HARD TICKETS, BABY...

After a few days of rest, I headed to Dallas on Wednesday. I had the whole day off and ate as much Texas food as I could get. Since I don't have good Thai in Nashville, I had some Panang Beef and Tom Kha soup for lunch. Not quite as good as Mango's on Lovers at the Tollway, but a good second. I shopped at NorthPark mall all day and revamped the fall wardrobe. To quote the infamous (that means "more than famous") Alex Weeden, "I'm going big." I bought a new fedora, a vest, a new shirt (black, of course), some socks and a windbreaker. I also snuck in some Taco Cabana while in town. On the way back to the bus lot, I grabbed some mini-chimis, an enchilada platter and some chips and queso. Cut me a break, I'm yellow cheese deprived up here in Tennessee.

We headed to Tulsa, OK for a radio promo show with Scotty, Aden and ML. We played 5-6 songs in the high school gym. While it may sound a little hokey, it really wasn't. They let folks come down to the stage and stand, and it as set so we played to only one side of the gym. Really a neat thing. For the last song, Kerosene, we brought out the Bixby Pride Drum Line to play with us. There is a killer video of it somewhere on the internet I'm sure. Aden was a college band director and he worked with them for about an hour or so to get the on the right track.

When we were done, we grabbed some rooftop mexican food and a couple margaritas and headed to Cape Girardeau, MO. We played there with Dierks a few years ago, ML threw out the first pitch at the College baseball game. We had a good show, almost 3000 in attendance. It was the first hard ticket date the two have ever done, so we had all the important people there. Like, more important than Al even.

The following day we had a sold out show in Pikeville, KY. Not bad, a sellout on your first weekend. Pikeville was where they filmed "Deliverance" so I didn't venture out of the building. At all. Other than walking to the bus, but I looked both ways several times before doing so. Frank Liddell, ML's producer, came out for the weekend and he swears he saw a bridge used in the movie while he was out on a jog.

Here's a good shot from the sold out crowd that night...

We've got a few more of these left on the calendar. We head to Phoenix tonight for a show tomorrow, then Primm, NV (Vegas). I'm sure I'll have more fodder after those two stops.

HEY, go buy Wade Bowen's new record "If We Ever Make It Home." I just got it and have only listened to one song, but i can tell it "has it" and the whole record will be worth it. It's on iTunes.