Thursday February 1st: 5am, still pitch black, and the taxi to the airport has just rolled up the drive. It is dark and cold as I throw my guitar and bags in the back, 5am! Too early a start...but it will set the tone for the next few days.

Day 1, gig no. 1 of the "Lonely In Scandinavia Tour" is in Trondheim. My 7 am flight from Birmingham, via Amsterdam, gets me there by 12.30 so plenty of time to rehearse, and sleep......well, mainly sleep.

Tonights gig is in CREDO, one of my favourite gigs in Norway. The fact that you are served an 8 course dinner, with 4 different types of wine and champagne before the show may have something to do with it, But, I also have very good support in Trondheim, from the Promoter, Tor,  and the local paper, and it is always a pleasure to play the venue. Tonight there
is a good crowd in, a great reaction, and lots of cd sales, which, when added to the dinner and the wine, makes for a great start to the tour.

Friday February 2nd: I am booked on the 10.30 flight to Bergen, which means being up and out of the hotel by 8.30, which, given the amount of vodka and tonics last night, is no easy task. Still, I arrive in Bergen at 12.30 , fairly “hangover free”, and check into The Radisson SAS on Bryggen, facing the old harbour, and then head out for a walk. It is cold, icy and also damp, which at first I find charming, and then I just find miserable so I head back to the warmth and comfort of the hotel. Tonights show is in MADAME FELLE, which is basically the bar of the hotel, so it is convenience itself.. However, what isn’t convenient is the fuck up made by my booker, who left it so late to confirm this show that there has been no advertising, and consequently the venue decide to make it a “free entry” show. My mood is not lighened with the news that there will be 2 parties of diners in when I am on stage!  When I go on there about 40 people in the room, 15 fans who have somehow heard I am playing and then 25-30 folks who are just out eating and drinking in the bar. Situations like this are awkward. I feel for the people who have come to hear me and have to put up with other folks drinking and talking but to those people, they have just come out for a drink and don’t want to listen to an English singer-songwriter. Still, her we go, a few deep breaths, try my best not to get stroppy, and just focus on the people who have come to see me. I get through it, they enjoy it, buy cd’s add thank me for coming and persevering, and promise me it will be better in Bergen next time. I tell them I know it will, as I will have a new booker.

Saturday February 3rd: Goodbye Norway, hello Den mark. Having just heard that the Danish Music Mag Gaffa(the Danish equivalent of Q), had given ANKOL a really good review, and the fact that tonights show is in the club, Voxhall, one of the best clubs in Arhus,  I am looking forward to tonight, and putting Madam Felle behind me. However, before getting there, the arduous task of getting up at 4.15am to be on the airport bus at 4.45am to get to Bergen airprt for yet another very early flight, to Arhus via Copenhagen. The bus ride and the 2 flights, I can’t recall, as I sleep through each one of them. By the time I get to Arhus centre I stumble into “Bread and Coffee” to gorge on Lattes, pastries and cakes.
I am playing a co-bill tonight with the eccentric , lovable, and rubber boot wearing Michael Hamilton. A fine Danish songwriter, with whom I wrote “From Out Of The Blue”. Michael has also covered my song “God’s Other Son”, and has decided we should play both songs together tonight. A quick run though at my hotel, followed by an afternoon nap for me, then down to the venue for a 6pm sound check. The place is pretty big, holds 400 or so, and we are some way off selling out BUT it is a fine night, great sound and lights, and really good vibe from the crowd, I am even heckled for lookign like Kevin Spacey!! Check out the review of the show at www.gaffa.dk

After the show, in the bar of the venue, I watch a 21 year old Danish songwriter called Thomas Baz play 4 songs, and he just blows me away. One song in particular, “The Nurse and The Knife Throwe is staggering in it’s maturity for someone so young. He has a web site so google him and hear for yourself.

Sunday February 4th: No show today so I sleep late. I have been asked to contribute a song to an upcoming cd and book called Old Wine, New Skins - The English Folk Song Project, so have decided to make use of my day off and go into a studio in Arhus to record my contribution, the charming yet melancholic song, What Is The Life Of A Man? My answer to that question this week is “dragging a guitar through airports and getting up too fucking early”.   Anyway, after working out the song in the hotel, myself and Michael head for the studio at 5pm.  Leo, the owner and sound engineer has the coffee on, and we get to work. My original idea was to cut it live, just guitar nd voice, and be out of there in time to get to the pub. But, as always in the studio, small ideas become grand ideas, and the hours pass like minutes.  Leo and I finally leave at 3am the next morning having recorded 3 guitars, a banjo, 2 vocals and a drum loop! The track is not mixed and I have to leave for Copenhagen in a few hours so he kindly promises to mix it later
in the week. I now await the results of my first banjo performance on a song with baited breath.

Monday February 5th: A day of wandering, drinking coffee, more wandering then a night in the fleshpots of Copenhagen. Well, one flesh pot, The Spunk Bar in the towns red light district, which is pretty seedy, but I have drunk in a lot worse, mainly in Liverpool and Manchester, and funnily enough, the Spunk Bar seems to be full of Brits!

Tuesday February 6th: A 5 hour train ride across an icy, snow bound Sweden is a nice way to spend the day. I am heading to Stockholm, first time I have played there, which means "the unknown", which is good. No preconceptions like, "it was amazing last time, can't wait to go back", only to find the return visit is a huge dissapointment. No, Stockholm is virgin territory, a blank page...my debut. Once again, due to a fuck up by my booker, the show, which I had been toldwas booked back in October, I find out in January that it was never booked, and the venue had never received acontract or anything from him. So, I deal direct with thevenue and managed to make the show happen, albeit at very late notice and without hardly anypromotion. Still, thanks to a piece in tonight's paper, andthat opening act Annikha Fehling has brought some of her fans along, we have a nice crowd of 50 or so.
Check out www.myspace.com/reinejonsson  for some photos from the show. The fact it is the coldest night of the year so far does not help BUT, the weather does give  Stockholm an icy shimmer, and the city is exactly what I had expected...snow capped roofs, gleaming church spires, gold clock tower faces, and frozen harbour boats.  As it turns out, the club have
booked me into The Red Boat Hotel, an old ship, now a hotel, moored in the harbour with stunning views across the water to Gamla Stan (the old town).

Wednesday February 7th: A midday flight to the island of Gotland means I have to say goodbye to my boat (to which I have grown rather fond). When I touch down on the Swedish
island (which is apparently nothing like Sweden) I am met by Olaf, smiling and talkative, who welcomes me to Gotlandand tells me it is Lee Hazelwoods favourite place in the world and will have his ashes scattered here when he dies! A pretty resounding endoresment for a place I had never heard of untill a few months ago, and if it is good enough for Mr Hazelwood then it is good enough for me. In total contrast to the luxury of the Norge hotels and the quirkiness of the Swedish boat, my home for the next 3 days is a small, spartan 2nd floor room belonging to the Catholic church. It consists of 2 single beds (one for me , one for my guitar), a small table and chair in front of the window,which faces down a pretty, cobbled street that ends at some ruins of a monastary. The room also offers a kettle and a wardrobe big enough to hang 3 shirts! However, I really like it. I fee like an impoverished 18th century painter (Van Gogh or Cezanne) gone to seek inspiration by removing himself from the world and hiding in peaceful obscurity in the country. At this moment in time I am also as poor as Van Gogh. I buy some provisions from a nearby shop and decide to eat in that way too. Bread, tea, milk and cheese!
Tonights show is a "Living Room" concert orgainsed by Annika Fehling who I first met on the Danish Island of Samso, in 2003, at a songwriting retreat. She lives out here and has been bringing various artists to the island for the past few years. The show is part concert (me solo for 20 minutes, part interview (with Annika quizzing me in front of the audience) and part in-the-round with me, Annika and a fine Swedish songwriter called Gunner. It is a very chilled , low key night, very pleasant, and I get the feeling everyone knows everyone else, and these friendly Gotlanders seem to have welcomed me to their hearts.
Back in my lonely spartan room I sleep the sleep of the just, although at one point I dream that Peter Bruntnell is signed to a record label owned by Jennifer Lopez and is having huge hits writing songs for big dance acts, and that Seth Lakeman is being interviewed by J-Lo and keeps singing Peter's praises, and also sings Peter's songs accapella! God knows where that dream came from??

Thursday February 8th; A day with no travel so I sleep late, do some writing in my empty room, then head out to see the sights of Visby....which is a lot of ancient ruins, some inviting looking cafes and bars, and a snow covered park which is bordered by the sea. Peaceful and serene, and very, very still. Apparently Ingmar Bergman lives in the far north of the Island, where he is waitied on by a staff of 6 and watches 2 movies every day. As it looks like he won't be inviting me round for lunch to discuss The Seventh Seal, I meet Annika in her favourite cafe. Tonights show is in the south of the Island, 40km from the capital Vilsby, in a town called Halor. It is in a private house, but Bjorn and Helen, whose place it is, have their own little venue here. Stage, lights,"backstage" and seating for an audience of 40. It is a wonderful night with Bjorn, who is a fine banjo player, sportingly joining in on Always
The Bridesmaid.

Friday February 9th: A slow day, not much to do. The gig tonight is 2 minutes walk from my room. I hang around, try and write a new song, decide I dont like it, go for a walk, check emails in a mobile phone shop, buy Mabel a baby sized T Shirt with Bob Dylan on the front, and then head to the cellar of the cafe where tonights in-the-round show , again with Annika and Gunner, along eith a fine American songeriter, Amber Ruth, will take place. A cosy crowd
of around 25 sit round drinking coffee , eating cake and enjoying the songs. A low key end to a low key peaceful few days on Gotland...and still no invite from Mr Bergman. Maybe next time.

Saturday February 11th: Another very early start, the taxi arrives at 6.45 for my 7.45 flight to Stockholm. I have 3 hours to kill so I drink coffee , eat cake, read The Times, read Rolling Stone, check emails. I was under consideration to open on a couple of big tours in the UK in March. An email tells me I have got neither of them. Dispondently I trudge off to the gate and fall asleep on my flight to Berlin.
Upon arrival I grab a cab to the hotel and have a very beautiful moment. The old jewish cab driver has the radio tuned to a classical music station which is playing a gorgeous piece called Dangerous Moonlight. As we drive through the snow covered city, it is as if the music has transported us back 6o years. He appears very whistful, and I swear I can see a tear in
his eye. I start to well up too. The music, this great city, being tired, being alone, my dissapointment about the tours, the money worries I will be going back home to tomorrow, it all seems to come together. The city seems so quiet and sombre...and the beautiful music keeps playing, and it accompanies us the whole journey. I tumble into the Hotel Sachenshof, and
head to bed, to sleep off my melancholia. 3 hours later, showered and shaved, I am wide awake, and discussing guitars, tuners and harmonicas with Leonard Lotte, the owner of Berlin
Guitars, which is the location for tonight's final show. It is a wonderful location for a gig, and there is a great crowd in, warm, appreciative, and the tour ends very much on a high note. I really look forward to coming back again to play here, and bringing Alan and his pedal steel.
Hungry after the show, I grab one of Berlins famous Kebabs (I am not kidding), and then head back to my room. The couple in the next room are having very noisey sex, and sound to be having a great old time. It is not the best accompaniment for Kebab eating, so I turn up the TV and watch Charles Bronson, dubbed into German, kill a continuous stream of bad guys.
With kebab, sex and mindless violence complete I drift off and have a deep sleep.

Sunday February 11th: The first thing I hear when I wake is the love-making couple, at it again, and their groans of pleasure seem to go on for ages....I am almost tempted to knock on the door and ask if I can join in! It finally stops and I fall back to sleep, missing breakfast and the chance to try and put faces to those groans. By the time I get downstairs all the guests have gone,except a French couple, who have obviously also missed breakfast but are now
dining on large peices of pizza, with a ravenous, but loving look in their eyes. IT HAS GOT TO BE THEM! Though she looks tired, she can't stop smiling!
There has been more snow over night, which I trudge through to find a Berlin internet cafe, and to see if today has got some better news. And if not, well, at least I fly home tomorrow, and an end, for the time being, to being lonely.

Feb 23rd: A short drive to Boston to collects Al's latest steel guitar and amp and then back south east to the University of Rhode Island for a radio show that evening with Dan Ferguson on WRIU Radio.
It is all very "New England"...clear blue skies, some snow on the ground, beautiful scarf-wrapped students cycling past white wooden houses. Al and I watch it all from the window of a nearby Coffee and bagel shop on the campus grounds.

Feb 24th: The first show, a house concert in Peace dale Rhode island, just outside of Providence, run by Dan. It is a lovely way to ease into the tour. 50 people in Dans elegant living room, all keen to listen enjoy and hear what this Brit has to come and sing about. We make a lot of new friends and I look forward to the next time.

Feb 25th: An early start as we have a 2 hour drive to Hackettstown New Jersey for another radio show, this time with Jeff Rusch on WNTI. Jeff is most generous, gives us lots of air time and has been playing tracks from The Tender Place and Absent Friends a for a few weeks now. He also treats us to a fine Italian lunch before we head back east to New York. The first of 3 shows in Manhattan is at The Bitter End. As we pull up outside the club, who is there to greet us but the fine Danish songwriter, and co-writer of "From Out of The Blue" Michael Hamilton. He is not yet aware that Ron Sexsmith and Don Kerr have added vocals to our song for my new album so I break the news to him immediately. Needless to say, as a massive fan of Ron, Michael is delighted...and a cd-r of the album disappears into his jacket pocket. Michael has been in NY for a week playing shows but is flying home in 4 hours, so sadly he does not get to stay for the Bitter End show. Still, we will reunite when I get to Copenhagen on April.

Feb 26th: The weather is wicked in Manhattan. Bitter winds cut you in half and I feel like I have come very un-prepared in the coat department. 10 am Sunday morning and I meet an old friend in Clanceys irish bar on the upper west side to watch my beloved Man u stroll to victory over Wigan in the Carling Cup. A few pints of Guinness and a large New York brunch set the day up nicely, then it is back to the Lower East Side, where we are staying, and playing tonight at The Living Room. It is a nice room, and a good scene is going on down there.

Feb 27th: The cold has finally got me and I am down with a chest infection, aches, pains, coughs and sneezes. I stay in bed for the next 36 hours, only surfacing above the blankets when a decent movie comes on HBO.

Feb 28th: Still feeling like death but I head uptown to my publishers office in the old Studio 54 building. They have an amazing catalogue of songs and artists, including all the Chess Records stuff, and lots of classic people such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Etta James and many more. I walk out a couple of hours later with a bunch of great albums to keep me and Al entertained on the road.
The show at the Lakeside Lounge that evening was a tough one. My voice has all but gone and I croak my way through a a 45 minute set before it gives out and I start to fear it will be gone for ever. It is Mardi Gras but the infection does not leave me in a party mood. The Lakeside Lounge is a funky place though, and I look forward to going back and next time taking my voice with me!

March 1st: We drive out over the Brooklyn Bridge, head north through The Bronx, and pick up I95 to Boston. Although, like most people, adore New York, I am glad to be getting out, such is the way I am feeling. We pull into Cambridge, Mass, a few hours later for a show at the Lizard Lounge, just a block from Harvard Square. It is a nice room, kind of like a living room, decent sound system and a good sound guy (thanks Matt), and more importantly there are a few fans and faces who have come to see the show. My voice also seems to be 75% back and it turns out to be nice night.......and great food too.

March 2nd: A late breakfast with our very generous host (the songwriter Alistair Mook), followed by some bargain book hunting in Sommerville (I picked up a Bobby Darin biog and now Dreamlover is constantly in my head), then down to Johnny D's where we are to play that evening. It id a large supper club type venue, that has played host to some greats in it's time (I am heartened by the seeing the signed Townes album cover on the wall, his kind, smiling face staring out from the "At My Window" cover). It is a cold, cold Thursday night, and it is a small crowd but we play our best, make a few new friends and leave after a good dinner, kinda disheartened but at least full!

March 3rd: No show today but we are on WWWFCS Radio at 8am the next day so we leave Boston and drive south to New London so as to be close-by for an early call.

March 4th: The radio show, hosted by Brian Bourgoin, is enjoyable, despite the early start, and my voice surprisingly, despite the hour and the illness seems to be back to normal. Brian gives us 90 minutes air time, lots of songs and chat. The show is also recorded, and some extracts should appear on my site very soon. There has been more snow over night and temperatures are even lower, rivers and lakes are frozen making Connecticut look beautiful if perishing. New London is located, not surprisingly on the River Thames, and despite it's size, wider than the 'real' Thames, most of that is also frozen.
We get back onto I95 and drive north again for our final show on the east coast.......at a club called Toad. Toad is a small thin, narrow bar on Massachusetts Avenue, and reminds me of bars in Liverpool, or Ireland. A tiny stage which Lana and I squeeze onto and before long the room is full. It is from "a concert" with a silent audience but it is cool, the sound is clear and strong and we win the room over. CD's are sold, drinks are taken, and Al and I start to think about are gigs out west, and finding some sunshine and some warmth. Goodbye New England.

Monday March 6th: Having spent last night in a snow bound Motel 6 just outside the wonderfully named town of Mystic, we are keen to leave the East behind and head West..... well, mid West. When we step off the plane in Nashville things are not a great deal warmer but at least there is no snow. Tonight's show is at The Blue Bird Cafe, a place I have wanted to play for a long time as it is such a singer songwriter haven, and, after The Cactus Cafe in Austin, one of Townes' most regular gigs. It is a pin drop crowd, silence is a given at The Blue Bird, and it is great night.

Tuesday March 7th: The presence of Van Morrison is all over ,Nashville He is due to play the Ryman in the evening, and his new album is adorning walls, bus shelters and lamp posts around the city. I spend the morning checking emails in the library, then join Al for a mooch around The Country Music Hall of Fame. We are not hanging with Van tonight, as we are playing at a club called 12th & Porter, as part of Billy Blocs Western Beat series of shows that have been running for a number of years now. However it has only just moved to 12th & Porter from it's origina lhome at The Exit Inn. Sadly too, the crowds have not, as yet, moved with it, and we play mainly to a collection of other musicians who either have just played, or are due to play that evening. Still a few new friends won, but typically the two labels who were "coming" to see me with a view to releasing the new album don't show. That is so typically Nashville, no one goes to see gigs, either that, or they are all at Van Morrison!

Wednesday March 8th: Our flight from Nashville takes us via Cincinnati (!!), so we spend most of today either in the air or in airport lounges. Next stop, Los Angeles, California, sun, sea and Pamela Anderson. Well not exactly, rain and snow great us at LAX. We are due on stage at a club called Highland Ground in Hollywood at 11pm, and we touch down at 9.30pm. A mad dash to get the hire car, and a few LA red lights run, and we get there with 15 minutes to spare. Tonight is another Western beat Showcase gig, but this time the place is full, and not just with musicians. Also on the bill is the lovely Anne McCue, it is good to see and hear her again. We play our allotted 20 minutes (yes, that's how it works at these showcase events), then have a couple of drinks before heading north on Highway 5. We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow so decide to get an hour or two down the road while it is quiet. We pull into a Motel, 6 just outside Bakersfield at 3am and dream of airport lounges.

Thursday March 9th: Winters, California is the ipitomy of "small town America", even before we have gout out the car I feel the eyes of the local townsfolk burning into my back, and that is before I break the computer in the local library and try and buy some farmers boots from the local farm supplies store. We are opening for Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen tonight in the lovely Palms Playhouse. After hearty greetings and a quick sound check it is over the road to what seems the only bar and grill in town for Guinness and Caesar Salads. This makes quite a change to be appearing with Chris and Herb on their patch. A would be expected, there is a good crowd at the show, Chris very kindly personally introduces me on stage, and from there on, we are right at home in Winters.

Friday March 10th: As we head south back down Highway 5, the streets of Bakersfield beckon and we just have to go and visit Bucks Owen Crystal Palace. I was here 3 years ago during a solo tour but it is all he more enjoyable visiting it with Al. Crystal Palace is Bucks own club, where you can still see him, and his Buckaroos live, most weekend foe the princely sum of $6. Both times I have been passing before have been midweek so not had the pleasure to catch a show, and now, following the sad news Buck died recently, I wont ever get to see him. As well as a club, the Palace is also a museum to the great man, full of stage suits and guitars, cowboy boots and cadillacs, awards and B&W photos. In the entrance are large bronze statues of Elvis, Hank, Johnny Cash and George Jones.....and Buck of course. With photos taken, and merchandise bought we carry on back to LA, through the Grapevine, which is covered in snow, and into Pasadena for tonight's show at the Backstage Coffee Gallery. A wonderful little club, behind a coffee shop, a real pin drop listening room. A great place and one I look forward to going back to.Saturday March 11th: Tonight's gig is in stark contrast to The Backstage Coffee Gallery. A small, funky, noisy bar in Culver City, just south of Hollywood, called Cinema. No stage, a tiny PA, just set up on the floor in the corner and do it. Reminds me of playing bars in Liverpool years ago. It is the kind of gig you just want to play cover version all night and have fun. When we start there are just 2-3 barflies, a couple of very pissed Mexicans but thankfully also there is Randy Weeks and Kevin Jarvis (brother of Duane), really good guys. Randy helps us figure out how the PA works, oh yeah, no such thing as a sound guy at the Cinema. With his help the sound is fine and we start with 2-3 of the gloomier, poignant numbers, really quite the opposite of what a bar crowd want on a Saturday night, but hew, it is what we do. During a moments suspended silence in the song Broken, the moment is filled with high speed, drunken Mexican chatter, totally destroying the moment, and leaving Alan in fits of laughter, thinking he is playing on a version of Speedy Gonzalez

Sunday March 12th: Oklahoma City, home of Woody Guthrie, and The Flaming Lips, and "nothing else but steers and queers", to quote a DJ from LA. Well, when we arrive at around 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, the whole place looks shut, but, for the first time on this whole trip, it is hot. An hour driving around does not establish much other than the fact this place is very very flat, and has the feel of old cowboy town, though not many cowboys in evidence. We head over to the venue, The Blue Door, run by Greg Johnson, a writer who left Oklahoma for Austin, where he was part of the thriving scene for many years, before heading home and starting his fabulous club. It is a singer songwriter/ Texas music haven, the sort of venue that you would want to go to virtually everything that Greg puts on. Sadly that feeling does not extend to tonight and the good folks of Oklahoma, as only a small crowd show up, seems the local press screwed up and ran the wrong dates, which is a real shame as it is arguably one of the best places we play on the tour. Greg sends out for a box of beers, we pass them around to everyone who is there and play our hearts. They love it, we love it, and next time, for sure, we will have a crowd in Woody's home town.

Monday March 13th: No show today but it is Al's first time in Austin so a leisurely drive around this great town is called for to get the lay of the land, and find the best Mexican restaurants. First stop...The Magnolia Cafe

Tuesday March 14th: Our first show in Texas is not in austin, but in San Marcos, about 30 miles south. The gig is at The Cheatham St. Warehouse, an old goods depot right beside the railroad track and it looks like it is built out of corrugated iron. It is a classic Texas roadhouse / Honky Tonk.......peeling posters, neon signs, great jukebox, and again, all the great and the good of Texas music have played it. After the show we are joined by my friend Everett Moran, who is producing the new Willis Allan Ramsey album. Willis is making only his second album in 25 years and I can feel Everett is having his considerable patience pushed to the limit. Still, cant wait to hear the results, if they ever surface. We leave the club and find the only place open in town to eat, a Mexican place by the bus station, which has a lovely seedy, vagrant feel about it. Dusty buses taking people to and from Mexico. for a moment I feel like jumping on one and disappearing, but I think better of it and head back to Austin

Wednesday March 15th: SXSW starts in earnest today and the town is awash with the music industry, and musicians, and tourists. Faces start to look familiar then you realize that you know half the people in town. On our way to the first show I must have driven past at least 30 people i knew, most from back home. Our first show is an afternoon gig on an outdoor stage at Opal Divines on 6th St. A pleasant enough gig but nothing to get too excited about. 6th St. is Austin's Royal Mile and has a continuous flow of people, so you kind of feel like you are bussing at times. My good friend Dean Owens is also on the bill today and he plays a fine set before we go on. Good to see him again and we swap stories ....and moans and groans. There are also a few fans from back home who are in attendance and that adds a nice vibe to the proceedings. For an hour Austin feels like Nottingham, and is none the worse for that.
Around midnight we head down to a club on 6th Street to catch The Plimsouls, Peter Case's fantastic power pop band from the late 70's/early 80's have reformed for a few gigs and this SXSW appearance. I never saw them first time round, so was glad to do so this time. Just bloody marvelous, made me want to reach for my old Telecaster again. In true SXSW style, there is no backstage, any bar / club that has a stage is suddenly a venue for the week, even if that means the bands have to head from the stage directly out onto the street to escape the crowd. As I get outside I see Peter slumped against the side of some bigger bands tour bus being congratulated by admirers. We wave, I give him the thumbs up and leave him to it.

Thursday March 16th: 3rd Coast Music is a Texas music paper run by John Conquest, a Brit who moved out to Texas years ago after falling in love with the music, and the place. John has been really supportive of me over the past 6 months, writing some very nice things about the recent albums, sticking me on the front cover of the December issue, and also voting me Male Artist of The Year in the papers end of year poll. Today's gig is called "The 3rd Coast Music Cavalcade of Stars", celebrating 10 years of the paper, or maybe it is 5, well anyway, it is a celebration of some kind. I played the same event last year, which took place at Threadgills, and was fabulous. Thus year, the event is taking place slightly out of town at another Opal Divines venue out at Penn Field. again it is an outdoor stage on a large patio / decking area but much better feel about it, and also the audience is all focused on the stage. The line up reflects John's taste, and includes Jimmy LaFave, James Hand, Bill Kirchen, Will T Massey, Michael Fracasso, Jo Carol Pierce and many more. My show is part of an in-the round with Eric Taylor and Troy Campbell....my two favourite living Texan residents, both old mates, and touring buddies. Great to hear them and spend some time together again. We have great show, the sun is shining, the crowd are shining, we are all shining........and John is beaming. Here's to another 10 years of 3rd Coast Music.
The evening ends with dinner in Threadgills, a great venue, and a fine restaurant. I run into Tom Russell who I have not seen for a few years, dining with HighTone Records boss Larry Sloven, so naturally, out comes the new cd....isn't this what SXSW is all about??

Friday 17th March: No shows today so it is a day of schmoozing, something I hate but sadly is a necessary evil. The day starts at a brunch thrown by BMI in the grounds of The Four Seasons Hotel, meet a few new people, and also see some old friends, including Mark Anders from Bug Music, my former publisher. We also get a large fee breakfast which is always helpful to a broke musician. In the afternoon No Depression magazine are having a party at The Cactus Cafe so we spend most of the afternoon there. I run into Tonya Lamm from Tres Chicas (who are performing at the party). I have not seen Tonya for 7 years, since The Good Sons, Neal Casal and Hazeldine toured together in the UK. as part of a Glitterhouse Records package. Hazeldine, who Tonya fronted, split a few years back btu she seems to be doing ok with Tres Chicas. A good band, I really enjoyed their short set at The Cactus. However, not as much as Marty Stuart who played a 40 minute acoustic gospel set with his band, and for me, it was the musical highlight of the week. Just stunning in every way, the playing, the singing, the songs, and even Marty's mullet and dodgy bolero jacket i warmed to after a while. When something is this good it puts so much of the music business into perspective. In a week when thousands of bands will be clamoring for attention, spending weeks getting their web sites and their MySpace.coms looking cool, spending time and money printing posters and flyers to hand out only to be discarded minutes later, this is what it is all about.........pure, genuine ability.
The No Depression party ends with a set from Beth Orton, and it ends for me after her opening couple of songs. We head out for some food and a change of bar. I will be back in The Cactus for the evening so need I change of scenery.
Tonight's show at The Cactus is a tribute show to Peter Case. A new album called A Case For Case has just come out, featuring over 30 artists performing his songs, and tonight a few of them are gathering for a concert, all in aid of the Hungry For Music campaign run by Jeff Campbell. It is a fine night with the likes of Joe Ely, James McMurtry, Ronny Elliot, Peter Mulvey, Piete Brown and others all playing some of Peter's finest songs. Peter is also in attendance, acting as MC, and playing while the acts change over. At the start of the second half myself and Peter get up and play Celestial City, a song which I am delighted to hear is one of Peter's favourites. It was also the song we used to close the show with, during the recent John Doe, Peter Case, MWK European tour. It is nice to be part of such a fine evening, and also to play the legendary Cactus Cafe.......with the pictures of Townes looking down on us all.

Saturday March 18th: Saturday is really the last day of SXSW, with the Austin convention centre keen to kick out all the companies who have had stands in there for the past few days, and most of the people working the stands, nursing hangovers. I find time for 2-3 more meetings including one with a Japanese promoter regarding a tour out there later in the year, before heading out to the stage at Lake Shore to catch some of the New Orleans night, including a set from the genius that is Allen Toussaint. Great stuff but would have preferred to see / hear it in a theatre rather than on a blustery outdoor stage.
Magic Christian As Allen saunters of stage we wander away and head back to the car which we left in Threadgills car park. By chance I notice that Stan Ridgway (famed for hits such at Mexican Radio and Camouflage) is due to play Threadgills in half an hour. Stan, a good friend of Peters, has been in touch with me recently regarding some shows in the UK, and maybe joining forces for some of them, so it is a nice coincidence. Naturally we stay for the show, which was marvelous, then we get a call from Peter to head over to The Saxon Pub, where a band called The Magic Christian are playing. Names after the 60's movie starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, The Magic Christian feature Cyril from The Flaming Groovies, and are exactly how a four piece rock n roll band should sound, with a lead singer who has his late 60's look, moves and chops down to a tee. He is a young Jagger, even though all the rest of the band probably wont see 50 again! Cyril plays some amazing guitar, and looks like a man who had spent the past the 30 years in a rock n roll band, and all the better for it! After Peter has jumped on stage to sing an Easybeats song, one I don't recognize, are ever growing party heads back downtown to a church where a Hootenanny is taking place. On paper it looked unmissable, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Marty Stuart, Joe Henry, Billy Bragg and assorted others. In fact it was the low point of the week. A complete bloody shambles of a "hootenanny" with Billy Bragg preaching to America, and him, Joe Henry, Neko Case and various assorted others trying to sing along with Ramblin Jack on various Woody Guthrie songs, and none having a clue where the other was going, an embarrassing mess. Poor Ramblin Jack, he did play a couple of tunes on his own, and that was wonderful, but as soon as the goon squad arrived mob handed, and insisted on joining in, he was lost. At this point let me hand you over to Peter Case for his take on the proceedings.
I saw Ramblin Jack at a "Hootenanny"...the hoot wasn't one, but Jack was in good form, whenever his fellow hooters weren't messing him up...he played a beautiful version of Hoagy Carmichael's "Hong Kong Blues"...( I'd heard and loved Jerry Lee's version)...Joe Henry and Billy Bragg were the designated hooters...sheesh...Bragg gave a big speech about how the world can learn a lot from Austin, as it's a liberal oasis in a conservative state...which was condescending and just plain stupid...if I went over to the UK and gave a speech like that in Brixton they'd probably hang me from a lampost...the song he followed up with was called "Keep The Faith"... I'm workin on some new "protest numbers": Hold Your Chin Up!....Keep A Stiff Upper Lip! Hang In There!...Joe Henry, Folk Singer: manhandling Deportee, forced Jack to say over the mic, "this is so far from any conception of the tune that I've ever had, I think I'll just have to strum along"...I don't usually wax negative about other singers, but there was so much faux compassion, self congratulation, etc...the illusion of caring...I went backstage and stuck my hand out to Bragg who I never had met... he blew me off with a look at his watch... I just wanted to see...same with Big Joe, who was in such a big hurry to get away from the scene, he looked at me and walked right past, without a word, tho we've met many times, played shows together etc...so much for the spirit of folk music solidarity...Roll On, Buddy!

Sunday March 19th: A surreal day to end our 4 weeks in the US. Our show today is at the renowned, Leeanns Barn Dance. A down-home, monthly event usually held in Austin musician Leeann Atherton's back garden, but for SXSW week the show is moved to a larger house and back garden near the creek. A gorgeous setting and a lot of work has gone into building a good stage, (2 stages in fact), plus a great sound system. T-shirts and posters are on sale for the event, BBQ is being cooked and all the assembled audience, approx. 400 have brought their own beer and food.........it is one big picnic. About 12 different acts are on the bill, mainly from Texas and none of which I know, except for Kevin Montgomery, and even he is now exiled in Windsor. Still, some good stuff played, and a great time is had by all. Alan is midway his last conversation with another pedal steel fanatic when the tractor (I kid you not), arrives with a trailer to transport us and our gear back to the car. We leave behind a party in full swing, and a lot of strange hippy dancing (which I banned during our set).
It is 8pm and I stick my head into the Continental Club and catch ten minutes of Pete Wylies set and run into Mojo/Gaurdian writer Sylvie Simmons. As always, it is nice to see her, and we have a quick catch up on what we have been doing, and what we have been to see. Even though Alejandro Escovedo is on later I decide not to stay and go instead to The Hole In The Wall, where a "Pub Rock" hootenanny is advertised. Great, a whole evening of pub rock classics. Well, actually not, as I have go the date wrong, but instead there is a collection of ten Austin musicians recreating the George Harrison concert for Bangladesh before our very eyes, and doing a bloody great job of it too. The real thing is being show on screens around the pub, and is synchronized so the right song is playing at the right time. So when Billy Preston gets all funked up during That's The Way God Planned It, so does our man portraying Billy here in the pub, and he goes for a wild dance around the bar. The part of George is being taken by Trish Murphy's brother (whose name I can't recall), but he does a fine job, and he has got the white suit on too. It is really uplifting experience, and as I turn to grin at Al, I realise he has gone and had been replaced by David Byrne, who turns and grins at me in approval. I rub my eyes but when I open them David is still there, and in the distance I can see Al at the bar, in deep conversation........no doubt he has been cornered by someone asking him about pedal steel guitars! Oh well, I will hang out over here with my new best friend and sing along to My Sweet Lord.