Nashville 2009-09-11

I looked at this front page and was shocked to see the last time I up-dated it was in mid-March! Amazing how six months can get away from you. Actually, some people have written wondering if everything was alright and my wife has gently suggested that I should peck out a few new words. I think I just got caught up in summer and am only now getting back on task. So.....

All has been wonderful and I hope the same goes for anyone reading this. We had a great two weeks on the Gulf of Mexico, our usual summer holiday spot, kicking sand, swimming, etc. A couple of weeks after we returned we loaded up the the big truck again and moved our youngest son into an apartment to begin his junior year at university. Over the years, combined with our other children, this was our 11th such load in/out and hard to believe that after next year, it will be the last....we hope....though it is a tradition I'm sure we'll miss down the road. I've been giving the old Weber BBQ kettle a good workout as well as trying out some new indoor vegetable recipes....Eggplant Parmesan and Squash au Gratin. We've successfully grown loads of tomatoes this year and never have a shortage of fresh basil. There's nothing that says summer like tomatoes and basil. I've also improvised a stout stir-fry of fresh green beans, chicken, loads of fresh ginger and garlic, shredded carrots, onions, hot chilis, soy and vodka!!

Another great part of this summer has been spectator sport, watching the evolution of The Zut Alors first album. For those who may not know, that's my son Nick Bennett's group. He does the majority of the writing and singing as well as the guitar work along with various odds and ends. He's been recording it here at the house and various studios round town and it sounds fantastic. The songs are smart, melodic pop music and it makes me wonder why in the hell I couldn't think of melodies or guitar parts like that? The Nashville Scene, our local arts/politics/what's happening weekly, said last month, " 'The Killing Kind' (a song from their album) is one of the best tracks to emerge from Nashville in 2009." The Zut Alors record is nearly complete, but in the meantime he's released an EP and you can hear some of that music at myspace.com/thezutalors

Things have been busy in the studio again and this month I have committed to some live gigs round Nashville with various folks. The first has already taken place, a CD release show for my friend Kieran Kane's new CD Somewhere Beyond The Roses. I love this record and am tremendously proud to be part of it. A couple of people who were at the show took videos of two of the songs and posted them on You Tube. They're not tip-top quality, but you'll get a good idea of what we were up to if you go to these links: youtube.com/watch?v=GAzWkboeurI and youtube.com/watch?v=2iZhGyFZ9B0.

I'll be playing two shows this week with The Sweethearts of the Rodeo who have just finished a brand new record that I played on. The end of the month finds me with my pal Dave Peterson playing a show here in town at the International Bluegrass Music Association convention. The IBMA is bluegrass music's big event of the year and it will be the first time I've participated in it. While Dave is very well known in bluegrass music circles, it will be the straight country thing that we will be doing from his album Coming On Strong.

Mark Knopfler's new record, Get Lucky has just come out and I think it's great, really honoured to be on it. Of course I think they all are and am probably a little biased. I'm already looking ahead to next year when we'll all get together, dust off a few tunes and take to the road again. As for my own record, I have managed to drag myself in a few times over the last six months and do some recording for myself. I'm really down to the homestretch now and only have one more song to do. I had a meeting yesterday with an art director for the packaging so it really feels like the last threads are pulling together. I anticipate it being released next February.

We were heading in to spring when I wrote last and now we're staring at autumn. I promise not to leave this page so long again.

Cheers,

Richard

Nashville, Tennessee