it is a nice feeling to get a little recognition from the local press.

Full disclosure - I send a few blog posts of mine to their web site very month, which is how I got the ear of the editor, Phil. That is also, perhaps, a good reason why they should have been able to correctly reference me by name (Kristel is not quite right, is it?). In any case, it is a well-written piece about the relationship between physical locations in the world, and the music that is made there, and I was happy to get a plug for my show next week. Here in the Rogue valley, we don't sweat the details too much; and there is something endearing about the typo, and the fact that the gist of the story is about Eau Claire. In terms of local news, I have the trifecta now: there was a story that ran last summer about me in the Mail Tribune (linked here), which also got published in the Daily Tidings, and now with a feature in Rogue Valley Messenger, that covers all of our local outlets.

And, to be honest, I like that the focus is also on what is to come - I will be recording next week with a really nice baby grand piano and my voice has never felt better, so you can look for some new piano songs to be launched in January. And then this summer I will be in Los Angeles, working on some full-band tracks with old friends of mine - it's been 15 years since I recorded Georgia Rain, and 12 years since I recorded Something Beautiful, which have turned out to be my top tracks since they got put on the Netflix release of Friday Night Lights years ago - so it is high time to tap back into that same LA scene that hasn't changed much since I left. The best is yet to come, and I appreciate all of the support. My number of listeners has quadrupled since the release of Weightless Heart, and I will continue to release new tracks all through the new year. I hope you will enjoy them.

Be well - and remember to appreciate the little things. :)

UPDATE (Dec 2020) - I had to cancel my LA trip this year because of the 'Rona.