Sun-day indeed !

Finally the sun is out for a few days...time to take a coffee on the deck and watch the flowers grow (and the cottonwoods and carrigana take over the back yard). When festival season kicks into high gear next week-end I'll have to figure out someone to feed the cat and tend the flowers for the one road trip my wife is accompanying me on. Next Friday (June 18th) is Carlson's on Macleod in High River, a lovely music bar in a lovely old heritage building; Saturday is the Cowboy Poets Gathering in Pincher Creek, where I'll perform songs from the "When I Was A Cowboy" cd; and Father's Day Sunday I do a morning guitar workshop and a set with the Electro-Fires in the early afternoon, at the Parkland Solstice Festival, Parkland Community Association in South Calgary. My long-time keyboardist Ron Casat is away on the West Coast, so we'll be joined by ace accordionist Howard Chapman (anyone familiar with the late Back Alley John has heard Howard's swirling bluesy/cajun accordion chops). The following week it's two gigs on Tuesday under the banner of the C-Jazz festival...one on Stephen (8th) Avenue at 4-ish, and Mikey's Juke Joint in the evening. That festival features a great line-up this year with (among others) Poncho Sanchez and Cedar Walton. I'll be at the Last Chance Saloon in the Rosedeer Hotel, Wayne, Alberta that Friday-Saturday, maybe fitting in a game of golf in Rosebud, where I've often had to hold play while wild game of various sorts meanders across the fairways. The new instructional dvd on blues mandolin should be out (www.learnrootsmusic.com) pretty soon, and I'm working on the re-release of my "live" solo disc, "Evenings Among Friends" for release this summer as well !