Saying thanks

Kids,

Thanks to everyone who came out on Thursday.  Thanks to my friends, Marc & Dice and LOVECoast, who put on magnificent shows of their own.  Thanks to the Media Club for hosting such an amazing event.  Thanks to my wife, who dragged herself through sleepless snowy Pennsylvania and back again only to get up onstage with me through her illness.  Thanks to those who drove a long way just to share the night with us.  Thanks to everyone.  It was everything I could have hoped for it to be. 

As a thank-you, I've got some new toys for you to play with.  I've been working with a couple of friends on some videos for those of you who haven't been able to make it to shows.  The first is (of course) the one above, shot with longtime CFord co-conspirator Skot Nelson, and the good news is that there's more coming.  There's two more songs that we shot during that session, and I should have those up for you over the next few weeks.  More good news after the break!

What a week.

This week has been one I'll never forget.  It was stuffed and packed full of life: tears, laughs, high-fives with friends, clinking bottles and singing children, white-knuckle driving through whited-out roads, flight cancellations, refunds and discounts, fond farewells, sleepless nights and nap-filled days, coughs and couches and sore throats, snowy walks down small-town streets, big city bustle, airport listlessness, sharing fries with strangers at Chili's and toasting greatness with family at the Macungie Pub, feeding dogs and taking out dogs and chasing after dogs and playing with dogs and being awoken in the middle of the night by the friendly barking of dogs, dressing in our finest and dressing in the minimum, eating cafeteria food and eating cookies and eating take-out and eating home cooking and eating and eating and eating, and then coming home to a day full of rehearsing and text messages and rehearsing and tweeting and rehearsing and taking Tylenols and rehearsing and finding batteries and rehearsing and soundchecking and engineers named Danger, and rehearsing, and scarfing down a veggie burger and waiting and rehearsing and seeing friends and being offered beers and being surprised and seeing old friends and waiting and watching and then, when the night was at its latest, strapping on the guitar and plugging in and singing and shouting and blistering and singing and singing.  I'll always remember this week as a vivid blur, and while it was colored by some of the saddest moments of my life I'll choose to keep it in my memory as one of the best.

But wait, there's more!

As I promised above, our work together is not done - exhaustion notwithstanding.  I want to give you a bit of a preview of what I'm working on, and the videos with Skot is just one small part of that.  First, Cath and I shot a little holiday greeting that is coming out VERY soon with our friends over at  Fresh Independence.  That will be followed soon enough by the live session I shot with them in the summer - I'm told that will be part of their new season starting in January.  And speaking of live sessions, I've got an appointment with Folk Oasis to join them on the radio in February.  I'll also check in with you soon about where to get a digital copy of Heroes and Heathens now that the cat is out of the proverbial bag.

But the biggest thing happening right now in CFordland is that I'm officially going on tour as of April.  I'm planning 25 shows over the course of 30 days, and as exhausting as that sounds I think it's going to be a smashing success.  I've never done anything so bold before.  I'm booking all my own shows, running my own press campaign, driving my own car, and bleeding my own blood to get out and connect with everyone who's supported me over the years.  It's a project that terrifies me in perhaps the best way possible.

So once again, thanks to you, readers, and to you, listeners, and to you, friends.  I can't stress enough how much I owe what modest successes I've had completely to the generosity of the people around me.  

Have I said thanks enough?  Probably not.  But that'll have to do for now.

THANKS.

-CFord