BIG NEWS! Three great things have happened:

1. My Volvo now has door handles on all four doors. Now for more minor considerations, like brakes and an alternator…

2. I’m a Kerrville New Folk Finalist! This rad(ical) competition has featured folks like Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and many other awesome songwriters.  Being a finalist does not make me as cool as them, but it does make me feel like a thousand tiny butterflies are kissing me with their furry antennae. On May 27 I’ll go to Texas to play my songs  ”Not Yet” and “Used to Wish.” Have you heard of positive visualization? Please visualize me on stage, not peeing myself with excitement.

3. OLLIE CAME HOME! My mama’s dog went missing on Mothers’ Day. He’s a 7 lb pomeranian with a big heart and approximately 10 brain cells, so we didn’t know what his chances were in the great wilderness of Annapolis, MD.  A thousand flyers later, he is home! This makes me feel like I am aloft on a massive cloud of cotton candy. Holy cow, it was sad to think that  Ollie might be gone forever. But he’s not!

I hope your world is exploding with equally wonderful things. Thanks to all the folks who sent Ollie their coming-home vibes, thanks to Dietric for fixing my car, and thanks to the Kerrville team for inviting me to participate in New Folk! I can’t wait to meet the amazing folkies   who will undoubtedly populate the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Other awesomeness – this weekend we had a blast at the Beaufort Music Festival and got to see some great music, including (my favorite) Shirlette Ammons and the Dynamite Brothers. We met the Fritz from Asheville and marveled over the magnitude of their funk (does that sound dirty to you, too?). We got to hang with Carlitta Durand, the Phantom Playboys, and a slew of friendly festival goers. Hurray scholarship-oriented-waterfront-festivals! What a cool place.

I spent Mothers’ Day with Janet Kenworthy and Frazierband at the Rooster’s Wife in Aberdeen – another special venue! These guys can play, and damn, Janet can cook.

This week I’ll be opening solo for the Honeycutters (yes, you guessed it, another favorite) at Motorco in Durham, NC on Thursday.  Friday night we’ll be in North Myrtle Beach for the DIVA Marathon Kickoff concert, and Saturday we’ll be at the Elizabeth City Potato Festival. Yeah!

Love,

Lizzy