Dear E-mail listies,

It's been much to long since I wrote to you, forgive me. I've been busy and look to be getting busier. Below you will see my tour schedule for the next few months. It's very much in flux, as dates are added and the 'Living The Dream' (L.T.D.) tour continues. If it looks like I'm not coming directly to your town be patient my friends, be patient. In a month or two, I'm sure that those who plan my tours will have me there - singing and dancing for tips, a meal or just for the exposure and as the saying goes, you can die of exposure in Canada!. Certainly, at this time of year, that is the truth. Even so, me and my musical colleagues, those of us who toil deep in the folk mines, will be out and about scraping our windshields, plugging in our block-heaters and digging for gold. So come on out why dontcha? I will (literally) be going coast to coast before spring and must surely be passing close to you. Hope to see you at the gig, don't forget to dress sensibly.

So, what's new? Well. "That's How I Walk" (an appropriate title given the paragraph above n'est ce pas?) is being released Jan 28th on Rounder/Philo Records in the US and Europe www.rounder.com. I'm very excited to be working with Rounder on this release and anticipate all sorts of... umm... things. I know that I'm more than ready to open my beak to any US journalist who so much as glances in my direction. Couple that 'can-do' attitude with my craggy good looks and can fame and fortune be very far away, I ask you? Green M&Ms anyone? Seriously though, I hope that with my exhaustive touring and Rounder's press campaign, we should be able to create some kind of kerfuffle. So go forth and buy the freaking record folks... Hell, get one for every member of your family, get one for your pets... does your cat like to read CD booklets? Don't assume anything.... make sure you're covered... buy several copies... do it now! Do it often .

OK, enough with the terrible sales pitch... I know, I know... you expect more from me and I appreciate that I really do. Please ignore my crass commercialism, I'm a desperate man. (cue the wailing dependents).

Oh, and before I forget, I've been getting lots of e-mail via my web site from you guys. It's grand, it makes me feel... delightful! So thanks muchly. To the small but loyal British contingent who have waited very patiently for me to scrape together enough Euros for a return visit, GOOD NEWS! It looks like your e-mail requests will be answered. My people (ahem!) are talking with a British Agent ( George Smiley, I believe) about a possible European tour in May, so stay tuned. To the Australian few who have e-mailed me in the most beautiful prose, looking for live shows and record releases, dig this: That's How I Walk is likely to be released in Australia in the next few months... I don't know which label is doing the dirty deed (I'm just an artist y'know) but fingers crossed, I may be able to stow away on a maple syrup tanker headed for the Southern hemisphere sometime before next winter... and... well, that would be sweet! (ahem).

In other news, I just returned from Louisiana and Tennessee (Bogalusa and Nashville to be specific), where I spent the first half of January recording with my pals Colin Linden and Tom Wilson for the new Blackie and The Rodeo Kings album. We had an unbelievable time and I'm in the process of journalising some of the day to day events for the B.A.R.K. web site. I will be posting these doodles on my web site (click on NEWS and scroll man scroll!) If you're interested in learning more about the band go to > http://www.rodeokings.com/ < (don't forget to check out the message board). This new recording will be released in Canada on True North Records sometime in May and will probably be released in The US (possibly on Rounder) shortly thereafter. I think this record is going to knock people's socks off and I refuse to be held responsible for the consequences. The Rodeo Kings web site is about to go through a massive overhaul and even as I write this, Angela Browne (BARK Webinatrix) is designing fancy new buttons and cool squiggly things to keep you entertained, informed and in the know. So stay tuned.
Other than that, there's not much more to say except thanks, as always, for coming out to the shows. Thanks for taking the time to write to me and most of all, thanks for listening.

=SF=