I'M SLACKING AT UPDATES

Yes, I'm aware I've been shirking my responsibilities as a roving recorder. Neck deep in festival season, I sit in a travel trailer with AC at full blast hoping to God that the sun ducks behind clouds. We're in Monticello, IA at the Great Jones County Fair and it's every bit of 95 degrees with about 90 percent humidity. The floods in this region have really screwed up the climate (not to mention the landscape) of the area. We played here three years ago with Rascal Flatts, the favorite band of Alex, our guitar player. Kidding...he likes Emerson Drive better. The dirt track which we perform on has now become a mud pit, which might make tonight's show turn into a combo concert/battle royal mud wrestling event.

Since I last wrote, we did a July 4th gig in Houston. It was really hot there too, but nothing like today. Then we headed to 54 degree weather in Calgary. Boy, I don't think that could have been a more welcome change. We did the three day run on one bus (12 of us). ML's bus broke down and couldn't make the trip and we couldn't get a replacement. It felt somewhat like summer camp. If you've ever wondered what Canada looks like, this is Kline in Regina, Saskatchewan.

We had a good border crossing back into the U.S. and got to run home for a couple quick days. Then back out for more festivals. We played Twin Lakes with Dierks and had a nice 600 mile drive to our next show. I went big time and got us a police escort out. We made it to Atchison, KS just in time to watch Blake's truck getting repeatedly stuck in the mud. The grounds were in such bad shape from rain we couldn't even get within 50 yards of the stage with the buses. At least I got my own Gator to use for the day to go back and forth.

You should have heard the sounds this thing made as I tried to figure out the transmission on it. Yes, it's an automatic but city boys don't know how to drive these things. I'M FROM DALLAS. The show went really well and we all look forward to more shows with Blake.

Oh yeah, ML has a Top 7 as of this week. It's her highest charting single to date. If lucky, we might eek into the Top 5 next week. It's a big lift.

Soundcheck time. But I promise more good banter on a semi-regular basis.