never did i think that i would be sitting there playing a soundcheck and ben folds would be taking pictures of me. but it happened. as did many other remarkable things in the tour of the midwest i played with david and our excellent mandolinist-cum-presidential-hopeful, adam "buck" buchwald. truly a great time, as promised by the sign welcoming us to michigan.

david has had fire sign mixed, mastered, and all that good stuff in preparation for inclusion as a bonus track on the next pressing of his second album, after the wrecking ships. be on the lookout for its release in the coming weeks.

now it's back to life down in the sunny south. the studio plans are coming along quite nicely, and construction will start before too long. the first major project to inaugurate the new studio will be tim williams' first full-length album, which we'll be recording in june. tim is a real talent - he writes constantly, and his songs just keep getting better. we're taking a somewhat unusual approach for this album - i've asked him not to play me any of his songs until a week before we start recording, and we're going to go into this with a very stripped-down, raw, spontaneous mindset. for the direction, check out 818: the chelsea hotel sessions, if you haven't already. it's a collection of three songs that he and i recorded in room 818 of manhattan's hotel chelsea on an unusually warm late december day. and also be sure to check out the refrain, tim's ep.

prior to working with tim, i'll be recording a demo for the lovely and talented juliana finch, an up-and-coming songstress from atlanta that you should be keeping an eye on.

speaking of things you should do, don't you think it's about time you bought grey star morning's heartwash hotel? you don't want to be the last one on your block to get it, do you?

that's all the news for tonight. good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.