February 3, 2020
Hi Gang:
And welcome to our February newsletter.
I just hope this month is as full of music and fun as January turned out to be.
We kicked off the new year with a fantastic swing through Texas, stopping in Kenney, New Braunfels, Victoria, and Kerrville. When the tour was over, I told my band members that trip reminded me of why I got in the music business to begin with….great venues, great promoters, and some of the nicest fans in the world! Each place we went the bookers told us they wanted us back, so hopefully we’ll be back down that way again soon.
From Texas we went to Oklahoma for a show with our buddy, T. G. Shepherd, back home for a day in the recording studio, and then out for a week on the 2020 Country’s Family Reunion cruise. Those cruises are always fun, but I wasn’t smiling when the ship’s captain interrupted our first show with the announcement of an earthquake that had just hit the area where we were headed. For a minute I had visions of tsunamis and all kinds of problems, but things turned out to be all right and we kept right on sailing and singing.
If you’ve never been on one of our CFR cruises you don’t know how much fun, fellowship, and good music you’ve missed. It’s truly a “family” event with shows, autograph sessions, and artists hanging out with fans. We’re going to do it again in December, and I hope you’ll consider giving yourself an early Christmas present and coming along with us. The dates are December 6th to the 13th.
We only recorded one song on our day in the studio, but I’m excited for you to hear it. We cut “It’s A Good Day,” which is the up-tempo song we’ve been opening our concert dates with this year. We plan to film a video later this month and to record five more songs in March. I hope to release an EP of six new songs shortly thereafter. Stay tuned.
The Opry is back at the Opry House this month, and we’re scheduled to be there on Valentine’s night, as well as on the 15th, 18th, 22nd, 28th, and 29th of February. From what I’m told, we will remain at “home” the rest of 2020 and not return to the Ryman until January, 2021.
I also have several songwriting sessions booked with some of my favorite co-writers this month.
On the personal front, I was a proud PawPaw when I got a message on the cruise that my grandson, Blake, had hit the game-winning free throws with two seconds left on the clock to give his high school basketball team a victory over one of their biggest rivals. Granddaughter, Hallie, made the basketball homecoming court while I was away as well.
Have a fabulous February and continued thanks for all you do for me. Stay warm, stay healthy, and we’ll see you back here next month.
Still….