Hi again from Lunenburg. The storm blew itself out after a couple of days leaving us to clear the driveway and ponder how many people have heart attacks while shovelling snow.

The exciting news is that the new CDs (and download cards) have arrived from the manufacturer so we're now live with the newly designed website. If you're a return visitor to the site, the looks are different but much of the old content is still here along with some new features.

The big feature is the new CD, called Come From Away. which has its own page. There's a sound player that lets you listen to clips of song on the album and you can read the lyrics there as well.

The history of the new CD and its title is quite simple really. Nova Scotians divide the world into two parts: Nova Scotia and everywhere else, which they call "Away." The term "Come From Away" refers to someone who has moved here from somewhere else. I wrote quite a few of the songs on the CD while I was in the process of moving down east from Ontario. Once I was settled I started exploring some of the history of the place, which started the muses working as well. There are a couple of relationship songs, one of which is a co-write with my erstwhile partner in rhyme, Jennifer Ives. Of course, it wouldn't be a Bob CD without a guitar instrumental or two.

Much of the recording was done in Lunenburg in a week in July, 2009 then later in the summer we added some of the other musicians in various places in Ontario. I am honoured to have such fine players who contributed their time and inspirations to the music. In alphabetical order the other players were Don Bray, Eilidh Campbell, Wendell Ferguson, Jennifer Ives, Tom Leighton, Mark Mariash, Barb Morris, Chip Veinotte and Alyssa Wright.

Along with the new CD, I have a live recording that's available only on download card. Yep, Bob goes digital. (About time, come the murmurings from the audience. *grin*) The download cards will be available at live shows while supplies last. The performance was recorded at the Harbour Folk Kitchen Party on July 18, 2009 at the Rose and Kettle Tea Room in Cole Harbour, NS.

Don Bray gets a big mention for both recordings because he brought a shedload of gear to Lunenburg for the studio recording, then dragged it all down to Dartmouth and back, setting it up and tearing it down several times during the week before taking it back home. Not only that, he plays mandolin and slide Hawaiian King guitar and sings some backup vocals.

I had the greatest of intentions of having everything completed at one go, only to discover I hadn't checked the size of some PDF files I'd created. They were far too big to fit in the website space and would have taken far to long even for the most dedicated follower to download. So it's back to the drawing board to shrink the files to a manageable size.

I've added some gigs to the listing - coming up next on January 23rd is the Carleton's Sing For Your Supper Songwriters Circle hosted by Kev Corbett. Kev and I will be joined by a couple of other singer/songwriters in a workshop setting. Come on down and enjoy the music - and the food too. The Carleton's a good place to eat as well as to listen to good music. Check the In Performance page for details

So now I'm off to try and shrink some PDFs. Hope you like what you see and hear. If you do, please sign the Guestbook or drop me an e-mail.

Cheers, Bob