The harvest season is upon us, and so is the Cole Harbour Heritage Festival! I have the honour of participating in the annual parade this coming Saturday, September 8th. My fiddle and I will be among the hay bales, sawin’ a few tunes and singin’ a few songs. Come on out to the farming heartland of Dartmouth, and celebrate our community and rural heritage; the parade starts at 10:00 am at Pope John XXIII Church at 35 Colby Drive.

I’ll be on the road for a spell this summer, playing in all four Atlantic provinces with family and friends. First up is the return of the Full Circle Festival, this year taking place by the Avon River in Newport Landing, Nova Scotia. It’ll be a full weekend of camping, food and fun with an old-timey stringband musical theme; I’ll be onstage at noon on Sunday, July 8th, but you might want to camp out for the whole weekend…there’ll be lots of folks that’ll be happy to see you there!

The next whistle-stops will be New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, where I’ll be joining the fabulous Keyframes from Toronto. The Keyframes are swinging their way through the Maritimes on their “Low Light High Light” tour, and I’ll be sharing the stage with them in Port Elgin, NB at Centenmial Park(3:00pm) and Charlottetown, PEI at Baba’s Lounge(9:00pm) on July 15th, and Moncton’s Plan B Bar and Lounge on July 16th.

To complete the circuit, I’ll be heading over to western Newfoundland for a little hiking and sightseeing in Gros Morne. Of course, I managed to find a little time in the schedule for a couple of shows! I’ll be playing at The White Horse Whisky Bar in Corner Brook on July 26, and then at Clancy’s Pub in Stephenville on July 28.

See y’all around!

Many thanks to Celeste, Evan and everyone else on staff at Rockbottom for some great nights at the Wednesday Bluegrass Jam. The people, food, and beer are terrific, and it was an absolute delight to share the stage with Brian Baker, George Barkhouse, Dan MacCormack and Jude Pelley for some memorable pickin’n’grinnin’! I look forward to playing with these folks again, sometime.

Speaking of which, why don’t y’all come down to Rockbottom on Friday, July 6 to check out certified guitar pickin’ like it ought to be done, featuring the incomparable Brian Baker and George Barkhouse. They’ll be making you smile all night with a big ol’batch of rockabilly, ragtime, jazz and blues on the guitar and dog-house bass; I’ll be starting off the evening with a little fiddling and guitar picking of my own. Come by and have a beer and a good time with us; things get underway at about 9:30 pm.

And I’m back at the ol’ blogstead once again!

Just wanted to let folks know that I’ll be joing the Bluegrass Jam Band weekly starting June 13 at Rockbottom Brewpub on Spring Garden Road, filling in for Modern Grass regulars Tom Terrell and Andrew Sneddon while they’re on tour across Canada. Just a summer temp-job for me, ‘though of course I’d be tickled to play with these gents again anytime!

The Bluegrass Jam Band’s lineup will include such fine folk as George Barkhouse, Dan MacCormack, Jude Pelley and Brian Baker, not to mention yours truly. Seems to me there will be some fine music going on, so come on down to Rockbottom and take a listen.

All right. I’ve got the whole facebook thing happening pretty well these days – now it’s time to get some blog action underway. Let’s see . . .

Looking at the ol’ calendar, it’s pretty clear why I’ve been out of the blogosphere for a while. Things have been happening. Good things.

In addition to shows here, there and everywhere, I spent the winter in rehearsal and studio working on my upcoming CD. This fall I’ll be releasing a dozen tunes or more featuring original folk tunes, eclectic influences, sweet vocals and some very nice old instruments. My thanks to Charles Austin and Echo Chamber Audio for making it sound fantastic – we’ve got a way to go yet, but it’s getting close and I’m looking forward to sharing the new tunes with you soon.

The new record features lots of good work from Chad Creaser, Drew Debay, Paul Pottie and Devin Small (the band), plus guest contributions by Willie Stratton, Dan MacCormack (Grassmarket), Grant Mitchell, Wanda Milne and the truly remarkable and multiply award-winning Carmel Mikol. All fantastic musicians, and a pleasure to work with. Thanks to you all for lending your sounds.

In other news, I am now doing a weekly show at Seamus David’s Pub on Thursdays from 6-9pm; it’s a great spot – you should come. The Celtic Corner open mic on Tuesday evenings is continuing nicely as well with lots of great talent coming out, new and familiar faces, and a nice collection of dedicated regulars keeping us honest.

I’ve also made a recent guest appearance with the Bluegrass Jam Band, filling in for Kevin Roach and playing alongside Jude Pelley, George Barkhouse, Dan MacCormack at Rockbottom Brewpub in Halifax, with possibly more to come. Stay tuned for details!

That should do for now. But don’t wander off too far – I’m turning over a new leaf! In a couple of weeks I’ll be posting about dates on the west coast of Newfoundland coming up in July, and other summer fun to come. Thanks for tuning in.