A few weeks back, I did my first shows of 2014, and I couldn’t have been blessed to start the year off on a better note (pun intentional): Two house concerts in the lower Sierras, along with a live interview on KVMR radio as part of Wesley Robertson’s “Rockin’ and Stompin'” show. Busy weekend, lots of driving around, but also lots of fun playing with Ken Rabiroff and hanging out with good pals at two shows totally geared towards a listening audience. (Seriously can’t ask for more than that.)

The “anchor” gig – music buzzword for a show that covers much of the cost of a trip and allows you to book other things around it – was in Auburn CA at the home of our friends Rob and Kim. They’ve been thinking of doing a house concert, so I called in a favor. They put together a big party, and we got to play for lots of new people.

A highlight of the night was finding out our friends Jon “Lou” Lewis and Jim Dyar drove all the way from Redding for this show. An inside joke in our close tribe is this wonderful pirate joke that we ask “Lou” to tell whenever there’s a new audience. We were finally able to capture it here, on video, for the interwebs and posterity.

I still laugh every time I hear it, so enjoy. Jim Dyar will get a little real estate here on the blog, as well, in a few weeks. He and I both started playing and writing at about the same time, so we’re constantly checking in on each other and talking shop. Jim just finished his third CD, “Rembrandts on Red Walls”. He’ll be featured soon on an episode of the “Songs and Stories” podcast.