document.write("<font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/07/19 9:21 am]</font><br>Grey Fox 2010 has come and gone, and I feel a little like I did as a kid when Christmas was over...happy I experienced it, but sad that it didn't last longer.  I think what made it even more fun than usual is that I brought my fourteen year-old son Kelley with me for the first time.  He had a blast at Jenny Brook and begged me to take him to Grey Fox.  He walks around the festivals wide-eyed, and I get to see and feel things again through him.  He said several times, \"I am having such a blast.  Thank you for taking me.\"  At Jenny Brook, he was thrilled to meet Leroy Troy, Smokey Green, and Alan Bibey.  At Grey Fox, he was beside himself to see Sam Bush, one of his Rushmore mandolin players, again.  Sam is just so positive when he talks to him, and Kelley walks a foot higher as a result.  Shaking and howdying with the likes of Kym and Carol of the Greencards, Mike Bub, Bill Keith, Katy Daley, and Bill Knowlton had him walking even taller.  He had his camera at the ready the entire time.<br /><br />Our workshop performance was a lot of fun.  The theme was \"The Gibson Brothers Sing Their Favorite Songs,\" so we took the opportunity to sing a bunch of material we may never do on stage, kind of what we might do if the two of us were just sitting around with two guitars.  Luckily for us, Mike Barber and Joe Walsh asked to participate, and we were so glad to have them.  We ran through songs by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Lefty Frizzell, and Don Gibson as well as some requests from the audience.  There were some bumps and bruises along the way, but there was also music made.  Leigh threw me a guitar solo on \"Just One Time\" which I bumbled through.  When the song was over I said, \"I was not prepared for that solo.\"  Leigh quipped, \"We could tell.\"  The audience roared and Leigh followed by saying to them, \"I bet you're asking yourselves, if these are their favorite songs, why don't they know them?\" More laughter.  More fun.<br /><br />Our Main Stage performance was cut short by rain, but we did the best we could with our shortened set.  The sun came out hotter than before the rains, and our instruments' tuning kept going all over the place as a result.  You have to grin and bear it in those situations and put on the best show possible.  I was proud of us for not falling apart.  Ten years ago, it may have been a meltdown, but at the end they were standing and yelling for more.  And Kelley got it on camera.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/07/06 8:48 am]</font><br>We quit writing set lists several years ago.  Leigh, Mike, and I have been playing together now for seventeen years.  Mike can remember the key of every song we've ever done.  I think Joe was nervous at first and we had to remember to give him a heads up here and there at first, but now he's comfortable with our way of doing things.  Clayton's been with us for six years, so it's hard to surprise him as well.  I like the spontaneity of it all.  I like to read a crowd.  If we do an old country number and the audience really responds, well, we'll make sure to do another one later in the set.  If hard-driving stuff is tearing them up, we'll give them more.  Sometimes we'll finish a song, and Leigh and I will turn to each other and suggest the exact same song as a follow-up.  Sometimes it's a song we haven't done in ages, but something will make us think of it at the same time.  Scary.  A few months back we did a radio show where we had to write a set list in advance.  I wrote what I thought was a solid set, but it didn't translate the way I thought it would.  The folks at the show were in a rowdy way, and my list was too subdued.  Set lists!  <br /><br />Leigh is so witty that people have asked before how he comes up with what he does.  I swear, it's off the top of his head.  He scripts very little.  Oh, he has a couple intros for songs that he may lean on in a pinch, but very seldom.  Leigh could have been an actor.  He does impressions in the van that kill us.  I love the nights when he feels comfortable to let himself go onstage.  At OATS, he announced before \"Blue Yodel #4\" that his yodel has really impressed the ladies down through the years.  A female friend picked a spot in the song and surprised us by doing a ridiculous dance in front of the stage.  Leigh spoke into the mic mid-song with a low Barry White-type voice.  \"Hey, Mama.\"  We don't yuk it up too much, because the music is first and foremost, but we want to have fun.  We will never have a Vegas-type show with all kinds of lights and gimmickry.  I like to think of our show as having a livingroom-feel to it.  <br /><br />The only downfall I can see of not writing a list is that from time to time we forget to do a request.  One time I was half-way home from Lodi, NY, and it hit me that I'd forgotten to sing \"Beautiful Brown Eyes\" for a little girl.  It really bothered me, and still does.  Maybe we lost a fan there.  Requests can be tough, too.  We go back quite a ways now.  People will ask for songs from the mid-90s that we haven't done in ages.  You can tell they really want to hear it, and you want to make them happy because they paid to see you.  Sometimes we'll get brave and try something we have no business doing.  When it works, you feel like a champ.  When you have a trainwreck due to the unfamiliarity, you're mad at yourself that you didn't play something you really wanted to play.  Another problem is when you get asked to play a ton of ballads.  We can't be a bluegrass band and play an entire set of ballads (my dad would prefer that!).  We'd put ourselves to sleep.  We just do the best we can and hope folks leave happy.  When they quit asking for songs, we're in trouble, so we're glad to get requests and will try to do as many as we can.  <br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/06/01 10:45 pm]</font><br>I told Leigh when baseball season started that I was through caring about the sport.  I said, \"Why should I care about those multi-millionaires.  They don't care about me.\"  Well, two months into the season, I'm hooked all over again.  I'd still rather watch my sons play, but I find myself watching inning after inning on television at home and in hotel rooms.  I guess I just love the game.  I throw with my sons almost every day I'm home.  I love the smell of the grass and of my old leather glove.  I love hearing the ball as it whacks my glove harder every year as the boys grow.  I love that summer sun on my face after a North Country winter.  It has come full circle.  My dad used to catch me many an evening after working so hard all day.  As I got older and faster, he'd misjudge a curve's break or knuckleball's dance and take one on the shin.  He kept trying though.  I'm seeing it now as my reflexes have slowed a bit.  I'm getting my shins bruised here and there.  <br /><br />One of my best moments involves baseball and my dad.  I was a sophomore pitching on varsity for Northern Adirondack against Mount Assumption Institute (now called Seton Catholic) in a home game in Ellenburg Depot in a battle for first place.  Around here, Plattsburgh was the 'big city' to us.  MAI was from Plattsburgh.  We'd gotten used to the teams from Plattsburgh making fun of the smell of cow manure from the farms around our baseball field.  It made us want to beat them that much more.  We'd been reading about their tough pitching and stout lineup in the local paper.  I was nervous because our other pitcher, a senior, had hurt his ankle in the previous game.  I was it.  My dad didn't go to a lot of games.  He was tied to the farm.  The cows needed to be milked at six in the morning and four in the afternoon.  The game started at 4:15.  I looked over in the stands while I was warming up, and there he was.  Looking back, I think he knew the pressure I was feeling and that I needed him there.  The cows, for once, would have to wait.  I started shaky, giving up three runs in the first inning.  However, as the game went on, I settled down, shutting them out for the rest of the game.  We won by a run.  The guys I'd been hearing about all season went quietly, and I felt euphoria after the final out.  After celebrating with my teammates on the field, I found Dad in the crowd.  I didn't care who saw it.  I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for being there.  He may have been embarrassed a little and worried that I'd be teased for my show of affection.  He said, \"They're going to think you're a daddy's boy.\"  I answered, \"I am.\"<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/05/08 11:11 am]</font><br>Merlefest was hopping this year.  Attendance was high and it felt like we were part of an event, not merely a festival.  When you get booked at Merlefest, they keep you moving.  We rolled in at one in the morning on Thursday and played a 9 a.m. show for a local elementary school.  The students were so sweet and loved the music.  I could tell that Merlefest had done a lot with outreach programs, because the students were very knowledgeable about the instruments.  We played a short set on the Cabin Stage later in the day and were well-received.  We did a set at the Walker Center on Friday at noon to a large and enthusiastic audience, among them Dierks Bentley.  He later praised our harmonies on stage during his show with the Traveling McCourys.  Thanks, Dierks!  I had met him back in 2001 before he had a record deal.  I am glad he's doing so well and keeping his hand in bluegrass while enjoying a strong country career.  I felt like our Walker show was our best of the weekend.  We played on the Creekside Stage later in the day and went over well, but I didn't feel like we locked in as well as we did during our other shows.  We came away from the weekend feeling very positive.  Merlefest was on our radar for so many years and we never could crack the lineup.  To book it two years in a row shows the progress we've made.<br /><br />We were home for a few days before playing last night in our hometown of Ellenburg Depot, NY.  It's always a good time for us with quite a few family members in the audience.  I was surprised how many people were there from out of town.  As the years go by, I recognize less and less people from Ellenburg in the crowd.  Sadly, a lot of folks have \"Gone Home.\"  A few times a year, I'll take a drive 'around the square,' the bus ride we took as kids -- up Bull Run Road, turn right on Clinton Mills where the farm is, turn the big curve heading down the Canaan Hill Road...it makes me sad.  That bus was full of farm kids.  Very few of the farms are operating and those farm boys have mostly moved on.  I can't freeze time.  I don't know why I do it to myself, but I do.  I guess I just like to feel the flood of memories.  I don't want to ever forget.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/04/27 6:57 pm]</font><br>If anyone cares, here's what I've been listening to according to my iPod's Top 25 Most Played:<br /><br />1. \"The Weary Kind\" -- Ryan Bingham<br />2. \"Crown of Jewels\" -- Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby<br />3. \"Talk To Me\" -- Leigh Gibson (cool demo of a Leigh original)<br />4. \"Willin'\" -- Little Feat<br />5. \"You Love the Thunder\" -- Jackson Browne<br />6. \"Little Bit Is Better Than Nada\" -- Texas Tornadoes<br />7. \"Farm of Yesterday\" -- Gibson Brothers<br />8. \"Back in Baby's Arms\" -- Patsy Cline<br />9. \"Gold Heart Locket\" -- Sam Bush<br />10. \"Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World\" -- IZ<br />11. \"Fourteen Carat Mind\" -- Gene Watson<br />12. \"Everyday I Write the Book\" -- Alison Brown & Sam Bush<br />13. \"Big Bad John\" -- Jimmy Dean<br />14. \"Fifteen Years Ago\" -- Conway Twitty<br />15. \"Shaky Town\" -- Jackson Browne<br />16. \"If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do it Right)\" -- Vern Gosdin<br />17. \"Who Were You Thinking Of?\" -- Texas Tornadoes<br />18.  \"L.A. County Blues\" -- Band of Heathens<br />19. \"16th Avenue\" -- Lacy J. Dalton<br />20. \"Blown Away\" -- Jeff Lynne<br />21. \"Southern Accent\" -- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<br />22. \"When It Comes To You\" -- John Anderson<br />23. \"Circles Around Me\" -- Sam Bush<br />24. \"River Is Waiting\" John Fogerty<br />25. \"I Don't Know\" -- Ryan Bingham<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/04/21 3:57 pm]</font><br>Our first trip as a band across the Atlantic got off to a shaky start.  After a seven and a half hour flight from Newark to Munich, we got separated from Mike at security.  We left without Barber for Bremen, pulling our hair out.  What happened?  Does he have any money on him in the event they try to charge him for the next flight out?  We need to call him.  Oh, that's right.  He left his phone in the States.  We should have known that Mike, being Mike, would be just fine.  He was able to get on the next flight without a lot of hassle (They tried to make him pay, so he said, \"If I'm paying, get me a ticket back to the United States.\"  They let him slide!), drank coffee, made friends with total strangers, and got a massage while we stewed about him.  Our friend Christine picked him up at the Bremen airport while we waited at the hotel.  Mike took the whole thing in stride.  We were frazzled and Mike was undeterred.  \"Hey, it was an adventure,\" was his explanation.<br /><br />The promoters, Peter and Karine (pronounced Corina) Reimer, were wonderful.  They welcomed us into their beautiful home the night before our concert at the Staatstheater in Oldenburg.  We ate a delicious meal and socialized.  Leigh even felt comfortable enough to attempt singing a song in German.  You may surmise where he found the courage.  We listened to Waylon Jennings records and talked a lot about country music with Walter Fuchs, a renowned promoter and writer.  My dad's cardiologist, Dr. John Baker, told us we would love the Reimers.  He was right.  Dr. Baker asked me last year when we in the hospital with Dad after his heart attack if we'd be interested in playing in Germany.  I told him I would love the chance and didn't think anymore of it until our agents called us a few weeks later with an offer.  Dr. Baker and Peter have been friends for many years.  Dad joked later, \"Here I was dying in the hospital and you were doing business.  I'm glad I could be of some help to you!\"<br /><br />On the day of the show, I was trying to ease into the day when Joe came running into the hotel.  \"Hey, I found a film crew at the coffee shop across the street.  They want to interview you guys.\"  The film crew was very friendly, and the host of the show kept apologizing for his English.  All weekend long, Germans were trying to apologize to us.  I kept telling them,  \"You're doing great!  I understand everything you're saying.  I don't know any German.  I should be the one apologizing!\"  Leigh, Joe, and I were interviewed and were followed around for a few hours.   <br /><br />The Staatstheater was beautiful beyond words.  I've never played in a more visually appealing place.  We felt so proud to bring our music to a foreign land in a full room and to receive such thunderous applause.  I have never experienced longer applause between songs, especially the instrumentals.  Clayton tore up \"Old Joe Clark\" like a man on a mission.  I remember singing \"Farm of Yesterday\" and thinking, \"My Dad will never see Germany, but maybe they're seeing a little of him tonight.\"  They brought us out for three encores, and I left the stage feeling we had represented ourselves well.  Not bad for a couple of farm boys from Ellenburg Depot.<br /><br />After the show, we enjoyed our meet and greet.  The people were as warm as could be.  There was even a Plattsburgh, NY, contingent!  Oldenburg and Plattsburgh have a student exchange program.  I joked with some of the students about their teachers dragging them out to a bluegrass show.  They looked at each other and laughed.  I think many of them enjoyed themselves though.  <br /><br />Looking back, it feels odd that we basically spent a weekend in Germany.  We spent almost as much time in the air as we did on the ground.   We luckily got out just a few days before the volcanic eruptions in Iceland.  We didn't get to do a lot of sightseeing, but I was there long enough to know that I want to go back.  <br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/03/31 8:27 am]</font><br>We are on the cover of April's Bluegrass Unlimited, all by our lonesome.  What a thrill for us!  I have subscribed to the magazine since the early 90s, eagerly awaiting each issue, never dreaming we'd be on its cover one day.  Writer Chris Stuart really did his homework, and we are humbled by the quotes from Katy Daley, Alison Brown, and Garry West.  If not another word was ever devoted to us, I could hold up this issue and be proud of how we were presented.  Whenever we're interviewed, we never want to come across as boastful or full of ourselves.  The entire band was interviewed, so it's nice to see everyone's perspective.  We are humble about the music business, knowing it can turn on a dime -- for the good or bad -- but we've carved something out in workmanlike fashion.  I think that came across, and we are so pleased.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/03/26 5:12 pm]</font><br>As we drove into the San Diego area, we couldn't resist breaking into Will Ferrell impressions, trying our best to sound like Ron Burgundy in \"Anchorman.\"  \"San Diego...drink it in.  It goes down smooth every time!\"  I can see why everybody wants to live there and why it's so expensive.  We joked with one another that we were definitely the poorest people in Del Mar.  The promoters, as was the case in Morgan Hill, really treated us well.  The food was great and the accommodations were too good to be true.  We got to stay on the beach in Del Mar, a stone's throw from T. Boone Pickens' compound.  Joe Walsh said it best.  \"Do we really get to do this stuff?\"  Yep.  The same guys that played a sidewalk sale in Malone, NY, in the 80's in 90 degree heat for doughnuts get to do this stuff.<br /><br />     Spirits were high as we played to a packed room, the Power House.  The audience again was extremely receptive and I've never had a show go by as fast as this one.  Leigh started to announce our last song, and I felt a flash of anger.  No, I'm having too much fun, I thought.  I am not taking this group of guys for granted.  I am blessed to share the stage with every one of them and hope these five guys can do this for a long, long time.  I find myself thinking this on stage at times.  No wonder I forget words occasionally!  We finished our show, met a bunch of nice people, and headed 'home' for the evening.  Betty Wheeler, one of the kind people who brought us to Del Mar, brought us delicious muffins and jam in the morning that she bought from a farm run by people who have been farming since they were released from a Japanese internment camp.  Development is all around them, all kinds of money has been offered for the land, but they keep doing what they've always done.  I love that.<br /><br />     We dropped our cars at Enterprise on Monday morning and had an interesting trip to the airport.  A man, wife, and their two little kids, probably three and four years old, rode with us in the shuttle.  The kids were looking at our cases, and Joe and Clayton took out their instruments and played fiddle tunes for them.  I've never seen faces with more happiness.  They just could not get enough.  The driver radioed in to headquarters, pushed a button, and said, \"I have a bluegrass concert going on here.\"  The joy Clayton and Joe brought to those kids should have been recorded, but my camera was packed away.  I'll remember it though.  I'll remember a lot about California, as I always do.  I can't get enough of the West, and I hope to return often.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/03/26 1:27 pm]</font><br>We just returned from a whirlwind trip to California.  Our time was short, but very sweet.  Mike, Leigh, and I flew from Albany last Thursday on a 6 a.m. flight and landed in San Diego around noon.  No, our first gig was not in San Diego.  Leigh was able to book much more reasonable flights for the three of us there and an unreal deal on rental cars, so we decided to drive from San Diego to Morgan Hill, a beautiful town not far from San Jose.  So, after all that time in the air, we hopped on Highway 5 and stayed on it for about eight hours.  Clayton and Joe luckily flew into San Jose.  I'm not sure how they made out so well, but they're good guys, so I won't complain.  It made me sad to see all the beautiful soil I'd seen on my last trip in that area turned to dust and so many unhealthy or dying trees, but I'm no politician and not smart enough to figure these things out.  I just hope and pray California and the entire Southwest can get these water issues sorted out.<br /><br />     Joe, Mike, and I went on a hike in Uva Canyon Park bright and early on Friday with at least a little guilt.  I had called home, and Corina said it was snowing in Brainardsville.  Our healthy hike past waterfalls and beautiful Ponderosa pines in the California sunshine was good for the soul.  We got back to town in time for Mexican food at Jesus' before soundcheck.  Tim Edes, the promoter, seemed especially upbeat in anticipation of the show at the Grange Hall, a sell-out.  It just felt like it would be a good night, and I was certain it would be after hearing the opener, The Tuttles with AJ Lee.  My goodness, what talent!  Molly Tuttle has such a unique voice and guitar style and is only seventeen.  Her brothers on mandolin and guitar, twelve and fourteen, repectively, were equally impressive.  AJ Lee is twelve and sings like she is two or three times that age.  She's too young to sound so seasoned and to phrase so well.  My sage advice to her?  Keep your hair just like it is.  It looks like Emmylou's circa 1977.  Giving hair advice made more sense to me than telling her anything about singing.  She knows what she's doing.  I believe we'll hear a lot more from these folks in the years to come.  They really riled up the crowd and it carried over into our show.  I've said so many times how easy it is to play when the crowd is into it.  We had such a great time that it was hard to get to sleep even though we knew that we had to take off for San Diego at 8 a.m. in the morning.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/02/28 7:18 am]</font><br>I have been a Stanley Brothers fan for a long time.  I first became aware of them as a kid back in the early 80s when I heard a few cuts of them on the radio.  The sound was raw and haunting.  I didn't know what I liked about it, but what I heard made me feel happy and uneasy at the same time.  I think the best music has a beautiful tension.  Ralph Stanley writes in his new book that the Stanley sound has been compared to the wind blowing in the trees, a dead-on description.<br /><br />I told my dad not long ago that some day we're going to look back at other acts that we play with at the festivals and marvel that we breathed the same air.  We have been on the festival scene now for over twenty years, veterans now, not starry-eyed newbies, and don't really concern ourselves with who is going to be playing on the same bill.  We try to take care of our own business.  We get caught up in the grind of travel, learning new material, recording, and balancing home life.  Sometimes at the festivals, a bluegrass hero is onstage, and in the blur of selling product, visiting with other musicians and music fans, calling home, or even trying to scrounge up something to eat, I miss out on all the music but our own.  I look back on the greats we've lost since we've been in the game: Bill Monroe, Charlie Waller, John Duffey, John Hartford, Jimmy Martin...the list goes on and on.  How I'd love to hear them all sing again.  I don't want to take any of the living legends for granted, especially after reading some Ralph.<br /><br />I felt like I'd stolen a moment, or at least walked in on a memory or two.  It was two summers ago at the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, IN, Bill Monroe's old stomping grounds and the scene of so many important bluegrass shows.  When I went backstage to get my banjo, I came upon Ralph Stanley looking at the old pictures on the wall of all the legends who'd graced the Bean Blossom stage.  I had looked at them myself earlier in the day, shots candid and historic at the same time.  I had even seen photos of a much younger Dr. Ralph.  I'm not sure what he was looking at, but it was the same wall, and I froze.  I did not want to intrude.  I tried to tiptoe behind him to get my banjo, but he turned quickly with a smile and said, \"Well, hello there\" as he shook my hand. I don't believe he knew me, but he acted like he was happy to see me.  I felt my face break into a grin, patted him on his left arm, and asked, \"How are you doing, Ralph?\"  His little smile left, and he replied, \"I've seen better days\" in that timeless voice, the voice that has stirred so many thousands of souls.  He may have been talking about those days captured on that Bean Blossom wall.<br />     <br />As Ralph's voice rang alone through those tall Indiana trees on \"O, Death\" a few minutes later, I stood in the crowd, happy and uneasy.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/02/15 10:04 am]</font><br>The Boston Bluegrass Union's Joe Val Bluegrass Festival in Framingham, MA, has always been special to us.  New England is in our backyard and we've played so many shows in the region that it feels like home to us.  We see people that we've known for twenty years now since we first played the Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT, a show that sparked interest in us from promoters and fans all over the region.  It seemed that after we played the Playhouse, we started playing in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.  We've made so many friends in the region, and many of them were there yesterday in Framingham.  We used to have field days around home when I was a kid, and I was reminded of that yesterday.  One of the highlights of our musical career was playing the Joe Val festival in 2002 after we'd been off the road for a few years.  We had made a roots country record in Nashville that never got off a shelf and had derailed a promising bluegrass career, basically disappearing after winning the IBMA's 1998 Emerging Artist of the Year Award.  Stan Zdonik, one of the promoters, called me in late 2001 asking if we'd come back and play a show, that folks missed us.   We hadn't played bluegrass in a few years and didn't even have a full band together.  I heard myself saying 'yes' and then realized we had to get a band together.  Mike Barber had been playing with us in a country roots outfit and was onboard.  We heard about Marc MacGlashan through Ronnie McCoury and were lucky enough to secure him.  We asked our sister Erin to come along.  We didn't know how we'd be accepted, having 'left the fold,' so to speak.  When we were announced on stage, the applause was so deafening that we couldn't hear ourselves play the first several bars of the opening song.  It was an outpouring, and we poured back.  We were relieved and on fire thanks to those New England fans who reminded us where our musical home was, in bluegrass.  If that day had gone differently, we may not be playing music today. <br /><br />This year's Joe Val contained the same kind of energy that is always present at the event.  I don't know how we sounded out front, but we heard so well in our monitors and felt like we were really making music.  It's so nice to play when you can hear.  That may sound obvious, but there are times when we just hope the pieces are falling together because we can't really hear what we're doing.  Yesterday was a pleasure for us, and judging from the audience reaction, they heard what we heard.  I am so proud to stand on stage with Leigh, Mike, Clayton, and Joe.  They play like champs.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/01/31 7:23 am]</font><br>I couldn't believe it.  I had been watching the weather all week to see what Saturday would bring, knowing that it would be below zero for our show in Chazy, NY.  I'd been in a foul way, thinking we were going to play for a room of empty chairs.  When we stepped on the stage, we saw a room full of smiling faces.  There's nothing like playing to a full-house.   The energy permeates the room.  It's as if folks are looking around thinking, \"Hey, everybody else came, too.  I must be at the right place.\"  The band feeds off that energy and the loop of good feeling keeps going back and forth throughout the evening.  The best is pulled from each member of the band.  Those are the good nights, and last night was one of them.<br /><br />We kicked off with \"Ring The Bell,\" now the Number One song for two consecutive months on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 Survey.  Our album has held the top postition on the magazine's albums chart for two months as well.  We had been off for a few weeks, so it felt good to get back in the saddle.  I love playing that song.  When we arranged it for the recording, I wasn't sure who should kick the song off.  Mike Barber said, \"It's in C.  Why don't you drop that fourth string to a C note and kick it off?\"  I took his advice and I love the way the banjo growls in C tuning.  I played my 90s RB-3 last night because I popped the head on my old standby.  The neck is bulkier on my newer model, but the banjo barks pretty well.  I was in a playing mood all day leading up to the show, blasting away on the banjo, probably driving everyone crazy in the house, and pacing back and forth when I wasn't playing.  All these years into it, I still have the fire.  I don't ever want to lose it.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2010/01/08 1:32 pm]</font><br>I haven't been moved by a song for some time as I was yesterday by Claire Lynch's \"Barbed Wire Boys.\"  Claire is so good that she could sing the phone book and I'd be humming along, but her performance of this song is nothing short of breathtaking.  Corina and I listened to it over and over on the way to Plattsburgh.  I know or knew a lot of barbed wire boys in these northern Adirondack foothills.  I was glad to be wearing sunglasses as the words hit me and the emotions flooded over.  Music can be so powerful!  I said, \"We'd have done this if we'd found it first.\"  Corina thought it worked better coming from a woman's perspective and that the song had found its rightful home.  I have to agree.  There's nothing like being bowled over by a song.  Singers like Claire and songs like \"Barbed Wire Boys\" make the world a richer place.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/12/24 10:59 am]</font><br>I think it was '87 or '88, but I know it was Christmas Eve.  Leigh and I were both in foul moods as we loaded hay on a hay cart, taking turns to push the eight or nine bales we could fit on it up a steep ramp (no wonder we were considered strong back then) and then unloading it together to stack along the walls in front of the cows.  We were arguing, at first chirping at each other rather harmlessly, and gradually getting to the point that it looked like it was going to come to blows.  I don't know how we didn't see him coming, mountain that he was, but we didn't.  Just as we squared off, I felt my feet come off the ground and realized that Leigh was right beside me in the same situation.  Dad had each of us by the shirt, one of us in each hand, holding us up against the wall, much stronger than either of us will ever be.  \"Quit fighting!  It's Christmas!\" he roared.  I don't think he saw the irony in his words, but they worked.  <br /><br />It may have been that same year that Leigh and I were corralled into playing Christmas songs on our guitars for the Christmas Eve candlelight service at the Wesleyan Church in Ellenburg Depot.  Mrs. Jewel Finley, the preacher's wonderful wife and aptly named, was in charge of the program.  We were to play instrumental versions of \"Silent Night\" and \"Away in the Manger\" and such.  Just before the program started, I said,\" Mrs. Finley, we've worked up a beautiful Christmas song we didn't tell you about.  It's called \"Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.\"  I hope it's okay to include it.\"  She was so nice and hated to say no to us and didn't realize I was pulling her leg.  \"Oh...um...I don't know.\"  I burst out laughing and said, \"Just kidding.\"  However, once the service started, I couldn't resist.  I played the first ten notes and acted like I'd made a mistake before starting \"Silent Night.\"  I could hear a few nervous chuckles in the congregation.  Mrs. Finley deserved better than me.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/12/05 8:16 am]</font><br>We had been on quite a run this fall.  We were out on the road for seventeen days, home for four, and then back out for eleven.  The shows were all over the U.S. map, and we were having a good time making inroads with our music in our busiest fall ever.  In spite of all the fun doing exactly what I want for a living, I was longing for home.  \"One of me is not enough, but two of me would be too much\" kept running through my head (and will probably find its way into a song).  I missed my wife and kids and was worried about my father.  Since his heart attack in April and open-heart surgery, he had been on a health kick, eating right and exercising, and in the process losing a lot of weight.  Before our recent touring, he had looked the healthiest I'd seen him since he sold the farm.  I could tell on the phone, however, that something was wrong.  He'd assure me that he was fine, but his voice sounded airy and his breathing wasn't right.  I told Corina when I got home, \"I'm doing absolutely nothing tomorrow but soaking up home.  I'm not leaving the yard for days.\"  My mother's phone call interrupted that plan.  Dad was taken to the hospital with congestive heart failure.  When I reached the hospital, I realized that he'd been downplaying how he'd been feeling for my benefit, never wanting me to worry when I'm so far from home.  He was hospitalized for a week and is now home, back on his program, thank God!  I need for him to quit being John Wayne and to get to the hospital before it's too late.  I need him around.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/11/19 8:10 pm]</font><br>Lately, between dates, Leigh and I have been co-writing with different Nashville writers whenever we can.  It has been fun and we are excited with the songs.  We are still writing on our own, but we decided to try stepping out of our comfort zone and see what would happen.  So far this fall, we've penned songs with Tim O'Brien, Gary Nicholson, and Jon Weisberger.  Not bad company, huh?  I've always shied away from co-writing because I'm so stubborn about my songs.  I have found that it's best to enter a session with a germ of an idea and not go in with a song half-done or so.  If I'm married to an idea or a melody, I never like the song if it changes too much as a result of a co-write.  If we all go in with an open mind, the creative process is so fun.  It's also an education for us to see how different people write.  We can't help but learn from these folks.  We're not changing our style or anything; we're just honing what we do.  <br /><br />The song we wrote with Tim could have gone in so many directions.  Tim's mind works so quickly.  I think the song is one of the best we've ever written, and we threw away pages of verses I thought were strong!  Tim pushed us to get our very best.  Gary came up with a chord progression I don't believe we'd have found on our own.  We wrote an Orbison-esque song with him that I don't know if we'd ever be able to pull off as a bluegrass band, but we wrote it nonetheless.  The song we wrote with Jon makes me think of the Stanley Brothers.  New songs that sound old are hard to find.  We are on a high from these sessions and look forward to more.  I know on some days it's going to work and on others it won't.  I do know that so far we've been inspired.  It is exhausting to me.  After a writing session, I feel like I did in sixth grade when I was put in a gifted math class.  The class made me realize that I was no math scholar, that my work ethic yielded good grades.  I would emerge from that math class fried, the high level math forcing me to focus for longer than was comfortable.  Same feeling.  I think the payoff is worth pushing myself.  I want to develop the same approach to the songs I'm writing on my own.  I have a tendency to say, \"I'll finish it when I get around to it,\" thinking somehow a magic moment will present itself, the clouds will part, and a song with a golden glow will emerge from the notes I've scratched out.  Once in a while it works that way, but I know I need to be more proactive, to hurt my brain a little more.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/10/15 12:12 pm]</font><br>Leigh and I are the same numerical age for a couple of weeks each year.  Leigh celebrated his birthday at the Ark on Friday night in Ann Arbor, MI.  It's been so long since any of us have gotten him a present that he joked on stage, \"I know it's going to be big.  It's been building up for so long.  I wonder what they have in store for me?\"  Leigh's practicing his guitar right now in a Nashville hotel room with me.  Here we are rooming together again.  I guess eighteen years in the same room on the farm and a couple years together in a Plattsburgh State dorm room weren't enough.  We get along quite well for a couple of brothers who spend a ton of time together.  <br /><br />Ol' Clayton's getting married in a couple of weeks.  Smart move.  She's a wonderful girl with a postive attitude and great sense of humor.  We're happy for him.  We're playing his dad's venue, the Kentucky Opry, on Friday night.  Clayton just seems so happy lately.  It's a great feeling to make a life decision you're sure about.  I know.  Marrying Corina is one thing I'm absolutely sure I was right about.  There are not too many things I can say that about, but I'll go to my grave knowing I was right one time.<br /><br />This has been a busy fall for us so far.  I'm not complaining.  If the phone quits ringing, we quit playing.  I read an article about Merle Haggard where he said that he was proud of his accomplishments but that everything he'd done had been difficult and had taken him forty years.  Even Merle gets frustrated sometimes.  I love that he never covers anything up with BS, always telling it like it is.  I read interviews with others where everything's sugar-coated, everything in their world is just perfect, let the good times roll.  I want to hear the good with the bad.  I like surrounding myself with people who will tell me the truth.  I've said before that he's my ultimate hero, writing a body of work that's been so consistently good for so long.  He's STILL writing great songs.  He's still restless, even with all he's accomplished.  We've accomplished nothing compared to him, but I see it.  We'll do something we've never dreamed we'd get to do, but we'll wake up the next morning dissatisfied, ready for the next thing.  I wrote a bad song a while back called \"Stay Hungry\" about that very thing.  Bad song, good motto.  <br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/10/06 9:21 am]</font><br>What an honor it was to be a part of the IBMA Awards show at the Ryman in Nashville.  \"Iron & Diamonds\" did not win, but the night was still special for us.  Marty Stuart has said that if you've been asked to play the Mother Church of Country Music, your country pedigree need not be questioned.  I felt confident with our band on that stage, but it's also humbling to know how many legends have appeared there.  Some of them even came up to us with kind and sincere words, people like Ricky Skaggs, Tim O'Brien, and Sam Bush -- all guys on our musical Rushmore.  It was great to chat with Tom T. Hall before the show, and we met this up-and-coming banjo player named Steve Martin, as down-to-earth as could be.  So many things happened that I'm still trying to sort them out in my mind.  I don't think we'll ever forget the night and we are so thankful to the IBMA for asking us to play \"Ring the Bell\" on that hallowed stage.<br /><br />We got up early on Friday after the show and drove to Guthrie, OK, to play Byron Berline's wonderful festival.  It was nice to play there with my voice in good shape.  Leigh had to carry me the year before, and I was certain we'd never get asked back.  Thankfully, they did, and once again we played for some of the nicest people we've ever met.  We had a great time on-stage and an even better time off picking late into the night on Friday and Saturday.  Byron is such a gentleman and a beautiful fiddle player.  He looks like he could be the lead cowboy in a classic western, kind of in the Gary Cooper mode.  He doesn't say much, but he makes his words count.  You get the feeling that a handshake would go a long way with him.  Okay, the whole band wants to grow up to be Byron Berline!  We haven't grown up yet though.  The five of us took a van to breakfast, a van that only comfortably sat four.  Joe volunteered to sit in the cargo area in the back.  Mike and I followed suit.  Leigh pulled into the crowded restaurant parking lot, opened up the hatch, and demanded, \"Get out!\"  Three grown fools popped out of the back, receiving some befuddled Oklahoman stares.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/09/23 8:39 pm]</font><br>A funny thing happened in Flagstaff, Arizona.  After the absolutely wonderful Pickin' in the Pines Bluegrass Festival, our entire band and Claire Lynch and bandmates Mark Schatz and Jason Thomas gathered in the hotel restaurant/bar to hang out.  Pickers that we are, someone had the idea that we should play some music.  As I looked around, I just didn't know.  Would the patrons enjoy bluegrass?  Joe Walsh politely asked a couple of tables and they said it would be okay.  I couldn't believe that I was able to lay my voice in with Claire's on \"The Singer,\" a dream of mine come true.  You should have heard Leigh blend with her on \"The Last Thing On My Mind!\"  When she threw a high baritone on top of Leigh and me singing \"Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music,\" I thought I would melt.  She is so in tune and just owns a song when she sings it.  Mark Schatz has been another hero of ours for many years, so it was a treat to play with him as well.  He and Mike took turns, so we weren't hurting at all in the bass department.  Clayton and Jason double-fiddled and double-smiled.  Joe's music danced off his mandolin like it always does.  The folks assembled hooted and hollered as we tore up \"Roanoke.\"  At the end of the night, several folks came up to us and thanked us.  One gentleman said, \"That was the best night of music I've experienced in twenty years.  That is what I call real, American music!  Now that I'm on board, how do I get more?\"  I think if more people could experience bluegrass that way, the style would spread like wildfire.  It was a night we won't be able to re-create. It wasn't planned, but is magic ever?<br /><br />I doubt we'll forget the entire trip.  I never thought we could fit three Steep Canyon Rangers and two Gibson Brothers in a cab.  I never want to again!  The camaraderie between the Rangers, GBs, Claire Lynch Band, and Crooked Still was genuine.  It felt like we were all on the same team, rooting for one another.  As I looked around, I saw a bunch of folks in relatively the same age group who I hope are in this business for a long, long time, that we all grow old together.  I hope we have many more experiences like Flagstaff.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/08/31 8:26 am]</font><br>Who would have thought that a song written about a tiny Adirondack town with a history of mining and baseball would be one of the five finalists for the International Bluegrass Music Association's Song of the Year?  What a thrill!  We had wondered when the song came out if it was too closely tied to our area to have any kind of appeal outside the region, but we have found that the song has gone over well wherever we have played.  I don't know if any of the current Lyon Mountain Miners baseball team know about the nomination, but I am told that after a recent playoff victory some of them drove through town blaring \"Iron & Diamonds\" in their cars.<br /><br />I have a good brother.  We pick on each other a lot on stage and I often wonder if people new to the band wonder if we get along.  The fact we've been doing this together for so long should answer that question.  Here's a quick story about Leigh.  I recently made an ill-advised non-stop eleven hundred mile trip by myself in order to get to a gig where the rest of the band was waiting.  I had told Leigh that I'd arrive the night before the show.  He not only checked on me several times throughout the day, but was waiting by himself in the midnight darkness looking down the road when I pulled in the drive.  <br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/08/05 8:40 am]</font><br>I'm home after a wonderful week and a half out on the road with the band.  We started in Cornish, ME, at the Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival.  We have so many friends from that area, having played in the region so many times through the years.  It seems strange to say that it feels like home when I'm six hours from my family, but it does when we play in Maine.  They even forgive us for being Yankee fans.  We closed the show and then drove to Manchester, NH, where we caught a plane in the morning in order to play a late afternoon set in Columbus, OH, for the Musicians Against Childhood Cancer Bluegrass Festival with proceeds going to St. Jude's Childrens Hospital.  I had tuned my banjo down for the flight, and it refused to ever come back up for me, to settle down, during our show.  I can usually rein in the tempermental instrument (and the tempermental me), but it was a real struggle (on both counts).  I kept thinking, \"I'm teaching at Augusta this week, and I can't even tune!?\"  Oh, well.  I did the best I could, and I was proud to be a part of a beautiful cause.<br /><br />We taught at Augusta in Elkins, WV, from Monday through Thursday.  Once again, it was a thrilling experience in so many ways.  We had wonderful classes with friendly people eager to learn.  There were also many memorable moments outside the classroom...jamming with Herschel Sizemore on old Flatt and Scruggs tunes, playing on-stage with David McLaughlin and Mike Witcher, picking with National Flatpicking Champion Tyler Grant, Sharon Gilchrist, and Casey Driessen...witnessing Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum create magic, or art at the very least, on-stage with just a guitar and mandola (he's nicknamed it Nelson Mandola) and two perfectly matched voices on \"The Oak and the Laurel.\"  I believe the absolute highlight of my week was getting to hang out with one of my banjo heroes, Tony Trischka.  I was delighted to find that he is as nice a person as I've ever met, funny and down-to-earth, in addition to being a monster banjo player.  After Leigh and I had breakfast with him one morning, Leigh said to me, \"What is wrong with you?  You have a chance to talk banjo with one of the greatest of all-time, and the two of you spent the entire time quoting \"Napoleon Dynamite?\"\"  Leigh had a point.  My friend Katy Daley says that movie-quoting is a way for males to say \"I like you,\" kind of like punching each other on the arm.<br /><br />We drove all night Thursday to get to Nashville to play a showcase in front of a bunch of arts center promoters from all over the country.  I was proud of the band.  We had fifteen minutes to make an impression, and we all felt good about our performance.  We finished the tour on Sunday in New Jersey at Duke Island Park in Bridgewater, NJ.  The river was rising throughout the show and the spectators had to keep moving their chairs to keep from getting wet, but the mood was light and happy, a perfect way to end a successful stretch of music-making.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/07/19 6:46 pm]</font><br>I'd like to talk about a few recordings I've picked up lately that are getting lots of play in my car and on my iPod.  David Peterson's \"Comin' On Strong\" is a real deal country record that would be all over the radio and jukeboxes had it come out in 1954 or so.  The record is so rich and fresh-sounding, cut live on the floor with the musicians gathered together with no headphones.  The results are electric.  You can hear the give and take between the musicians and David's voice sounds especially inspired.  Double and triple fiddles, wailing steel, Bob Moore-inspired bass playing by Dennis Crouch, great 'deep catalog' songs from the likes of Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Mac Wiseman, and Willie Nelson...you get the picture.  I get just as moved by this kind of stuff as I do by bluegrass music.  It's music I think I'll crank at intersections just to get my point across as the uninitiated shake their heads.  It's music you can't find at Wal-mart.<br /><br />I think it must be tough to be Ralph Stanley II, being the son and nephew of such musical legends.  I am really enjoying \"This One Is Two,\" especially Lyle Lovett's \"L.A. County\" and Townes Van Zandt's \"Loretta.\"  The production is crisp and it feels to me like II has found his voice, sounding comfortable and very believable.  Not that he needs me at all, but I'm really rooting for him.<br /><br />Joe Walsh turned me on to Crooked Still this summer.  I ordered \"Shaken By A Low Sound\" after forcing Joe to play it repeatedly on a recent trip.  I love Aoife O'Donovan's singing and the grooves the band finds throughout the recording.  I had never heard cello in a more-or-less old-timey setting.  It's different and compelling.  My oldest son requests it whenever we get in the car, so that's making it all the more special a recording for me.  When I hear this record down the road, I know I'll remember riding around with him with this as our summer soundtrack.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/07/18 8:52 am]</font><br>The Summer? of 2009 rolls on.  The question mark is intentional.  We got about four songs into our set at Grey Fox when the rain started coming down sideways.  Quite a few people actually weathered the downpour, and my hat goes off to them.  I don't think I'd sit in that kind of rain for anyone unless maybe Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and all the Foggy Mountain Boys showed up.  Grey Fox is so much fun no matter what the weather.  I picked up the festival program at the gate, and the blurb about our band raved about \"Farm Of Yesterday,\" calling it \"arresting.\"  I few minutes later, Pete Wernick (AKA Dr. Banjo) walked up to me and told me he played the song three times before moving on to the next one and that he was moved by it.  Then, in a songwriting workshop, a guy called out for the song that had \"they build 'em bigger now, they got more land, they got more cows\" in it.  It all made me feel silly for complaining the other day in this journal about being criticized for my 'sentimental writing.'  I don't want to be a whiner.  I am a heart-on-my-sleeve kind of guy, and I can't help it.  I can't hide my feelings, and they show up in my writing.  I'd be a horrible poker player.  If I feel it, it shows, no matter the emotion.  They have pills for that kind of thing, but I'd rather feel.  The response to one little song at Grey Fox helped validate my approach.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/07/14 12:25 pm]</font><br>I love the North Country with my whole heart, but this rain and cold is ridiculous.  I'm tempted to start my pellet stove on July 14th -- unbelievable!  The rains put a hurting on Adirondacks Unplugged, but I think most of the folks had a good time any way.  I know I did. <br /><br />I finally wrote my first song of 2009 yesterday.  It took me seven months to do so, but I think I have a good one.  It's called \"Frozen In Time.\"  I woke up feeling that I was born thirty years too late, as I've read in some reviews.  I've also read that my lyrics are too sentimental, but I can't let that get me down.  My lyrics aren't contrived; they come from the heart and I mean what I write.  If that's too 'sentimental,' too bad.  Some of my favorite songs by other writers might be deemed that way as well by some sorehead somewhere that nobody's ever heard of.  It's a good thing I never got into politics like I planned as a young man.  I am way too thin-skinned!<br /><br />I am so looking forward to Grey Fox.  There is always so much excitement there, palpable as you enter the gates.  It's a good feeling knowing that the sound will be right and that a gathering of music-lovers awaits in large numbers.  The festival holds a special place in my heart.  I remember bringing my wife with me a few months into our marriage (when the festival was called Winterhawk).  She was suffering with morning sickness (our first child would be born the following March), but we were young and ready to take on the world.  Sitting on that hill under the stars listening to LRB and Laurie Lewis and Peter Rowan and Jerry Douglas with Corina by my side on a warm summer night, hoping one day my band would be on that stage...Oops!  That's pretty sentimental.  I played a great Stelling banjo the following day.  She could tell I needed that banjo and convinced me to buy it.  (I wish I still had it if only for sentimental reasons.  I love what I'm playing, but that was a good one, too.)  A few months later we'd play our first IBMA showcase, playing that Stelling at a showcase sponsored by the company, and secure a record deal as a result.  <br /><br />It's fun to look back and to look forward.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/06/25 8:10 am]</font><br>The new Jenny Brook site looks like something from a postcard set in a valley surrounded by green rolling hills in Tunbridge, VT, at the \"World Famous Tunbridge Fairgrounds.  The spirit that filled the former site made its way to Tunbridge as well, but there is so much more space -- I think the festival promoters, Candi and Seth Sawyer, are going to need it!  I heard so many people say, \"It's going to be the new Thomas Point Beach,\" referring to the giant Maine festival that recently closed.  Who knows?  I saw a lot of smiling faces who will tell others, I'm sure.  For now, it's wonderful just the way it is. <br /><br />My ego took a shot this weekend.  A freshly-painted white fence stood between me and the restrooms.  I contemplated jumping it, but then thought better of it and crawled between the top and bottom boards.  I still don't know if I could have made it, but I did not want to fail in front of so many people.  A young guy, maybe 18 or 19, followed me and jumped it like a deer in its prime.  I said, \"Man, you're braver than I am.\"  He gave me a cocky look and said, \"Well, you're only thirty years older than I am.\"  Thirty years!?  Maybe twenty.  I gave him my best shot at a Clint Eastwood glare and said, \"I'm pretty tough for an old guy.\"  I couldn't help it.  He said no more.  <br /><br />I don't know if that's what drove me to find my curveball after so many years, but I found it this week.  My sons are getting as crazy for baseball as I am, and I've been throwing every day with them that I'm home since snow came off the ground.  They both want to pitch and both did in their leagues this year.  Kelley is 13, and before this week I'd only shown him a two-seam fastball and a four-seamer.  I taught him a circle change when I got back from Tunbridge and he's already getting the hang of it.  I won't show him a curve until he's a few years older as I don't want to ruin his arm.  I do, however, need to remember it myself if I'm going to teach him at some point.  It all came back to me this week.  Shorten the stride, slightly dip the front shoulder, pull the string...God, it feels good to throw when it's warm out.  In my head I'm 18 again, but I forget it's about him now and not me.  I snap off a good one that he misses and it smashes the top of his foot.  As my kid limped off to school today, I thought about that fence jumper and wished I could face him one time on the mound.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/06/17 9:08 am]</font><br>We have returned from a Tennessee swing in which we played the Station Inn in Nashville, Riverbend in Chattanooga, and the Dumpling Valley Bluegrass Festival in Kodak as well as a stop at Harry Grant's Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival in Pennsylvania.  I felt like we were all 'on' the entire trip, that the little engine was purring.  Usually one out of five is going to be having an off day, whether it's feeling under the weather or whatever, but we all felt great and enjoyed the sunshine and smiling faces.  We've really made an effort to play more in the Southeast the past couple of years, and it's paying off.  It feels so good to be in Tennessee and hear folks yelling out our songs.  We had so many nice moments, but I think one that will stand out is playing \"Farm Of Yesterday\" on stage for the first time with the band at the Station Inn.  It's been a worry of ours that the song hits too close to home with Dad's recent medical problems, but there was feeling in the room that lifted the song.  They rang the bell for it as well as for \"Ring The Bell,\" the venue's sign of approval.  Mike Bub's not one to blow smoke, and his telling me how much he loved the song means a lot to me.  He was kind enough to run sound for us and really made it sparkle.  Roland White came out to the show as well, another of our favorite musicians and people.<br /><br />Leigh got to play with the Traveling McCourys at Riverbend.  We were a last moment replacement act and the McCoury set was a surprise set as well.  They jammed for thousands and thousands with a rumor going around that Phish was coming (they were up the road at Bonnaroo).  We kept hearing all over the grounds and even at the hotel that someone BIG was coming.  Leigh had no idea who the special guest would be.  Right before the set kicked off, Leigh asked Ronnie McCoury, \"So, who is the special guest?\"  Ronnie answered, \"Well, you!\"  Leigh got a real kick out of that.  Several of our Southern cousins showed up and we were so thrilled to see them.  You should hear THEM sing.<br /><br />Dumpling Valley was an excellent festival set in some beautiful rolling green hills.  They talk about the friendliness of East Tennessee, and they aren't kidding.  They brought us back for two encores after our evening set.  The next morning we're at Cracker Barrel and had a few different folks come over to express how much they enjoyed our music.  When we went to pay, our bill had been taken care of!  Thank you so much to whomever extended that kindness.<br /><br />Wind Gap is always a blast.  We lucked out that our show was on sunny Sunday and not soggy Saturday.  Harry is a real character, a successful promoter and excellent sound engineer.  Wind Gap has such a rich history.  I love looking at the bluegrass mural on stage of all the great pioneers in our music.  It's a good thing to reflect on that history during the performance and I have an idea that was exactly Harry's intention.<br /><br />Off to Smoked Country Jam and Jenny Brook.  Thank you, Lord, for making me a bluegrasser!<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/24 8:58 am]</font><br>TRACK TWELVE -- \"Bottomland\" (Leigh Gibson)<br />We have wanted to record \"Bottomland\" for years.  We actually did record it on the album we did with Ricky Skaggs that was never released.  That version was more country with percussion, steel guitar, baritone electric, accordion, etc.  It was lush and beautiful and sounded like it should be on a movie soundtrack.  Leigh always held up Skaggs' version on a pedestal and felt we couldn't touch it on our own.  I knew at its core that it's a special song and would be wonderful even stripped down with a guitar or two.  I didn't want to load this song up with all kinds of big production on a bluegrass record, but it's one of my favorite songs, an important song even.  I said, \"What would Tim O'Brien do?\"  That seemed to spark something in Leigh, and drove us to do a more old-timey treatment.  I am so glad we did.  \"Farm Of Yesterday\" is my tribute to our upbringing, and \"Bottomland,\" though not strictly biographical (we were farmers, not sharecroppers), is Leigh's.  Did I mention the boy can sing?<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/24 8:48 am]</font><br>TRACK ELEVEN -- \"That's What I Get For Lovin' You (Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson)<br />We did 'pretty' with Track Ten, so let's try 'gritty' with Track Eleven.  Leigh Boy has an unbelievable range.  Yep, that's him on that keening falsetto tenor.  I was telling him how much I loved his voice on the way to NYC the other day, and he said, \"I think you put more stock in my voice than I do.\"  I think he could sing anything he wanted to.  He can tear your heart out with a tender ballad and then take the tops off trees with a high lonesome harmony.  This song is turning out to be a real fun 'festival' song, the kind we love to play during a late-night summer show when folks are howling at the moon.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/24 8:39 am]</font><br>TRACK TEN -- \"Forever Has No End\" (Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson)<br />Corina said to me one day, \"I love the songs you guys write.  You've written songs about hermits, railroads, old barns, ragged men...you ought to write a love song once in awhile.  People can relate to love songs.\"  I had that in the back of my mind when I started writing this one.  I don't believe it's a bona fide love song with birds chirping and swooping violin music; it's more of a realistic love song.  How do I say it?  \"She Paints a Picture\" was written by an eighteen-year-old and this one by a guy in his late thirties still in love with the same woman.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/24 8:32 am]</font><br>TRACK NINE -- \"Just An Old Rounder\" (Marshal Warwick)<br />I've been reading Marshal Warwick's name for years next to great songs like \"City Folks Call Us Poor\" on Larry Sparks' \"40\" album.  I was thrilled when a package of his songs showed up at my door.  They were all quality songs, but this one jumped out the most as being something we should try.  I've always loved the story of the prodigal son, and this redemption story is delivered this time with such joy.  I think there's quite a bit of joy throughout this album, really.  Many of the songs contain a spiritual element, but this one is truly a Gospel song.  I hope more of Marshal's songs make their way to us!<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/17 9:30 am]</font><br>TRACK EIGHT -- \"Farm Of Yesterday\" (Eric Gibson)<br />I woke up with this song on my mind on the fourth day of recording.  I had written it a year or so before and had shown it to Leigh backstage at the Palatka Bluegrass Festival, but I didn't get much response from him at that point.  In the studio, I had him one-on-one with no distractions, and he was very moved.  Leigh is not a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy, so it choked me up.  He said, \"That is a great song.  It might be too personal though.\"  I persuaded him to take a chance, that laying it all out there might be the difference between a good album and a great one.  <br /><br />I'm glad we recorded it.  I had wanted to pay tribute to my parents without being too over-the-top sentimental.  Every word is true.  The work was hard, but I wouldn't trade my upbringing.  We saw our parents every single day.  We needed each other to make the family farm work.  That farm was our whole world.  We never left except to go to school, church, or to play ball.  I had only seen one other state, Vermont, and had been across the border to Canada a few times by the time I was eighteen.  Little did I know that our music would take us all over this great country.  We felt isolated with \"our backs against the border\" and \"those mountains to the south.\"  Farming wasn't all cake and ice cream, but we were happy.  Each summer I couldn't wait for those big doors to close on the hay barn, knowing they wouldn't open until we'd have to fill mows again the following summer.  How I'd like to open them again.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/14 10:52 pm]</font><br>TRACK SEVEN -- \"Jericho\" (Joe Newberry)<br />It's an unwritten rule, and one we have not aways followed, that every bluegrass record needs a barn burner.  Sometimes I'll listen to that type of song on a bluegrass album and think, \"Yep, it was fast.  So?  What else is it?\"  I like \"Jericho\" because it's a fast song that has some meat to it.  I love the line \"You will see my treasure bouncing on my knee\" about the narrator's baby girl waiting for him at home when he'd left in search of monetary gain.  I hope we captured the joy musically that is contained in Joe Newberry's lyric.  I love the hillbilly timing of the chorus, the little hiccup that our friend Robert Fraker referred to as the song's crookedness.  It's a fun one to play on stage with the exhilaration of knowing that we could crash and burn at any second.  I'm sure we'll have a train wreck at some point.  It only takes one moment of one of us losing concentration on the chorus and it will happen.  We need to have some kind of kangaroo court for the first offender.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/13 9:12 pm]</font><br>TRACK SIX -- \"What Can I Do?\" (Bob DiPiero, Leigh Gibson, Eric Gibson)<br />We were honored to have the opportunity to write with celebrated Nashville \"Hit Man\" Bob DiPiero, collaborating on several songs with him at the beginning of this decade.  We were a bit intimidated to write with Bob, knowing he'd penned hits for everyone from George Strait to Reba to you-name-it-he's-done-it.  He immediately put us at ease when he grabbed his Taylor and stuck his bare feet up on his coffee table.  We wrote some fun songs with Bob, but this one's in a more serious vein.  Clayton's twin fiddles usher in a song that's too country for country, just like those Gibson Brothers.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/10 8:08 pm]</font><br>TRACK FIVE -- \"Angel Dream\" (Tom Petty)<br />There are few things in life that make me feel better than a Tom Petty song.  The guy has just been so consistent through the years and produced a very enviable body of work.  I found this song last year on a movie soundtrack (\"She's The One\") and loved it on first listen.  \"Angel Dream\" was one of the first songs we showed Joe Walsh when he tried out for the band.  What jumped out about Joe immediately, besides his incredible tone, was how musical he is.  He came up with the 'dreamy' crosspicked riff that weaves its way in and out throughout the song.  I love Mike Barber's out-of-the-box bass playing on this one, too, helping to make this track one of the most unique-sounding songs we've ever recorded.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/09 10:58 am]</font><br>TRACK FOUR -- \"Ring The Bell\" (Chet O'Keefe)<br />One of the benefits of being on the road is being bombarded with so much music, whether it's in the van, at a festival, or a bar in Muncie, Indiana, where we first heard \"Ring The Bell.\"  A cooking little trio called Chet O'Keefe & the Farmer's Co-op opened for us and began their set with this song.  It grabbed me immediately, and I made a beeline to Chet after the set to ask where he found that song.  He told me he'd written it and he agreed to send it to us.  Leigh and I loved the melody and the message.  It sounds like something the Carter Family would have done and is brimming with hope.   Leigh said it reminds him of the ending of the Sally Field's movie \"Places In The Heart\" where the collection plate is being passed and different characters--some who were not exactly friends in the movie--are together in fellowship.  Listen to Leigh's harmony on this one, particularly the call and response on the final chorus.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/08 8:06 pm]</font><br>TRACK THREE -- \"The Wishing Well\" (Shawn Camp, Paul Kennerly)<br />We can thank Mike Bub for this one.  We were hanging out at Augusta listening to Bub's iPod when this nugget came out of the speakers from a board mix of a show Shawn Camp had done at the Station Inn last summer.  Leigh and I looked at each other and just knew we needed to sing the song.  Shawn is one of our favorite artists.  He is unfairly talented and really has it all going for him.  I hope we get to write with him some day.  \"The Wishing Well\" sounds like a song sent down from hillbilly heaven.  Lots of Shawn's songs sound that way to me.  Thanks, 'ol Bubby!<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/08 8:19 am]</font><br>TRACK TWO -- \"I Can't Like Myself\" (Leigh Gibson, Eric Gibson, Mike Barber, Joe Walsh)<br />We recorded this song on \"Underneath A Harvest Moon\" back in 1994.  We always loved the choruses but grew dissatisfied with the verse lyrics.  On the way to Nashville in January, we put our heads together and re-wrote the song.  I think you can hear the fun we had recording it.   The song just felt right immediately.   Leigh's Cowboy Jack-inspired bass run set the tone and the band locked in on the groove.   Mike Witcher came in and laid down some good and greasy resonator riffs.  We met Mike at Augusta last summer as well, hit it off, and remembered him when we were looking for some Dobro sounds for this record.<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/05/07 3:18 pm]</font><br>I meant to start a \"Story Behind The Song\"-type deal on the web site journal section which would cover a song a day from \"Ring The Bell\" starting on its release date, May 5th.  Well, it wasn't to be as I have been running back and forth between home, the hospital, and gigs in between since my dad had his heart attack and quadruple by-pass surgery.  Now that he's rehabbing and on the mend, I feel it's time.<br /><br />TRACK ONE -- \"I Know Whose Tears\" (Joe Newberry)<br />Just in time for Mother's Day comes \"I Know Whose Tears.\"  I met Joe Newberry at Davis & Elkins College during Augusta Bluegrass Week last summer.  I jammed with him most of the night mid-week and immediately formed a mutual admiration society/friendship.  The bearded, bib-overalled North Carolinian belted out \"If I were hanged on the highest hill\" and I was hooked by the darkest mother song ever.  The song sounded hundreds of years old, and I was close.  It was inspired by a Kipling poem, but Joe took the ball and ran with it, coming up with a classic song that I expect to hear at jam sessions for years to come.  Leigh and I actually squabbled a little as to who would sing lead, but I won with the \"I found him first\" argument.  I love Clayton's lonesome mountain drone on the fiddle and how the band comes in -- BAM!  Leigh's tenor gives me chills on the choruses, but I'm biased, I know.  <br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/04/29 7:39 pm]</font><br>Our first MerleFest will be one we remember for a long time.  I was honored to be a part of such a wonderful event and have tried to get the prestigious booking for a decade.  I think we represented ourselves real well.  I was proud to stand on the Hillside Stage with the rest of the boys.  The folks in attendance were very receptive to the music we made, so I'd say our first MerleFest showing was successful.  Our dad had had a heart attack prior to our leaving, so our hearts and minds were in New York.  He told us not to even think about missing MerleFest to be with him.  He's never put himself first.  Never.  He had by-pass surgery on Monday and seems to be recovering nicely.  God, he's a good man.<br />     A funny thing happened in Wilkesboro.  I introduced Mike Barber to Terry Baucom, \"The Duke of Drive.\"  I've always loved his playing and we had fun hanging out with Terry and his wife Cindy at Augusta last summer.  Later in the day, Cindy came up laughing so hard she struggled to speak.  She said, \"Terry asked me, 'Why on earth would Eric be traveling with his barber?'\"  He thought I'd said 'my barber' instead of 'Mike Barber.'  Now that would be pretentious, wouldn't it, riding around with my own stylist?<br />     Deejays are starting to get \"Ring The Bell\" in the mail.  So far, the feedback has been great.  Katy Daley told me it's our best outing yet.  I think she's right.  We should get stronger as we go along, right?  That has always been our goal, to get better.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/04/16 12:11 pm]</font><br>I love Austin, TX.  I love the music, the food, the people, the sunsets.  Did I mention the music?  We heard Dale Watson and his fine band at the Broken Spoke last night.  It put us all in such a great mood seeing all those folks of different ages dancing to real country music.  I felt like I was transported to the past.  In a perfect world, this is what it'd be like in every town (my perfect world, anyway).  Today we play the Old Settler's Festival and then tonight I think we'll check out Redd Volkaert, one of our guitar heroes, at the Continental Club.  We're also going to do an interview with a very cool radio station, KAOS, with radio personality El Demento.  There are signs everywhere that say \"Keep Austin Weird.\"  If this is weird, I'm all for it.<br /><br />There's a new trend occurring in the band all around me: facial hair.  I don't know if we have some identity crises happening, or what.  I'm not tempted.  I'll stay beardless while the others get bushy.  I'll pretend I'm the star up on stage, the sole cleancut one, and rename us Eric and the Furrballs or something like that.  Clayton started it and the rest are following like sheep.  I'll stay shorn.<br /><br />We have \"Ring the Bell\" on hand today for the first time.  They're not in stores until May 5th, so come to a GB show before then.  We'll gladly hook you up.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/03/20 8:15 am]</font><br>I have had several e-mails regarding our missing guestbook.  We took it down because some pervy folks hijacked it.  We will be taking steps to make our web site more interactive.  I miss the guestbook, believe me.  I have tried to respond to as many entries as I can, but life gets in the way.  In the meantime, if anyone would like to give us a shout, drop a line on our Myspace or Facebook page.  I should be spending more time on my instruments and less on the computer, but technology is necessary, I guess.<br /><br />This is probably self-indulgent, but the inner deejay in me wants to list my Top 25 Most Played according to my iPod.  I have always had it in the back of my mind that I'd like to have my own radio show, but for now I 'entertain' the guys with segments like \"Eric Gibson's Country Classic Hour\" in the van.  Clayton LOVES it, good ol' Kentucky country boy that he is.  Joe is learning to like it, I think, but recently ran from the van at a gas stop and referred to my show as \"The Solid Gold Country Suicide Hour.\"  I WAS in the back seat playing the saddest stuff I could to see if anyone would notice -- \"He Stopped Loving Her Today,\" \"Farewell Party,\" \"She Thinks I Still Care,\" etc.  It worked.  Clayton and I have had a few Johnny Paycheck sessions set up to get under Leigh's skin.  He doesn't understand the charm of \"Colorado Cool-Aid\" or \"Slide Off Of Your Satin Sheets\" or \"Don't Take Her She's All I Got,\" despite Clayton and I singing along at the top of our lungs.  Anyway, this list reflects what I've been listening to when not trying to annoy. <br /><br />25. \"Pretty Fair Maid In the Garden\" -- Tim O'Brien<br />24. \"I Know Whose Tears\" -- Joe Newberry<br />23. \"Up This Hill And Down\" -- Claire Lynch<br />22. \"Leave The Light On\" -- Chris Smither<br />21. \"Twinkle Little Star\" -- Bobby Hicks<br />20. \"Dixieland\" -- Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band<br />19. \"My Love Will Not Change\" -- Shawn Camp<br />18. \"Fireball\" -- Shawn Camp<br />17. \"Rachel\" -- Buddy and Julie Miller<br />16. \"Let's Sing Our Song\" -- Jerry Reed<br />15. \"Please Read The Letter\" -- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss<br />14. \"Farm Of Yesterday\" -- The Gibson Brothers<br />13. \"Rita Mae\" -- Dale Ann Bradley<br />12. \"Where Did The Morning Go?\" -- Blue Highway<br />11. \"Pride\" -- Ray Price<br />10. \"Wouldn't That Be Something?\" -- Merle Haggard<br />9. \"Cajun\" -- Roy Buchanan<br />8. \"This Wanting You\" -- George Jones<br />7. \"Waiting In The Weeds\" -- The Eagles<br />6. \"Have Love Will Travel\" -- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<br />5. \"End Of The Line\" -- Traveling Wilburys<br />4. \"Down On The Corner Of Love\" -- Dwight Yoakam<br />3. \"Guitar Man\" -- Jerry Reed<br />2. \"Mother Of A Miner's Child\" -- Jean-Marc Doiron<br />1. \"Staying Up All Night Long\" -- Chris Knight<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/03/17 2:22 pm]</font><br>My sons, Kelley, 13, and Kieran, 9, were arguing last night, and Kieran retaliated.  As I was trying to deal with the problem, Kieran looked up and said, \"Dad, you can't punish me for payback.  The Bible says, \"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.\"<br /><br />I said, \"Yeah, but Jesus said to turn the other cheek.\"<br /><br />Kieran shot back, \"I think God had it right in the first place.\"<br /><br />I love being a dad, but I'll never win Father of the Year.  I'm too much like a big brother.  They are too much fun.  Thank God they listen to their mother.  <br /><br />Kieran has so much spunk and a mind of his own.  \"Dad, I think I'm going to play rock and roll.  That's where the money is.\"<br /><br />Kelley, looking at me for approval, said, \"Don't worry, Dad.  I'll play bluegrass.  I don't care a thing about money.\"  Kids.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/03/09 8:18 am]</font><br>My poor brother.  He was so sick in Texas at the Argyle Bluegrass Festival (GREAT event, btw).  I roomed with him and woke up with the room stuffy hot.  I knew something was wrong, because Leigh likes igloo temperatures normally.  He'd been hit with some kind of flu.  He was a good trooper and did the best he could on stage.  Ten years ago, I'd have imploded, but I was proud of how we carried on.  I said to all the guys, \"We gotta pick him up.\"  I really didn't need to say that as they are all pros.  They give their all whether someone's sick or not.  It was the first time in all these years that Leigh ever left the stage in the middle of a show.  The Texas crowd was very kind and could tell he was giving it his all.  What are you going to do?  The show must go on.  He kept apologizing to me like I was going to be mad at him.  Am I that big a jerk?  Of course, I wanted for us to shine on that stage.  I always do.  But sometimes things don't line up as you'd like.  I hope we get to go back there full force at some point. <br /><br />As I type, I'm listening to mixes of \"Ring The Bell,\" trying to sequence our new record.  My iPod is so helpful in that regard.  I keep making playlists to see which sequence flows the best.  Yep, it's fun work. <br /><br />I have to tell this to someone.  Joan Wernick told me in Texas that she likes our music because \"it has dirt under its fingernails.\"  I sure hope it does.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/03/02 1:37 pm]</font><br>Our booking agents jokingly dubbed our trip from Buffalo to Denver and back The Gibson Brothers On Ice Tour.  Thank the Lord, the weather was great for us the past two and a half weeks.  I am at home recovering, trying to get used to being off the road again.  So many fun things happened that right now it's all just a blur that I am trying to process.  Most of the dates went really well.  It's obvious to me that people are finding out about us on Sirius XM, bluegrasscountry.org, Comcast, and more because we played for a lot of folks in new places who are familar with our material.  That's how it's supposed to work.  AND, just as I was starting to get what they called \"the drabs\" on \"Spinal Tap,\" our agent called and said he'd booked Merlefest for 2009!  That ranks right up there with booking Ireland for Labor Day weekend of 2010.  We have been trying to get Merlefest for years, and it finally happened.  The hard work is paying off.<br /><br />We played at WAMU in D.C. for our friend Katy Daley.  She's a wonderful interviewer and a great radio personality. The program will air tomorrow on www.bluegrasscountry.org.  I fought my tuning on my banjo the whole time.  Hopefully, the other guys carried me.<br /><br />We got a step closer to our album release with a photoshoot in Nashville with Tony Baker, a renowned photographer who can even make US look good.  We also found out that \"Ring The Bell,\" our new record (yes, we finally named it), will be released officially on May 5th.  Nashville was a lot of fun actually.  We took in The Time Jumpers with special guest The Quebe Sisters at the Station Inn with our buddy Mike Bub.  Man, that guy is fun to hang with.  He has so many good stories.  I keep telling him he should start his own band.  <br /><br />Claton's dad, Clay Campbell, told Clayton something that made me feel real good, given that among my first memories is watching \"Gunsmoke\" with my paternal grandfather, Pa Joe.  Clay said, \"You guys are modern-day cowboys.  You go away from home wherever the work takes you.  You eat when you can.  You bed down in different places all the time.\"  Modern-day cowboys, huh?  That's a far more romantic notion than the Circus Freak imagery I often carry around with me.  I'll take it, Clay.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/02/17 10:49 pm]</font><br>I received this note from a former Lyon Mountain Miner.  This kind of thing keeps us going.  I hope you enjoy it.<br /><br />Eric<br /><br />Sir,<br /> <br />I write this with tears in my eyes.  I have never heard anyone capture <br />the spirit of Lyon Mountain and the Miners Baseball Club as you folks <br />have.  I pitched for the miners for several years in the late 60's and <br />early 70's before going in the service. There have been many moments in <br />my rather full life that have brought pride, but one stands out, that <br />is to wear the pinstripe uniform and be a part of the Lyon Mountain <br />Miners Baseball Club.  The memories you have brought back to me are <br />incredible.  Tommy, Jerry, Buddy, Togo, Poncho, Oscar, Charlie, Bob, <br />Jimmy, Carly, Ronnie, Mike, Fosdic, Marshall, Bill, and Mr. Kowalowski <br />(John) who was the skipper.  The great fans the wonderful people of the <br />town all come through the music and lyrics.   <br /> <br />Some of them have passed on and rest with the Lord, but their deeds <br />live on \"between the foul lines and in the batters box.\" <br /> <br />Thanks for keeping them alive,<br /> <br />Mike Perry #33<br />member of the<br />Lyon Mountain Miners<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/02/10 9:35 am]</font><br>We opened for one of our musical heroes, Sam Bush, at the Flynn Theatre in Burlington, VT, on Saturday night.  The joy Sam derives from his music explodes from him on stage.  He performs like he'd rather be nowhere else than right where he is at the moment.  I hope we come across that way.  Sam has been a a part of so many important recordings.  He has long been one of my favorite musicians.  He's just so identifiable.  He came over to our dressing room to thank us for being a part of the show.  We were glad to be there and told him so.  I introduced my son as a budding mandolin player, and Sam stuck out his hand and said, \"So am I.\"  I watched Kelley during Sam's show with a Christmas morning glow on his face, so happy he was just about elevating from his seat.  He didn't fall asleep until after 3 a.m.  He kept apologizing, \"I'm sorry I can't sleep, Dad.  It was one of the best days of my life.\"  Sam was so nice to the entire band and to my wife and kids as well.  He hugged Corina, the kids, and me and said, \"Love your father, boys.  He’s doing this for you.  Well, who am I kidding?\"  I like that guy.<br /><br />I am so happy that Alison Krauss cleaned up again at the Grammy Awards.  Let's see, she's 37 and has 26 of those little gold statuettes!  Makes this 38 year-old with none feel a little like a loser.  No, not really.  She is on another planet and deserves everything she gets.  She sure has made a lot of our lives better.<br /><br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/02/07 8:15 am]</font><br>We have recorded a new album after recently signing with Compass Records.  We're excited about our new recording home and its owners, Garry West and Alison Brown.  They have been very successful in a tough market and have a lot of energy.  Their offices and studio are in the same building in Nashville, the original home of what was dubbed \"Hillbilly Central,\" where Tompall Glaser and Waylon Jennings broke all the old Nashville rules and helped start a revolution in that town back in the 70s.  It was inspiring to look at ol' Waylon on the wall, knowing that he did his own songs his own way with his own band in that very space where we were recording.  <br /><br />One of the great things about touring as much as we did in 2008 is that we came across some great songs out on the road by some wonderful writers.  We cut two by our new friend and amazingly-talented musician, Joe Newberry.  We met him during the Augusta National Heritage Bluegrass Week in Elkins, West Virginia.  We found a song by Chet O'Keefe when we did a show with Chet O'Keefe and The Farmer's Co-op in Muncie, Indiana.  They kicked off their set with \"Ring The Bell\" and I was knocked out by it.  Immediately following their set, I made a beeline to Chet and asked him where he found that song.  I could hear Leigh and I singing it immediately.  He told me he'd written it and now it's on our record.  We found a great new Shawn Camp song on Mike Bub's iPod.  Marshall Warwick sent me a bunch of great songs and we cut a Gospel song of his.  We also recorded six originals and a relatively obscure Tom Petty song called \"Angel Dream.\"  Speaking of Petty, I read where he said in making a record that material was the most important factor.  I agree.  I LOVE the material on this yet-to-be-named record.  We have quite a few more songs that did not make the record that will show up on future recordings.  I believe in constantly searching for songs (and writing them!).<br /><br />I think it's our grassiest record in years.  We recorded more hard-driving material than we have in a while.  Oh, we still did plenty of pretty brother harmony stuff, too,  but I think this one is going to be especially fun to play on stage with the increase in uptempo material.  The boys in the band did a great job.  Clayton really laid into it on the fiddle and Joe's work was dazzling.  Mike was Mike, which is to say he played with authority and nuance.  I can't say enough about him.  He did a great job co-producing, with his calm demeanor and solid suggestions.  I don't want to say too much about the album because it won't be out for several more months, but I believe if you like the Gibson Brothers, you will LOVE this record.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/01/23 9:17 am]</font><br>I love the new \"Marty Stuart Show\" on RFD-TV.  He is bringing country back to the country, from his set full of hillbilly memorabilia, to his kicking band, to his wonderful guests, to the inclusion of national treasure Eddie Stubbs as his emcee.  The show follows the formula that worked for so many years for Porter Wagoner, The Wilburn Brothers, and others.  Marty and his band perform a song to start the show followed by a guest such as Charlie Pride, Josh Turner, Charlie Daniels, or Del McCoury.  Then his Marty's wife, country great Connie Smith, sings a song, blue eyes twinkling the entire time.  Next, our old buddy Leroy Troy brings some hillbilly charm to the stage.  Following Leroy is a Gospel song.  I love the way the hat-wearers on the show take them off during this time the way Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs once did during a sacred song.  Marty will follow the Gospel song by singing a song with the week's guest.  Finally, the entire cast sings a song together to end the show.  It's a formula, but it works so well.  I read where it's getting a great response, and I'm glad.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2009/01/07 11:00 pm]</font><br>Kevin Couture kept on smiling, at least when I saw him.  Seeing the joy that music brought to Kevin always lifted my spirits at our shows.  \"I love it!  I love it!\" he'd exclaim after a hardcore country song like \"The Other Side of Town.\"  He would dress in Red Sox attire pretty much from head to toe and even had a Bosox pennant on his wheelchair at one show just to pick on the two foolish Yankee fans on stage.  One time I asked him (before '04, of course), \"How can you keep rooting for them, knowing they're just going to break your heart year after year.\"  With no hesitation, he answered, \"It's kind of like rooting for the Gibson Brothers.\"  That was Kevin.<br /><br />He passed away unexpectedly Monday morning while we were on our way home from North Carolina.  Forty-eight years doesn't seem like a long time, but I bet it feels longer when you're suffering from cerebral palsy.  Nothing came easy to Kevin, but it didn't stop him from developing an encyclopedic knowledge for sports or music or from becoming a fine writer.  I had a hard time understanding him when I first met him, but I developed the ability over the years to block out everything but Kevin's voice when he spoke, and we could carry on conversations just fine.  I often prayed during our talks that his thoughts would be clear to me.  That man had so much inside.  When he requested \"Vern's Guitar,\" it just about crushed me.  He understood that story.  I will miss him.  I hope he's roaming centerfield, running down fly balls for the Red Sox, the fastest man on the field.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\"><font color=\"#ffa500\" size=\"2\">[2008/12/30 11:03 am]</font><br>I feel good about things as I look back on 2008.  I think I've been honest enough in this journal for anyone to know that I'd write otherwise if I felt differently.  We have been in this game for a long time now, and I feel like we're still growing.  This year saw us reach #1 in Bluegrass Unlimited for the fourth time in a row.  We were invited to play the Grand Ole Opry again in April.  I will forever cherish those moments of standing in that circle on that hallowed stage.  No matter what happens, that experience cannot be taken away from me.  I think a third event that will remain special in our memories is our time in Elkins, WV, at the Augusta Heritage Bluegrass Week.  I wrote extensively about Elkins months ago.  We came away from that week refreshed from all the energy surrounding us.  I felt challenged to become a better musician all the way around.  I think we formed relationships that will make an imprint on what we do musically for a long time.<br /><br />It's good to look back and assess.  I remember reading a book by Billy Graham where he talked about looking down from on top of a mountain at events unfolding below, how stepping away can help our perspective.  I try to step outside myself and look at where I am in that way.  There are many areas of improvement, I know.  But I think one area where I've improved in the last year is confidence.  I'm not arrogant or cocky, because I know there are people who can sing, play, and write circles around me.  I do, however, feel that I've reached a point where I've let go of a lot of things that are just not important as I'm performing on stage.  I feel like I can close my eyes and get inside the song and make music.  I'm not worried about what the other band did before us or what somebody might have said about my appearance or what great banjo player is in the audience.  I think being able to let go of that kind of stuff is a result of having more confidence in myself and in my band.  I think we've been at this long enough that we've created an identifiable sound.  Knowing that is a good feeling.<br /><br />2009 will mark twenty years since I graduated from high school.  I hardly ever see anybody from back then.  I think just a handful of my classmates have ever been to a Gibson Brothers show.  Maybe there have been more than that, but that's all I've seen.  I'm not upset by that.  We all have our own lives and interests, and I know that bluegrass represents a small slice of the overall entertainment pie.  I didn't think I'd be playing music for a living back in 1989.  Oh, I had it in the back of my mind that maybe I could be a sideman someday for Ricky Skaggs or Emmylou Harris.  I had this silly notion that maybe I could play baseball.  That didn't work.  I knew I wanted to marry Corina and raise a family.  That has worked.  I knew I wanted music to be a part of my life, but I never dreamed that we'd be playing this seriously.  I hope we still are in 2029.<br /><br />Eric<br><hr size=\"1\">")