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index | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990
March 3, 2004
Hello from OHIO,
We thought we'd send a long overdue update letter your way regarding the goings on here in this gently sloping orchard called Over the Rhine.
It's not hard to believe in the idea of Spring these days. Something about the way the air smells, the light lingering longer in the evenings, the neighborhood mockingbirds reeling oblvious through their borrowed snippets of songs. (We enjoy reading that previous sentence aloud in a posh English accent.)
We hope you're all doing well.
Karin and I are looking around as if for the first time after a much needed sabbatical. We've been lying low and in each others arms, basking in the small joys and victories of being at home together. We've talked and laughed our way through many a late night bottle of red, and Karin even after all these years, finally taught me how to make a good cup of coffee, a responsibility I've gladly taken on from time to time on cold crisp mornings.
We've also enjoyed long relaxed hours of reconnecting with family and friends that we all too often leave behind when we tour.
We adopted a companion for Willow, a Great Dane mix who goes by the name Elroy Levon. Elroy and Willow have become fast friends, growling playfully and rolling around together on the living room floor. The new boy, Elroy, has heaped a 100+ pounds of new love into the Grey Ghost mix. It has quickly become difficult to imagine our previous life without him. He's particularly happy in the mornings and his version of tail-waggin' is contagious. (And a little bit dangerous. He's got a two-foot tiger tail that really gets to whippin'.) The dogs get us out of the house for air in the mornings and evenings (a good thing). When they run, it reminds us that it is good to do what we were born to do. (We'll post some pictures of Elroy soon. We like to describe him as a cross between a Holstein and man's best friend.)
Karin and I have been taking a new look at these days and dreaming aloud about the years ahead of us. We know we want to love each other real good, to truly grow together and put down deep roots. We want to sit on the front porch together many years down the road and reminisce about all this and laugh alot.
We know we want to continue to write and record--our project list is criss-crossed with notes and scribbles.
We know we want to start a family.
We know we want to continue to perform--it's a part of our lives which continues to be mysteriously life-giving. (And we miss all of you when too many days go by without making some kind of lovely ruckus together.)
We know we want to spend more time working together at home.
We know we want to control the squirrel population in the back yard. (Thank God for catch and release traps.) We should never have brought Joe Henry home.
We know we need to paint the kitchen.
We're a little unsure how to fit all of this together sometimes into a life that's deeply nurturing yet spontaneous, rooted in community, yet adventurous. We're looking for a rhythm. We long for wisdom and grace.
Our sincere thanks to all of you for your encouragement, your creativity, your prayers and thoughts as Karin and I took this much needed time to be together, alone. (You sent drawings, cards, flowers, GDBD dog bowls (!), dessert wine, notes, letters, many tiny gifts. You sent your prayers. They were heard.)
OHIO, this here double album, our latest, has been a good roller coaster ride. It's kicked up a fair bit of dust on the back roads of the music industry. We immensely enjoyed seeing all of you last December on our annual Christmas Tour. (Check out the MP-3 of the month at overtherhine.com!)
The listeners of our home town AAA station (WNKU 89.7fm) voted OHIO number one for 2003, and CityBeat, our arts and entertainment weekly, inducted Over the Rhine into the Cincinnati Music Hall of Fame. (Twenty years too early.) But most importantly, we feel we made the record we needed to make. We are happy that so many of you seem to enjoy these new songs.
Believe it or not (typical artists) we're thinking a lot about our next record already. Stay tuned.
We're planning on many updates to the website this year, and (long-time-comin') we've now brought a message board to overtherhine.com. We're not letting go of our e-mail discussion list, but we feel the message board is a logical progression and will make it easier for Karin and I to participate in this on-line community that has grown over the years. There will be a link on the home page soon, but if you want to join and participate immediately, go to overtherhine.com/orchard, and have at it! We look forward to hearing from you.
(Thanks to Drew Vogel for getting this up and running for us. And thanks again to Eric King for his webmaster ways. Congratulations to the Kings on the birth of their fourth (leap year) child, Anton Michael, on February 29th!)
As for touring, we were planning on heading out to the West Coast for a few weeks of dates this Spring, but we've decided to hold off for a number of reasons. (And sorry about the February Los Angeles concert. We were supposed to be part of the filming of a pilot television show, but that was postponed, so we had to lay low.) If we don't get to the West Coast soon, maybe we can do some Christmas shows in December and get caught up with all of you. It's been too long.
Look for a few intimate concerts mostly close to home in coming months, (we may ask you to do most of the traveling for awhile) and a few festival appearances when the weather gets a bit warmer. (As per usual, stay tuned for specifics at overtherhine.com.)
I have a new instrumental record completed that we'll be making available through the website soon. It's called, Unspoken Requests.
(Nursing mothers, loosen your blouses...)
Well, we think of you all often. We thank you for giving this music a home, for listening so well for so long.
Keep in touch,
Linford and Karin
Hello from OHIO,
It's a breezy summer day here at the Grey Ghost, not too hot, bright skies, wispy clouds. Tracy just brought the kids over for a swim this afternoon. We've got a big round galvanized watering trough full of fresh water under the grape vines in the backyard. It's rather small as swimming pools go, but it's wet and cool and feels good. Gets the job done. Plenty enough water for contests to see who can hold their breath the longest, rousing sea crab tussles and a neat little game called, "Ready-set-splash-the-crap-out-of-everyone."
Our dear friends Dave and Jody Nixon are coming over for supper this evening so I'm going to have to try to be brief. We'll write more later. Karin's got the table set. Life is good.
In no particular order:
It was great fun getting the band together recently and playing shows in Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, Lexington, as well as at Cornerstone Festival in southern Illinois. We always feel compelled to say thank you to those of you who make the effort to come out and cheer us on as we try our songs on for size every now and again, spread our wings, take a dive. Our audiences are very special. Hooray for us.
After fourteen years of fairly active touring, we thought we had seen just about everything. But then we woke up in Columbus and discovered that all of our touring gear had been stolen except for the Hammond B-3 in its road case. I guess that was the one thing that they couldn't lift.
We waited around for a few hours and filed a police report finally and then booked it to Cincinnati where several very helpful friends came to our rescue and loaned us instruments etc to play the sold out show at Twentieth Century Theater.
It was a blast and we were able to shake the whole thing off for the time being and enjoy ourselves, enjoy you, the evening. I think it was the first Over the Rhine show where someone took up a collection (what used to be called a love offering if memory serves) and handed us a bag with about $600 in small bills to take the edge off. My knee jerked and I started playing Just As I Am, and Karin was crying and said something to the effect that there were tears and cash on stage and it was turning into a bona fide evangelistic experience.
We talked through the whole thing and it's just stuff, and nobody was hurt, and it's not a mortal wound. But when somebody enters your world and messes with it, it's hard to shake the feeling of being violated. It is emotional to lose instruments that you've played and written and recorded with for years. Our prayers fluctuated between Old Testament and New Testament prayers: May they fall into the snare they've laid for themselves. May we forgive them.
We've still got the important stuff: each other, our friends, the watering trough.
But what the heck, if you're poking around in music stores or pawn shops and happen to see any of the following feel free to let us know:
Karin's Lowden Acoustic Guitar: handwritten Serial Number 8406 on the label inside the sound hole.
Leslie Organ Cabinet Model No: 122 RV, Serial Number H65918, with accompanying Starbound Road Case.
Yamaha P200 Digital Piano Serial Number 016459 in a Showcase Custom Road Case Serial Number 2846.
Karin's pedal board w/Fishman Pre-amp etc in a road case marked "over the rhine".
Karin's vintage Fender Twin Guitar Amp in a road case marked "over the rhine".
That's just the tip of the proverbial ice berg lettuce. Maybe we'll get serious (we've been trying to round up serial numbers etc) and post a complete list on the site and turn the wrath of our fans loose on the world armed with lyrics such as "Eyes wide open to the great train robbery" and "I didn't know that murder could be good".
Changing the subject:
We're working on our next project for Back Porch, but in the meanwhile, we've made available through the website only a recording of a concert that was made informally while we were on tour last Fall. It's not a perfect recording by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem to capture some of the raw energy that has a lot to do with you being in a room with our music. Some of the songs on OHIO seemed to want to explode when we performed them in front of an audience, and we tried to hang on and take a good ride together when the spirit moved. We've tried pretty hard to document just about every phase of our journey so far as a band, and we think you'll enjoy this memento of a very cathartic chapter. Here's the link if you'd like to pick up a copy of CHANGES COME | Over the Rhine LIVE:
http://overtherhine.com/music/recordings/cd12/cd12.html
We're not going to tell you where the concert was recorded. Maybe you can figure it out. If you weren't there, you were probably there in spirit.
Thanks also to those of you who picked up a copy of Unspoken Requests, my new piano cd.
Also, we're going to be selling off (and retiring) all the remaining t-shirts that were released with OHIO. So if you've been meaning to pick up a "Wine Me, Dine Me, Over the Rhine Me" t-shirt, or an OHIO shirt (remember, it sounds exotic to people that don't actually live here), get 'em while supplies last. They'll be going on sale in the next few hours for $9.99... (If technology cooperates.)
Well, it's supper time.
Hope to see you all soon, and thanks for discovering and uncovering our music. It looks good on you.
Linford for Over the Rhine
- - -
Subject: Northern Spy #41
Hello from the attic of the Grey Ghost...
1. Fall is our reward for living in Ohio. A swing state. A battleground state. Whee!
2. This past Saturday we played The Black Swamp Arts Festival in Bowling Green, Ohio. Gorgeous day, great crowd, some familiar faces. (Big college football game down the road. Lots of people wanting to hear music nonetheless.)
3. Karin surprised me. Sometimes I forget. The girl can sing.
4. And thanks. What can we say? Over the Rhine fans are pretty special, eh? We had just about all our gear stolen on the road a few months back. People here and there around the world who listen to our music got their heads together on-line and took up a collection. A love offering if you will. Right around $4000 was raised if you consider the Fender guitar amp that we received in a cardboard box, meticulously padded, and the shopping bag full of cash at the 20th Century Show. Wow.
5. Stiv and Drew presented us with a check at The York Street International Cafe. A television station showed up with a camera. We thought we made the evening news. We thought we were gonna be able to thank all y'all on tv. We thought we were famous and what not.
6. We were bumped that evening by hurricane Charlie.
7. Karin played many guitars in search of a replacement for her Lowden. She played old Martins and Gibsons. She played a few Taylors and looked troubled. She played a 30-year-old Gibson called "The Dove" that was a contender. Karin said the dove inlays reminded her that we needed to forgive the bastards that stole all our stuff.
8. Finally she located a tiny store in Coshocton, Ohio, the only store in Ohio that carries Lowdens, and we drove some back roads, a day out, the two of us drinking coffee and talking, looking at the sky. We found the store in an old house by a creek. Wildwood Music. Signed picture of Johnny Cash on the wall. Karin played many different Lowdens and then finally picked up a brand new guitar--the same model as the one that was stolen, the O25c. She gave it a strum. Cedar, East Indian Rosewood, Pearwood binding. Tears came to her eyes.
9. That was the one.
10. Felt like home.
11. In the meanwhile, I was eyeing this pretty little girl of a guitar myself, and Karin said I could take it home since I had a big birthday comin' up and since I had agreed to drive all that way.
12. We were both proud owners of new Lowdens.
13. New acoustic guitars sure smell good.
14. We may be the only working band in America whose fans bought the instruments being played on stage.
15. It's election season, and we submit this for your consideration. The Poopsmith Song! Our first recording with and for children. A universal theme. Based on a true story. We grinned alot recording it. Lotsa parents have downloaded the free MP-3 from overtherhine.com. Their pre-schoolers seem to agree: Play it again! We did a focus group with my neices and nephews. Satisfying giggles all around. One mother wrote us and said it significantly helped her son narrow down the range of targets.
16. The Poopsmith Song! was supposed to be included on a parenting cd that was going to be distributed free to parents in Ohio. The project is being organized in part by Hope Taft, wife of Republican Governor Bob Taft. The music coordinator loved the song. The music was screened by a political adviser to the Republican Party. The song raised concerns. It was too edgy. Potentially politically damaging. An election year. "We can't include a song about poop."
17. Family values.
18. We resist the urge to have thousands of you send zip-lock baggies, stool sample safely sealed, to the Governor's office.
19. "We were going to put it in the potty, but I guess you and your advisers know of a better place to put it."
20. "See what brown can do for you."
21. Ha, ha, ha. Well, the song is still free and available at overtherhine.com.
22. (Then there are the 20-something, single, literary listeners. "I don't know, I just don't get as much from this song on repeated listenings as I do from some of the other songs.")
23. No shit, Sherlock.
24. I love writing these newsletters.
25. Page two.
26. Oh, now this. (The end of an era.) We're freshening up our announcement list and moving it to overtherhine.com. If you're already on one of the existing lists, you should receive an e-mail in the next few days inviting you to click on a link and subscribe to the brand spankin' new announcement list. If you do that you'll continue to receive these masterpieces. (And there will be a pop-up window on the overtherhine.com home page where you can sign up as well.)
27. The e-mail discussion list is being retired. Many thanks to all of you who contributed over the years. It was a good run. The discussion has been moved to The Orchard, our on-line forum. Stop by and join this growing community if you're so inclined. (Would anyone be interested in a "Lostee's Forum"?) By the end of the month, we hope to add monthly "live" chats. Stay tuned.
28. We're told that this Sunday evening, September 19th, Idea #21 (Not Too Late) will be used in an episode of Jack and Bobby on the WB, 9pm Eastern. (This song was the hidden track on OHIO.) Check it out.
29. This just in from Karin. Karin measured the tail of our Great Dane this morning. Elroy's tail is 1' 9" long. In case you wanted to know. (For purposes of clearance and safety.)
30. We've got two very special double headers coming up--Old Towne School of Folk Music in Chicago on Saturday, September 25th, 2004. (Two shows: early and late.) (An amazing venue, our first time.) And Canal Street Tavern in Dayton, Ohio, Friday and Saturday, October 22nd and 23rd. (Our 2nd living room.) Hope to see you. We've got a few new ones to try out.
31. Our kitchen is painted! Thanks for your help Angie. Love the three beautiful red doors.
32. Due to the success of our "Dorm Room Special", we'll be running another poster sale soon. Stay tuned at overtherhine.com. Inspiring walls by us.
33. The DVD is still in the works. Hope to have a final creative campfire with Kris Barberg soon to cut it all together. Thanks to Kris for her unwavering dedication to this project, and patience.
34. We're planning another Christmas tour--just a few chilly, come-inside-out-of-the-cold weeks--mostly close to home. Consider this your invitation to come to us. The big homecoming Taft Theater show in Cincinnati is scheduled for December 11th.
35. Thanks to NYC sisters Britt and Heather for the beautiful rose bush (!) and the old, well-loved Salinger books. We planted the rose bush in the back yard. It bloomed!
36. Thanks to all of you who have made our music some part of the story you're writing with your lives.
37. We're working on recording a new collection of songs for all y'all.
38. I think that's it for now.
39. Bye. "Life is strange. Life is good. Life is all that it should be."
40. Linford
41. & xoxo Karin
Hello fellow travelers,
It's a rainy November Saturday night in Ohio. Big moon last night behind naked oak branches. Roaring fire in our back yard under crisp star-sprinkled sky. Tonight, cold and wet outside, so we sit in a warmly lit kitchen. And wouldn't you know, we're listening to our new record. Giving it a spin before it gets sent off for final mastering on Tuesday. We realized in the last few days that it's called 'BORN'.
We had been sketching and writing off and on for much of the year. Turns out we started recording for real on election day, and finished mixing on Thanksgiving Eve. A relaxed record made at home in this wooden house we call the Grey Ghost. Upright bass. Piano. Acoustic guitars. A few horns. A few subtle textures. A voice.
Karin and I stayed home more this year and felt the water in the well rise. We felt the seasons change close to home. There's a lot of love on this one.
Over the Rhine | BORN is set to be released March 29, 2005 on Virgin/Back Porch Records.
1. I Want You To Be My Love
2. Born
3. Drunkard's Prayer
4. Bluer
5. Spark
6. Hush Now (Stella's Tarantella)
7. Lookin' Forward
8. Little Did I Know
9. Who Will Guard The Door
10. Firefly
11. My Funny Valentine
***
We were driving the other evening and Karin said, Look at the sky: Winter is wrestling with Autumn.
And it went on for a few hours. A looming large moon. A circus of white clouds parading toward the horizon. A dark storm shadowing us a few fields over out the driver's side window.
Winter won and stomped its foot and said, I'm here to stay. It spit snow on Thanksgiving day. The hats and scarves and gloves have come out of hiding, which means it's time for us to bundle up once again and take our suitcases full of December songs on the road. Candlelit stages. Come-in-out-of-the-cold evenings together. Mulled wine, cigar smoke, laughter, love and all its possibilities, rosy girls with half-filled notebooks, boys with songs up their sleeves, music for sale, we wake up dreaming.
Dig out the crumpled up road map. Select a few close companions. Come find us. Say hello. It's not the same without you.
Over the Rhine | DECEMBER 2004 TOUR DATES
Thursday, Dec 2 Pittsburgh, PA The World
Friday, Dec 3 Columbus, OH Little Brothers
Saturday, Dec 4 Akron, OH The Lime Spider
Sunday, Dec 5 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
*
Tuesday, Dec 7 Madison, WI Luther's Blues
*
Thursday, Dec 9 Grand Rapids, MI Calvin College Fine Arts Center
Friday, Dec 10 Indianapolis, IN Birdy's
Saturday, Dec 11 Cincinnati, OH The Taft (Our Annual Homecoming Show.)
*
Monday, Dec 13 OFF! (Karin's Birthday)
Tuesday, Dec 14 Lexington, KY The Dame
*
Friday, Dec 17 Chicago, IL Schubas
Saturday, Dec 18 Chicago, IL Schubas
Check out overtherhine.com for more info.
***
Spread a little universe of music this Christmas:
Over the Rhine: Till We Have Faces (The band is born.)
Over the Rhine: Patience (The band gets signed to its first record deal.)
Over the Rhine: Eve (The band turns up the volume.)
Over the Rhine: Good Dog Bad Dog (The band grows up.)
Over the Rhine: The Darkest Night Of The Year (The band revisits a childhood Christmas.)
Over the Rhine: Besides (The band raids its broom closet for overlooked goodies.)
Over the Rhine: Amateur Shortwave Radio (The band celebrates 10 years of touring and survival.)
Over the Rhine: Films For Radio (A densely cinematic song cycle that wins the band an international following.)
Over the Rhine: The Cutting Room Floor (The band opens its sketchbook.)
Over the Rhine: OHIO (The band reveals its roots and accidentally makes a double album.)
Over the Rhine 'Live' | Changes Come (The band documents a cathartic concert.)
Over the Rhine: BORN (Coming March 29, 2005 on Virgin/Back Porch. Bare-boned songs blossom in our very own living room.)
Solo:
Linford Detweiler: I Don't Think There's No Need To Bring Nothin'
Linford Detweiler: Grey Ghost Stories
Linford Detweiler: Unspoken Requests
Visit overtherhine.com for holiday specials. (Thanks to the fine folks at Paste for the great job they do fulfilling all of your orders.)
***
Feel like getting to know others who have discovered our music? Go to overtherhine.com and visit The Orchard, our on-line forum.
***
Well, it's been a rewarding journey. Thanks for your support and companionship along the way. We have learned much. We have many wonderful memories. You all have our wishes for a truly blessed holiday season.
Godspeed,
Linford and Karin
ps Our office is currently an unmanned spaceship, and we've had our heads buried in our new songs. We apologize--we're pretty far behind on correspondence. If you've been waiting for a bit of info or a sign of life, we hope to get caught up in the next several days before we leave for tour. Thanks for your patience. See you soon.
- - -
Dear Apples, Rhinestoned Cowboys, Lostees, Friends, Fans and Folks,
We are home again, home again, jiggity jig, in the midst of a winter storm -- our first of the year -- and the timing couldn't be better. God seemed to smile on our travel this season. Unbelievable weather for driving, touring. And the shows -- so many of you came out to welcome us to your city. So many of you drove as far as we did -- if not farther. Thanks for that. Many musicians have expressed concerns about poor attendance issues. We are so grateful NOT to be having that problem. Thanks to you.
As we think back on the tour, there are so many memorable images from the Midwestern cities that we got to visit this time around.
The warm audience that first night in Pittsburgh helped us get over our start-of-tour jitters. More than 7% of those who attended that night signed up to sponsor kids through World Vision -- the best response of the tour. Well done. Thanks to Ryan Luther for working the World Vision table on this string of dates and for helping the crew.
We always look forward to the rambunctious Columbus crowd at Little Brothers, and wow, there were a lot of you!
The Lime Spider in Akron was also packed -- sold out in advance, and we had a blast that night even if Griffin House did steal my Chimay Blue out of the dressing room. Wink.
Thanks by the way to Griffin and his band for the good company and incredibly moving music.
Ann Arbor is always a treat. I found my Grinch-green faux-fur wrap at one of the many tempting boutiques. (Who brought the girl?) And it was great to have Paul Mahern work with us on the road for the first time at this show. Paul is the producer and engineer who helped us record Ohio as well as our new record. More on that soon.
Madison, Wisconsin is so beautiful at Christmas time. It was great to see our lovely friends Kim, Linnea, Hansi and Tom. Another amazing crowd for a Tuesday night during Finals Week!
Calvin College is always a special stop for us. Ken Heffner, a music lover and long-time ally, has referred to us as Calvin's house band, and we couldn't be more up for it. Their Fine Arts theatre is amazing (especially when it's packed with people who seem to listen so deeply) and the Bosendorfer grand piano makes all the pianists on the tour happy. Special thanks to Myron and Molly for the apple skillet pie fresh out of the oven, and for letting us get some much-needed dog love via Gideon.
Birdy's in Indianapolis was also packed full of warm folks, and we got to traipse around the Broad Ripple neighborhood again. It was fun to play Devon's hometown.
The Taft show, a sea of white roses... Where do I begin? Thanks Kylie for offering up your apartment for the 'white rose assembly party' and to all of you who took the time, planned, schemed. I can't tell you what a major emotional wimp I am. You truly choked me up this time. I had such a difficult time delivering that first song. You have no idea. Or maybe you do. (For those of you not in the loop, I was surprised by 24 dozen white rose bouquets lovingly arranged around the stage...)
Birthdays do not suck anymore.
Lexington gave the band a night or two off. Byron and Devon got to check in with their families. Linford and I did the Dame ala duo. A hip little Kentucky club, the Dame. Great hat shop next door where Linford bought that black fedora he's been wearing.
And for those of you who stole my lyrics, you know who you are. I will hunt you down. For those of you who got caught red-handed stealing my lyrics, the ones with the 'DO NOT STEAL THIS' printed on the top of the page, I know who you are and I will hunt you down too. Just for fun!
We regrouped with the rhythm section for the ending of this year's 'Loungy Christmas Tour' and were greeted by two sold-out-in-advance shows in Chicago. Rock my world. Maybe we'll do three nights at Schubas next time? What do you think? I have absolutely no problem spending a couple of days and nights in Chicago. Twist my arm. Go on. Twist it.
Elroy, the big guy, our harlequin great dane, just came into the kitchen, tail flailing in a circular Pete Townsend motion, reminding me that it is in fact snowing outside and piling up in the yard and he and Willow would very much like to make snow angels -- their version.
We would like to thank those of you that simply took the time to come to the shows, those that walked, those that drove, those that flew (Trudes, Michelle, the fellow from Germany who came to Schubas whose name I cannot pronounce let alone spell, etc. etc.) Thanks guys. Thanks Bill for spending 54 quality evenings of your life with us. And for the flowers. Dude, I bet FTD LOVES you as much as we do!
Thanks also to:
Michael for the seahorse ornament, Betsy and Ben for the wine, Meg I. for the beautiful flowers and kind words, Jill and Julie at Younique Design East for making me look better than I really do, Paul and Ann for the end-of-tour impeccable aesthetic shot-in-the-arm at your Stained Glass studio in Oconomowoc. The Spransy's for the Swedish hospitality -- the best kind! Julie and Emma Rose for the basket of homemade cookies, Hazel for the painting -- and you are only 2 and 1/2 years old? I can't wait to see your work at 3 and 1/2! Hazel Henderson for the (late) Mr. Wonderful doll. You have no idea what role he played in our show! I say 'late' because Linford finally snapped. I'll say no more. But will call soon.
These are just a few that come to mind. A complete inventory would be quite impossible. (Please say that last sentence with a posh English accent - for Byron.)
Your gifts to us were original and astoundingly moving. Thoughtful and generous. You make us wonder what on earth we did to deserve this. You make us appreciate our chosen path. You keep us humble -- no mean feat!
All this to simply say thank you. We'll try to give a little back to you this coming Spring when we do it all over again. See you then.
You truly are the absolute best audience in the world. We are blessed.
Finally, (Elroy is getting impatient and he's BIG) thanks to Devon and Byron for your incredible musicianship and friendship.
And to Ryan Henry for all your help. The word that keeps coming to us is Godsend. (And a certain Hank Hill quote.)
May you all have a Blessed Merry Christmas and a Hopeful New Year,
Karin (for us)