As you may or may not have noticed, the past few weeks since the Christmas tour have been Sabbatical, Part 2. It’s been good to get away from business stuff for a little while. A much-needed break, for sure.

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Right now I’m at Alison’s parents’ place in North Carolina. We’ve been here for about a week and are heading back to Nashville tomorrow. One of Alison’s best friends growing up got married Saturday, and we were both involved in that. The rehearsal dinner was at a Brazilian steakhouse. People with giant swords of meat walk around and cut pieces off onto your plate. Needless to say, that was the highlight of the day for me. Maybe the year.

Right after I got home from the tour all three of the girls got sick, so most of Christmas and the days surrounding were spent as quiet as possible, with as much Vitamin C and liquids as possible. Everybody’s back to health now, so that’s good.

Our Christmas was nice. The second year with our own family at home for the day. A little crazy because of the sickness, but better than last year when we had the sickness and a three-week old! Ella’s old enough to really get excited about presents and Christmas trees and the decorations, so that’s really fun. These are the days I’ll miss when they’re gone, I have no doubt.

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Well, the new year is upon us now, and I’m glad. This year has, without a doubt, been the hardest year of my life. Personally, business-wise, and in just about every other area, it’s seemed to be a pile-on of disappointments and hardships. I’m so relieved to flip over the calendar, to start some new statistics.

There are a bunch of new irons in the fire now, though, and after a couple weeks off I’m starting to get excited about them. A few new melodies have been popping up, a new lyric here and there. I’ve got some meetings coming up, some crazy ideas to try out, a few records that ought to be made. It will be good to get into them, and I’m praying I can find new passion as I start again, and am able to leave the past disappointments out of the process, (besides having learned from them.)

I’m about to start working on a plan to get my Letters to the Editor EP printed up and made available so I can give them away on the Spring Caedmon’s tour, and so you guys can have physical copies to give to folks you know. More on that in a day or two.

Also, it’s looking like I’m going to be able to replace a few of the guitars that had to leave last year, and I’ve been having fun picking out finishes and options. I’m also going to re-do (wait for it) my pedalboard again. I have some new ideas. And that means I’ll be selling some pedals, boards, guitars, etc… in the near future, as I move to a new phase.

I’m really looking forward to more fully embracing the guitar player in me. I’ve written before about how it’s been hard to focus on one things amidst production, artistry, guitar playing, band membering, songwriting, etc… but the common link to all of those is the song and my guitar playing. This year, at least to start with, I’m going to be focusing on those two things. I feel like I’ve somewhat found my voice as a songwriter already (though that journey is never complete). My guitar playing feels like its on the verge of finally becoming something unique. My own voice. I just can’t wait to dive deeper.

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In a week the girls and I will be heading to Orlando, along with Paul Eckberg, Aaron Sands, Ben Shive, Mitch Dane, a few others and their families. We’re going to be the house band for the YoungLife All Staff conference. I’m really looking forward to that. YoungLife has long been a huge part of my story, and it will be great to get to be a part of it again, and I’ll be making music with my good friends. And I’ll be in Orlando with my family. (We get a free day at a theme park. We have a 1-year-old and a 2 1/2 year-old, any suggestions on Disneyworld vs. SeaWorld?)

In a couple days we’ll start rehearsals for that, and when people start getting back to work I’ll be able to start putting some of my ideas/plans in process. Thanks to all of you for your incredible support this past year, and thanks in advance for loving and supporting me in this new one. I hope to honor your investment in who I am and what I do. Have a great New Year. I’ll see you on the other side.

In about an hour we’ll step on stage for the last show of this tour. Nineteen shows in twenty days. It’s been really great but everybody’s feeling ready to get back home.

A little over an hour ago we convinced Ben Shive to give us a concert. In this empty 2000 seat room, thirteen or fourteen of us sat in the front two rows while Ben sat at the Steinway and sang us some of his songs.

I’ve said before that Ben is one of my favorite songwriters and it’s just pretty much a fact that he’s the best musician any of us have ever known. His songs are these beautiful, tender pieces; sad and hopeful, spilling over with both the Fall and the Resurrection. I can’t wait for you to hear them one day. (Which will hopefully be soon).

For my money, those six songs were the best concert given this tour. The audience wanted more and more and the performances were innocent and honest. Now I feel I’m ready to go home.

Tampa’s Songs:
New Beginning
Two Weeks in Africa

Last Night’s Songs:
Hold the Light
Too Far to Walk

6 PM and we’re still on the bus on the way to Tampa for our 7 PM show. Somewhere in Georgia last night one of the wheels on our trailer fell off, so we had to take a number of hours getting it fixed. Tonight will be interesting.

Last night’s show at the Ryman was pretty amazing. I’d say it was hands down the best performance we’ve ever done. There were some incredible things going on in the songwriter round. Randall Goodgame blew my mind in a Ray Charles way I’ve never seen him embrace before. Jill sang “The Door” and kicked it in the teeth with goodness. I played “Hold the Light” on electric and felt really great about it.

There’s something about a stage like the Ryman, a place where Elvis and Johnny Cash loom large. Just being there makes you a little nervous, because it makes you want to rise to the occasion. I felt like my community rose to the occasion last night and added a tiny bit to the legacy of that place.

All right, we’re almost there, about to go into over-drive getting ready to pull this show off. Thank you to everybody who came out last night and were a part of that magical night.

Charlotte’s Songs:
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Hold the Light

Last Night’s Song:
Hold the Light

The tour is playing the historic Ryman Auditorium tomorrow night. It’s always an amazing show at one of the premier music venues in the country. A number of people have told me they’re coming in from out of town to see the show so I thought I’d take a few minutes and give you guys some tips of other things to do while you’re in my town.

Nashville is my favorite city in the universe. I love pretty much everything about it and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Here are some of the things that add to the greatness:

Baja Burrito - Alison’s favorite place to eat. Fresh, local, cheap and delicious.

Sam and Zoe’s - coffeeshop/lunch place right next to Baja Burrito. Sputnik is two blocks away and we eat lunch here probably three times a week. I especially recommend the blueberry smoothies.

Gruhn Guitars - The guitar shop none of us can afford. Right next to the Ryman. They have guitars here that were owned by KISS and Springsteen. You can get me a Christmas present here.

Jack’s BBQ - Also close to the Ryman. This place is old school Nashville and just plain awesome.

Pancake Pantry - You’ll wait in line for a half an hour, but you’ll be glad you did. My favorite are the chocolate chip pancakes. Heart attacky goodness.

Nashville Farmer’s Market - Local farmers and merchants set up in a beautiful place.

Nashville Public Library - The main branch is also a couple blocks from the Ryman. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings in Nashville, has great kids puppet shows and story times, and dozens of amazing and cozy rooms to sit and read. My favorite place in downtown Nashville.

Midtown Fellowship - My church, and the church that helps put on the Christmas show. If you’re around on Sunday, you’re welcome to join us.

Yazoo Brew - If you like a good beer, you’ll love Yazoo stuff. My favorite is the Dos Perros Amber, but they have a great Pale Ale and Hefeweizen. Their tap room is open in the afternoons Thursday - Saturday, but you can find their brews all around town.

Fido - Local coffeeshop down the street from Pancake Pantry. Jeremy Casella once saw Ben Folds and William Shatner there together.

Portland Brew - I’m not a coffee guy, but this place is the favorite among my friends. Cason says the coffee’s the best in town and the scones are “unbelievable”.

The Basement - One of my favorite music venues in town. It’s tiny, it sounds amazing and they have great shows. Wednesday night (tonight) the Silver Seas are playing. They used to be called the Bees. They’re the best band in Nashville, hands down. Friday and Saturday nights a ton of local bands are each taking their turn doing Beatles and Stones covers to benefit a local food bank.

Thanks to everybody who’s making this trip. I hope you have a great time at the show and in my city. See you tomorrow night.

P.S. OH MY. I HAVE FORGOTTEN.

Monell’s, Barbara’s, the Copper Kettle, and Arnold’s. Cason prefers Copper Kettle, Jill is raving about Sylvan Park, but I’ve never been there. Now I need to. But Monell’s may be the best food I’ve ever eaten. Enjoy…

Andy Gullahorn played this song a couple nights ago and I literally shed tears, not eyes a little wet tears, but the real down-the-cheek variety. You guys need to hear this…

This tune is on his new record, as is a little ditty about a little amputee you may be familiar with. You should get it.

Also, just so you realize how awesome Sara Groves is at things Scrabble-related, she did this in between her songs in the second half of the show tonight…

Last Night’s Songs:
Kara
Hold the Light

Tonight’s Songs:
High School Band
Hold the Light

Yesterday was 7 years of Alison and I dating and today is 5 years of me playing with Caedmon’s Call. Craziness.

They say time flies, and sometimes it does, but right now I feel like five and seven years seems about right. I have a hard time remembering life without Alison, and I don’t want to go back to that time. As well, Caedmon’s has been a part of my life as long as Alison has, The Normals started opening for them a couple months after Alison and I started dating.

So much has happened in that span that I feel I’m still reeling in a lot of ways, trying to get my bearings with both the new good and the new problems that come with the new good.

In other news, playing electric in the round has been great. Really freeing. It’s the instrument that I really play, the one that cuts deeper into me, and it lets me feel more comfortable in the surreal setting of a touring round. And I think it’s nice because it sort of breaks up the hour or so by allowing another texture to enter the mix. Having Sara play piano is great for that reason, and I feel this adds to the fullness of the time.

All right, I’m going to go play some more Speed Scrabble (I haven’t beat anybody in anything for a few hours) and then we’re going to play our second Huntsville, AL show. See you tomorrow.

Two Nights Ago Songs:
Wanted
Hold the Light

Last Night’s Songs
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Hold the Light

I’m writing to you today from a hotel room in New Milford, CT. It’s very snowy here, not quite like Gilmore Girls, but close. Too many of the guys on this tour like that show, but I digress.

We played the second of two Indiana shows last night. My parents came out and it was my Mom’s birthday, so that was fun. Gullahorn played “Roast Beef” for them, since they’d never heard it. What a friend.

Last night’s drive was terribly long, something like 14 or 15 hours, and our drivers were amazing and I’m so grateful for them. I’m also grateful that the extra time on the bus allowed me to discover two previously unknown (to me) films. Kung Fu Hustle was pretty cool. But it was nothing, and I say NOTHING, to the sheer wonderment of Gymkata, a movie about, obviously, the mixture of gymnastics and karate. Don’t trust me, take a look for yourself…

Again, you can thank Andy Gullahorn for that one.

Tonight I’m going to try my two songs in the round on electric, to see how it goes. Should be a fun little experiment.

Last Night’s Songs:
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Hold the Light

We had a good time celebrating Sadie Tuesday. Some pizza, some cupcakes, a few balloons and a new toy car that might be the greatest thing Sadie has ever seen in her life’s existence.

Ella and Alison came on the bus for our show in Huntsville, AL yesterday. Ella had so much fun on the bus, taking a nap and sleeping a few hours at night in the bunk. She called our bus driver, Dylan, “the wheel-man”, which he seemed to dig. She helped me pack up my gear after the show in her pink footie pajamas. How can you not fall in love with that?

Sara’s bus broke down so tonight she, her husband Troy, their kids, Andy, Jill and their new baby Tyler, and a few other folks are all on our bus tonight. It’s like summer camp or a slumber party or something. We watched the outtakes from the BBC Office, so my cheeks hurt from laughing, and now we’re rocking out to Neil Finn’s Sessions at West 54th. That guy is inspiring. Makes me want to play a rock show right now with a goldtop Les Paul. Which I want to do most of the time anyway.

It’s snowing really badly so we’ve pulled over and we’re sitting in a truckstop parking lot waiting for it to subside enough to let us keep driving.

My brother and his wife Candice came to the show tonight and it was great to see them. They forgot about Indiana’s really weird time zone issues and got there a few minutes after the show had started. I’ve decided not to take it personally.

I’ve been playing “Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates” a lot on this tour and I’m starting to really figure it out and get into it. It can take a while for a song to realize itself as a live tune. I write songs with the production in my head, but to pull it off with just a guitar and a vocal means you have to rethink it all from scratch. Sometimes songs you think would kill live don’t work the best and songs you thought you could never pull off end up really working. For whatever reason I’m really excited for where “Swing Wide” will go as I continue to discover its borders.

Last Night’s Songs:
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Early in the Morning

Tonight’s Songs:
Kara
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates

Last night’s show in Austin might have been the best yet. The audience was great and I felt the performances were particularly inspired. Maybe it’s because we were looking forward to getting home today for our one day off in the midst of the tour.

Jeff Miller, our bass player in Caedmon’s, lives in Austin and last minute he sat in with me, Cason and Garett on “Hold the Light”. It felt pretty great and he did an awesome job. Bass is one of those instruments you can easily not notice, but when you’re playing a song that all of a sudden has it, you realize how much more freedom everybody has to be melodic because that part of the chord is being voiced. All that to say, Jeff rules, as do Cason and Garett, and it was really fun to play that with them last night. Makes me look forward to the Spring Caedmon’s tour when we’ll do that song fully realized. The forecast shows some long guitar solos.

Today is Sadie’s birthday, she’s a year old now, I can’t believe it. We’ll have a little party but mostly just hang out as a family. We’re maybe 100 miles out right now, and I’m a bit antsy to just get there.

So my attempt to make Euchre the official tour game seems to have been overturned by Sara’s suggestion that we join her in a game of Speed Scrabble. I’m not too beat up about it, though, cause Speed Scrabble rules. And I’m pretty good (to toot my own horn).

So I’ve been thinking that maybe some of you don’t know exactly how the Christmas show works, so I want to tell you about it. The show is in two halves. Andy P starts off with a song of his own then brings out the other artists, who are Bebo Norman, Sara Groves, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn and myself. We do two rounds of songs, meaning everybody plays one, then goes around and plays another. People get up and sing on each other’s tunes and it’s a good time.

Then Bebo talks about Compassion International, which is an amazing organization if you’ve never looked into it, while the rest of us sneak backstage to play Speed Scrabble. Then we take an intermission, hopefully some kids are sponsored and we sell some cd’s, and then we come back out to perform Andrew’s Christmas record in its entirety, from start to finish, no stops. It’s a pretty amazing work of art and it’s an honor to get to be a part of it every year.

I was sitting on stage last night looking at yet another sold-out crowd and thinking, “What a great guy. Most artists who get this many people to a show bring out some new artist that pays to be on the tour, instead Andy brings out his friends and lets them all play and sell records, cutting into what he’ll sell.” It really is incredible of Andrew, but I think it’s what makes the show so inspiring. It’s such an obviously different kind of show than you’ll see anywhere else. It is a real honor to be a part of it.

Anyway, there’s that. I’m going to publish this and look out the window for a bit, watching Nashville grow ever closer.

Last Night’s Songs:
Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates
Hold the Light

Andy P’s boys are on the bus with us tonight and I’m writing in the midst of a pillow fight barrage. Good times.

Had a fun show last night in Dallas, saw a lot of new and old friends. Taco Cabana afterwards was a welcome late-night snack. CLICK HERE for Chris’ pictures of the show.

Tonight we’re in Memphis and we played to a very different, but very warm, crowd in a large church’s evening service. We played a shorter concert, but it was good. Sometimes you’re able to really feel that the truth is going out through your songs and is being received in ways that will actually change people. Tonight was one of those nights.

Last night’s songs:
There is a Reason
Early in the Morning

Tonight’s song:
New Beginning