I'm excited. It's almost time to get out and play some music. Your humble correspondent is just about ready to load up the tour bus, plug in the tunes and let it roll down the highway. On October 10th, I'm starting out on a 6-week adventure to play 17 shows and a finger-style workshop and attend two conferences. All the details of dates, locations and time are on the Performance page of my website.
The Finger-Style and Fall Colours Tour first date is October 11 at the Side Door CoffeeHouse in Pierrefonds, QC (Montreal - the west island). From there it's a family Thanksgiving weekend, then off to Toronto on the 17th to play The PaintBox Bistro for Coast to Coast Folk - four fine musicians from BC, Ontario and Nova Scotia. As soon as we finish that show, I'm heading off to Mississauga for this year's Folk Music Ontario conference.
I'll be playing some private showcases at FMO followed by a feature set at the Hamilton Folk Club on October 22. Then I'm then off to the Northeastern US to play Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine. Nestled in there is my first attendance at the North East Regional Folk Alliance in upstate New York, where I'll be playing a few guerrilla showcases. After all the US dates, it's back across the border and over to PEI for a return to The Dunk to make up the date that was snowed out in March.
In between all the preparation for the tour, I've managed to get into the Otitis Media studios in Lunenburg and spend some time with producer David Findlay. We're working on my new CD, titled Craftsman, which is scheduled for release in early 2014. Aside from the acoustic guitar by yours truly, Craftsman also features musical contributions from Kev Corbett, Alyssa Wright and David Findlay. We've completed a preliminary mix of the tunes and I'll have a few pre-release copies with me on the road. It's going to be a good one. If you liked Wires Rosewood & Roots, we think you'll love Craftsman.
I hope to see you out at a show on the tour or just hanging out along the way. I have some off days in the schedule which I'm hoping to get some more writing done and start organizing some spring and summer shows. - Ah, the glamourous life of an independent musician. I'd give it all up but it's just too much fun.
See you on the road.
Cheers, Bob
bobardern.ca
