So here I am, packing up the dreams God planted, in the fertile soil of… wait, no… I’m packing my bag for two and a half days in a van with the Square Peg Alliance!  So excited.

We’re off to St. Louis in an hour or so.  I won’t be taking my computer, which will be weird for me, but I feel like it will be a nice break to “unplug” from the matrix for a few days and devote the time to my friends.  Says the dude who’s bringing his iPod, in-ears, cel phone (and promises to twitter and facebook update the whole time).

Still, for me, it will be one less distraction and that’s something I’m looking forward to.  Oh, and the music.  And the friends.

As some of you know, this year I decided to take the show off the road and spend my time in Nashville, working on records and writing.  It’s been great and I’ve loved seeing my kids every day and diving into helping other artists achieve their vision.

That said, every now and then you need to get on the road with some friends and play some music.

And over the next couple of weeks that’s what I’ll be doing.

This coming Tuesday and Wednesday my friends in the Square Peg Alliance and I will be teaming up to play a few things.  The bulk of us (sans Derek) will be at:

Grace Community Chapel
7661 Mexico Rd
St Peters, MO 63376
(636) 970-1311
June 30, 7:00 PM
$5

From there we’ll head up to the Cornerstone Festival, where we will meet Derek, and the nine of us will have about five hours to ourselves on the Gallery Stage.  HERE’S THE SCHEDULE if you want to make sure you also get to catch Bloodline Severed and Austrian Death Machine.  I know, I know.  Sometimes it’s hard to fit it all in.

June 1, 6-11 PM.

The following week I’ll achieve my high school dream and fill in playing guitar for a couple of Jars of Clay shows.  15-year old Andy is nervous and giddy while 30-year old Andy is calm and professionally charting out the songs and running over harmonies.  My dream, of course, always included our national pasttime, so gloriously both shows I’ll be playing with them will be at baseball games.

Nashville, TN - Greer Stadium (Nashville Sounds)
Thursday, July 9
5:30 p.m. concert, 7 p.m. game
Ticket Info

Minneapolis, MN - Metrodome (Minneapolis Twins)
Saturday, July 11
6:10 p.m. game, concert afterwards
Ticket Info

If you haven’t heard their new record, The Long Fall Back to Earth, you need to.  It’s my favorite thing they’ve ever done.  Including their first record.  Go get it.

I said when I came off the road that I would only go back out for things that were really special.  Needless to say, making music with both these groups of friends is a rare gift and I’m grateful for the opportunities and excited that they’re coming up soon.  If you can make it to any of these shows please come and say hi!

Sorry this took me a week to post.  Quite lamely, I wanted to gather pictures before I posted.  So for an entire week I have been crawling through the jungles of Nashville, camo vest, black paint on my face, machete in my teeth, just hunting and gathering these elusive photos.

Now that I’ve captured these wild beasts I can tell you THANK YOU!  You helped me raise $395.  My goal was $250.  That’s $5 shy of 15 African children in school next year.  So cool to be a part of this.  So without further adieu, the photos…

My family and I before the race.  Sadie just learned how to wink.

Here’s Sadie talking to Mandy Mann about who knows what.  Probably princesses.

My Dad, who ran the race too (!) and I with the girls afterwards.

Ella and one of her best friends cruising to the finish line in the Kids Run.

Sadie and I crossing the finish line for the Kids Race.  (Confession: I carried her 96% of the way, and I got tired so we cheated.)

And now to what’s really important.  Mr. Andrew Peterson started bragging all over the internet that he would beat me.  I could not let this happen.  So it was an actual race.  For about two miles we were neck and neck.  Then we were both tired, so we just ran next to each other, not trying to win.  Then we got another burst of energy, declared that we would cross the finish line together, holding hands, and then both sprinted as hard as we could hoping the other believed them.  Then we crossed the finish line.  I thought he won.  He thought I won.  We both thought that we would puke.

Who are these girls?  They’re not even breathing hard?

The final results:

A tie.  To the second.  NEXT YEAR, PETERSON!  NEXT YEAR YOU’RE MINE!

My dear friend Randall Goodgame and I headed up to Xenia, OH this past Sunday and played a show together.  Without denying the reality that the 11 hours of driving was one of the more fantastic times in the past few weeks, the show was a lot of fun.  Our old buddy Jud put on the show and, as always, was an incredible host.

I thought it’d be fun to share a few photos of our journey.  Our musical journey…

Randall and a grand piano.  This is never a bad thing.

Randall, Jud and I

The git-fiddles for the evening…

We get by with a little help from our friends…

It was a fun show.  Thanks to everybody who headed out to spend the evening with us.  I think we need to do it more.  If you want us to come play, let me know!

June 13.  I’m running a race, and trying to rope in as many friends and family members as I can.  It’s called Ellie’s Run for Africa.  I ran it last year and it was a blast.

The best part is that all the money raised goes to help get supplies to kids in Africa so they can go to school.  25 bucks buys eight books, two uniforms and a pair of shoes; the requirements to attend.

CLICK HERE to go to my account and help out.

My oldest daughter E had her first ballet recital last night. So sweet. She was, is, and for a long while will be, so excited about it. My arm is still sore from holding the video camera in the air for 45 minutes. It was also the last day of nursery/pre-school. I sound like an old man, but they are growing up so fast. Last night was tender and precious, a little bitter but mostly sweet.

Besides that I’ve been busy in the studio. Doing a ton of mixing/mastering these days. I’m new to that world, but I’ve really been enjoying it. Can’t wait til you get to hear Randall Goodgame’s tune on BriteRevolution.com next month.

I’ve spending quite a bit of time on my next “big idea”. It’s the weirdest one I’ve had yet, but I think it’s probably worth doing. That’s all I feel I can say right now, but soon and very soon you’ll be invited to be a part and I’m excited.

Besides writing and recording I’ve been slowly starting to pursue what may very well be a leading to a whole new world. I’ve been talking with some folks, praying with others, and am hoping to find both a clear calling and a resource to allow me to more fully use my gifts to both help younger artists and provide for my family without always feeling the tug of the road. You can pray for me, I’d appreciate that. I wish I had a better way to say what this means to me, but it’s still a bit amorphous in my head, though it’s becoming somewhat concrete in my heart.

Anyway, Steve Hindalong is here now and we’re going to cut a demo for a tune we wrote way too long ago. I’m always excited to spend some time with him. Should be fun. Talk soon.

It’s been a fun week.  I played in a round at the legendary Bluebird Cafe last night, always a blast to play there.  A great artist I just produced, Brice Ash, hosted the round and Kelleigh Bannen and Shannon Cain rounded out the evening.

I’ve been writing a few times this week with a band called Remedy Drive, which has been fun.  Other than that just working a ton in the studio.  Finishing up a Randall Goodgame tune and some of my own for BriteRevolution.com.  I’ve been doing my songs with Cason Cooley.  Here’s a shot of him editing some percussion in his new studio.

Today I played bass on a project for Brendan McCarthy.  Mitch did a record for him last year that I played and sang on and I really enjoyed working with him.  This EP is looking to be even better.  I’ll play guitar and sing on it later this week and next.  I can’t wait.

Today I got the awesome experience of playing this gorgeous 1964 Gibson Thunderbird.  This was seriously rad.

It’s finally stopped raining here in Nashville for a few minutes, so I’m going to head out and get a little run.  Who else is going to see Star Trek on Friday night?  I’m going to see the crazies in their Klingon costumes!

So this has been a crazy couple of days.  Monday was awesome.  Eight dudes joined me for some rocking “Lunch n’ Bowl”.  I lost.  Last place.  Ouch.  Then about twenty or so folks joined Alison and I at Otter’s for some chicken tenders and conversation.  Todd and Garett dropped by as well, which was really fun.

Had a pretty amazing show at 12th and Porter later that night.  First I played guitar with Lindsey Jones, always a good time.  Then my crew joined me onstage for some rock and roll.

That’s Emily Deloach singing background vocals, Winn Elliott on the keys, Paul Eckberg on drums, Chris Weigel on bass and Jim Colella on guitar.  Quite honestly, one of the best groupings of musicians I’ve ever played with.  Hopefully this gang will be with me at local shows for a while now.  I can’t thank them enough for their awesomeness.

And to prove that I live in a house with pre-schoolers, my setlist was written in crayon: (note the hints for the usual forgotten lyrics in black, guitar changes and capo settings in red)

Today, Alison and I got to go to Ella’s PreKindergarten Spring Concert and Luncheon.  Basically, a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds on a church stage singing cute little songs with cute little motions.  Tears were shed for the sweetness.

Then I came home to this in my basement:

Yeah, this would be the SECOND time our kitchen sink has had a crazy leak into my basement studio.  First time it was the pipes going FROM the sink.  This time it was the col water TO it.  Thankfully it wasn’t near as gross as it looked at first, it was just a giant mess and took up a bunch of time I’d have rather spent mixing.

I’ll post some more photos of the roadtrippers as I get them.  Thanks to Geof, Chris, Josh, Doug, Michael, Tim, Andy V, Jaron and Katherine, Jud and his crew from Xenia and the boys from Alabama.  You guys made for quite a day, and I barely drove at all!  Glad you made it back safely.  It’s a dream come true to have people care so much about what my friends and I get to do.  Hope you had a great time.  Let’s do it again soon.

Ok, I’ve got it.  For all you out-of-towners coming in Monday for the rock and roll show, as well as any in-towners who feel like hanging, here’s the scoop:

If you’re in town by noon, let’s meet up at the Pla-Mor Lanes in Berry Hill for Lunch n’ Bowl.  Yeah, that’s right.  You buy a combo meal (burger, fries and coke) and you get shoes and two games of bowling for free.  In and out for like six bucks, you can’t beat it.  We’ll grab a couple lanes and you can take turns mocking me and my spinless roll.

Pla-Mor Lanes
2906 Foster Creighton Dr.
Nashville, TN 37204

Then I’ll have to go back to work for a bit.  So, you know, do whatever you want.

Then, and the time may change as soundcheck becomes more specific, but probably around 5:30 or so we can meet up for dinner at Otter’s.  This is a strictly chicken tenders restaurant.  You may hate that idea.  I will love it.

Otter’s Chicken
Music Row
1528 Demonbreun St.
Nashville, TN 37203

So, basically, come to Nashville and eat terrible, delicious food with me.  And bowl.  And then catch a rock show with copious guitar solos.

I may even play my new song about the lonely astronaut.

That is not a joke.

It’s been a good and busy week.  I’ve been getting to work in a production role with two great artists and friends.  I did eight songs for Kevin Lawson and today started work on a tune of Randall Goodgame’s for BriteRevolution.com.  Once that song is finished I’ll start mixing Kevin’s stuff.

It’s been fun at Sputnik these days.  Vance is working with the White Stripes, Mitch has been doing tracks for this killer band called The Four Kicks and Josh has been in the closet behind me making weird objects make strange noises, generally out of other weird objects that no longer work.  It’s been a good place to be.

The girls are so much fun right now.  They’re alive to the Spring, telling us all about the bugs that live in the grass, scouting out the dandelions and just feeling the urge to run, jump and shout for no other reason than that they can.  Maybe that’s not the weather, but whatever it is it feels right, and it’s a joy to watch.

Alison and I have been doing the spring cleaning, and that’s been refreshing, and I’ve been trying to do the same with my mind.  The guys in my neighborhood have started reading an ancient little book called “Scientology”.  It’s a great combination of aliens and religion.

I’m kidding.  We’re reading Brother Lawrence, “Practicing the Presence of God”.  It’s simple, but wholly overwhelming, showing us what it might actually look like to take every thought captive and live like we really believe we are new beings with the Spirit of God alive inside of us.  I’d tell you more, but I have so little I feel like I understand.  I just know that I want the Truth to change who I am, and so I ought to seek the Truth more often.

Anyway, I guess that’s it for now.  Oh, come to Nashville this Monday night.  A bunch of other people are.  The show’s at 8.  Dinner at 5:30 sound good to all you out-of-towners?  My favorite BBQ place closed down, so I’m hurting for ideas of a good place for a group of 15 or so non-locals who need to experience real Nashville.  Anybody have suggestions?