June 2006

The big news this June, is the release of my new Red House Records recording, “Postcards: Travels with a Great American Radio Show.” The recording is a travelogue of all original material mostly written for tour shows with that “Great American Radio Show: A Prairie Home Companion.” It features some of the most requested compositions of mine from the past few years including, “When the City of Angels Sleeps,” “Tecumseh” and “Meditation on the Thin Space at St. Paul’s Chapel.” It should be in stores the 2nd week of June and is always available by mail order from my web site.

The other big news for June is the release of Robert Altman’s film, “A Prairie Home Companion.” It will be in theaters June 9th. I saw the film at the big red carpet world premiere at the Fitzgerald Theater on May 3rd. A fun film with some great acting by the stars and some fine musical performances by all. I mostly ended up on the cutting room floor but there’s a number of scenes where I’m in the background. One of my tunes, “Coming Down From Red Lodge” is used in the film and also on the soundtrack CD. I’ve been told that a lot of the musical performances by the Shoe Band (including myself) will be included on the “DVD extras” when that comes out later this year.

  
I’ve been doing a lot more touring and gigging during the past year. A few highlights include performing with my daughter Anna at my annual Heartland Holiday Concert. Her vocal on “Once in Royal David’s City” brought the house down. As a sideman, I performed in a concert at the Fitzgerald Theater put together by Dan Chouinard called, “Mambo Italiano,” a musical journey showing the influence of Italian music on American music. A great show that I believe will be made into a radio special by Minnesota Public Radio. And last week, I performed with the reunion of the “Blood on the Tracks” band. The band was the group of Minnesota musicians who recorded with Bob Dylan for his bestselling CD, “Blood on the Tracks” back in 1974. We performed in Hibbing, MN, Dylan’s hometown, for the celebration of Dylan’s 65th birthday. It was a great time rocking out with some old friends.

I want to thank everyone who sent contributions and get-well wishes to my niece, Jessica, last November. After an epic struggle, she passed way. Way too young. She is missed by her family and all who got strength from her struggles. I also mentioned the passing of a good friend and someone who believed in and supported my music for more than 20 years, the founder and director of Red House Records, Bob Feldman. His vision will be carried on by his family and friends but there was only one Bob Feldman and I miss him.

That’s it for now. I hope to meet you on my travels in the future. Stop by and say hi!