Hey Friends,

Steve and I have had a great time in June getting around to music festivals in California and enjoying the new friends we've made there.  The Live Oak and Strawberry Music festivals were such fun and I recommend them both to you if you haven't been.  A wonderful family feeling invests both of these events and it's so great to experience live music outdoors in California's golden spring!  We've seen some wonderful artists ~ so inspiring!

As I write, we're excitedly preparing for our July tour to the wilds of Northern California mid-month.  We also have a couple of shows here in So-Cal in July, both return trips to great venues we know and love.  On the 10th we're back at the Fret House in Covina, California, then on the 12th we embark on our travels.  The crown-jewel of the tour is our show at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on July 15th in their beautiful new location.  We hope to be filming that show, so if you're in the area or you have friends who are, please come see us and land in our DVD!

That weekend we'll be driving up to the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival in beautiful Etna, California near the Klamath National Forest, and then at the end of the month we return to old stomping grounds at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Pasadena with our good friend Ernest Troost opening the show for us.  If you don't know Ernest, he was the Kerrville New Folk winner last year and is a truly gifted songwriter of new Piedmont blues -inspired songs.  That should be a great show for all of you in the greater LA area. 

We look forward to seeing you all out there on the road!

Happy Summer Trails,

Love,

Susie

Hey Everybody!

Our show at the Topanga Festival last month was really fun and so many people made it out to the Paramount Ranch this year! We visited with old friends and met new ones and basically had a great day - and got to sing with Fur and Steve just by happy accident!  Right is a photo of Steve and me on the Railroad Stage, captured by new friend Patricia Van Over.

We meet up with June having just come back from our very first trip to the Strawberry Music Festival near Yosemite.  It was an amazing adventure, full of the beauty of the Sierra Nevada in Spring, and great music with a stellar lineup of artists.   I was really excited to meet the great Lisa Burns (Visit Lisa Burns' Website) and play two short sets with her on the Strawberry Hog Radio, along with our friends Rodger Phillips and Dan Sankey.  Lisa rocks! and I have a new girl buddy in music!  This was the best part of Strawberry for me this year.  Here's a picture of Lisa playing her bass.

Back home now, we're getting ready to play again at the Talking Stick in Venice, this time with our newest member, Mark Indictor on fiddle (here's a photo of Mark at Topanga, also by Pattie).  I so enjoyed meeting Mark last January at the Benefit for Haiti in Culver City I invited him to work with the Hilonesome Band.  He'll be joining us on tour to Northern California in mid-July as well (more about that in a minute), and will be with us at the Coffee Gallery on July 30th. 

Another very cool thing coming in June is the AMAZING Joe Craven will be visiting Southern California for two shows and I want you all to do everything possible to make it to at least one of them (that's Joe below with his banjo).  This is a world-class artist in our midst folks, and you owe it to yourself to experience the great Joe!  He's had an amazing career, including his long-running association with the David Grisman Band.  From Joe's website: 

"Joe is a musical madman with anything that has strings attached; violin, mandolin, tin can, bedpan, cookie tin, tenor guitar, mouth bow, banjo, berimbau, balalaika, boot 'n lace, animal bones, squeeze toys, cake pans, waste cans, umbrella stands, martini shakers and; himself.  Educator, former museum curator, visual artist, actor/storyteller and festival emcee,  Joe has made music with folks ranging from jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli to Grateful Dead Guitarist Jerry Garcia to The Persuasions. An advocate of the folk arts, Joe's educational mission is to empower individuals to take possession of what they already have and tell their stories by 'demystifying' art through self-expression as a daily ritual.  No matter who he's connecting with; a community workshop in Costa Rica, a university lecture demonstration in California, or on stage in front of thousands of school kids in Scotland, he's at home and loving every minute. 'Everything Joe touches turns to music,' says David Grisman, who Joe played with for almost 17 years.  No one who saw Joe wring a percussion concerto from his garbage-bag raincoat during a downpour at the Strawberry Music Festival could disagree."

Joe's appearances in Southern California are rare so I urge you to check out his shows and plan to treat yourself to a master, virtuoso, and the best student of music and art I've ever seen.  Joe will be at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena on June 25th and on June 26th at Russ & Julie's House Concerts in Oak Park.  Visit Joe's website and his schedule and read about his brilliant work at Joe Craven's Website.

We'll be spending the rest of June getting ready for our July tour to Northern California and are totally jazzed that we'll be playing the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley for the first time! Incidentally, we hope to be filming that show, so if you're in the area or you have friends who are, please be in the audience and probably in our DVD!  We start in Sacramento on Jeffrey Callison's radio show "Insight" on Capital Public Radio. We then head up to beautiful Colfax and Nevada City near Grass Valley to meet up with KVMR and sit in on Che Greenwood's radio show.  That night we play at the lovely Evangeline's Cafe in Colfax, then it's on to THE FREIGHT & SALVAGE in Berkeley. That weekend we'll be part of the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival in Etna before coming back home.  All the details are below, so we hope to see you or friends you know in July up north!  I'll remind you about all the tour stuff in next month's newsletter, so stay tuned!

Happy June (No Gloom) Summer, Friends!  Make sure to get outside and play with your dog or dig in the dirt, plant some flowers and vegetables and wear sunscreen!  We look forward to seeing you out there! 

Big Love and Blessings to all,

Susie

Just got the news that Rob's song "Albuquerque" (from our "Green Kentucky Blues" CD) has just been made a finalist in the Great American Song Contest (Country category)!  Congratulations, Rob!!  Check it out at The Great American Song Contest Website 

Fab February and Martin Family

Our February was amazing - we were on the road for a music-filled President's Day/Valentines Day weekend.  We debuted everywhere we went, first at the Fireside Concerts in Newbury Park, and the triumphant San Francisco Bluegrass and Old Time Festival on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The fans in SF were great and loved the band!  Kudos to my brother Rick Glaze who chauffeured us around all weekend and let us stay at his lovely home and to Laurie Lewis who so generously lent us her beautiful Eminence bass.  It was beautiful and Fred had a blast playing it.  It was great to feel the glow from the new and growing fan base in Northern Cal, and we're looking forward to getting back there!  A big surprise was that my brother Rick sent me home with another Martin guitar he gifted me from his collection, one that I borrowed to play the shows with - a beautiful OMC which is Orchestra Model Cutaway.  The photo below is of our entire Martin family!

March Shows
This month I'm excited to be sharing the stage with someone I'm a fan of, Shaun Cromwell.  He's opening for us at the Coffee Gallery Backstage on Friday, March 12th and I hope you'll all come out!  We've got a rousing group joining us and new songs, and you've got to hear the great Shaun. We're headed down to San Diego later in the month to join the San Diego IndieFest and our great friend fiddler Dan Sankey will guest with the trio.

Radio Airplay
"Green Kentucky Blues" as well as our earlier title "Blue Eyed Darlin'" have picked up airplay on roots radio in the U.S. and Canada:

KGLT/Americana Backroads - Bozeman MT
WMMT/Art Menius - Whitesburg KY
KVMR/Four Strong Winds - Nevada City CA
WNEC/Out of the Woods - Henniker NH
WYEP/An American Sampler
WRFL/Hard Travelin' Revue - Lexington KY
WEFT - From the Joshua Tree Inn - Champaign IL
WVGN - Virgin Islands
CIUT - Radio Boogie - Toronto
KBOO - Saturday Morning Gumbo
KCSN - Bluegrass Etc., Northridge, CA

Thanks to press agent Teresa Conboy for her good and creative work!

Spring!
In LA we're just starting to see the first hints of Spring.  It's always a new joy every year when it rolls around.

More than the little extra light, more than even the faint aromas, there is a new presence in the world, in the air around me.  I feel it clearly, though it is tiny and timid:  it's opening my eyes and ears and heart, and re-lighting that little bit of hope I thought had been buried in the dark.

You have no idea how closed in you've been until the first bright rays of sun find you in your dark room.

Here's a quote for Spring Faith and Spring Hope:

"Listen to your life.

See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.

In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness:

touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it

because in the last analysis all moments are key moments,

and life itself is grace."    -- Fred Buechner

Love and Blessings for a hopeful Spring and Revival of the Presence!

Susie

We had the most awesome time in San Francisco last weekend!  It was a whirlwind weekend with Fireside Concert Series in Newberry Park on Friday, and San Francisco Bluegrass and Old Time Festival on Saturday and Sunday!  The fans in SF were warm and friendly and loved the band!  I think we'll be asked back!  Kudos to my brother Rick Glaze who chauffeured us around all weekend and let us stay at his lovely home, and to Laurie Lewis who so generously lent us her beautiful Eminence bass!  It was gorgeous and Fred had a blast playing it.  It's great to feel the glow from the new and growing fan base in Northern California.  We're looking forward to getting back there.  I hope to have photos and video from our fine venues coming soon!

Well folks, the New Year isn't even 3 weeks old yet and there’s already been a lot going on!

New Band Photography

We started everything off with a bang and a snap the first week by asking our friend Cam Sanders, a great photographer, to create new band photography for us and the wonderful results can be found on our website’s Gallery page.

New Sounds!

Also early in the month, our friend Ken Lopez from USC did us a big favor by helping us to find new sound equipment which we did with the help of Kurtis Ewing at Westlake Professional Sales.  Now we’re traveling around with some fine Audiotechnica mics and are really happy with them.  The other cool sound addition to the band is my brother Rick’s Martin 0018.  The day before we played Kulak’s he brought it down from Northern California for me to borrow and we love the sound in combo with Rob’s big D28.  I hope we get to keep it!

January Shows

The month has already seen two shows – we had a great time at Kulak’s Woodshed in North Hollywood with Tracy Newman and the Reinforcements on January 9^th, and the following weekend took the Quartet to Tom Lee’s Songtree Music Series in Goleta California where we had a great, great experience. It’s a beautiful new space for concerts and a large and wonderfully warm audience.  Lastly this month it’s the Concert for Haiti benefit concert on Sunday, January 31^st at the Culver Culver-Palms United Methodist Church, 4464 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City 90230.  Artists include Laurence Juber, Amilia K. Spicer, Brad Colerick, Robby Longley, Freebo, Bernie Pearl with Mike Barry, Matt Cartsonis, Renaissance, James Lee Stanley, Severin Browne, Michael Richards & Doctor Fun, Tracy Newman, Bonne Musique Zydeco, Sage, Tim Tedrow & Terry Vreeland, Robert Morgan Fisher, Dale LaDuke, Dave Morrison Band, Dafni, Duane Thorin, Lisa Turner, Kara Grainger.  Call the Culver-Palms United Methodist Church at 310-390-7717 for more information and plan to come and donate for Haiti earthquake relief.  Organizations represented will be Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health – PIH, CARE, Oxfam, Americares and others.  www.hope4la.org

NAMM

Steve and I attended the NAMM show a couple of weeks ago, where we ran into many of our buddies hanging at the Martin Guitar exhibit.  Thanks to our friends at IBMA (thanks Jill!), we were able to attend as members of that organization.  At Martin we were incredibly lucky to meet with Dick Boak who handles Artist & Public Relations, and is the editor of “The Sounding Board” (Martin's official newsletter). We shared with him the unique story of how our D28 came to us, and he offered to add a listing about our band and our Martin story to the newsletter, published twice a year. The story in short: Our Martin D-28 (pictured in the banner photo on the top of our website) came to us by way of Steve's good friend, actor John Goodman. John worked with Steven Spielberg in the movie "The Flintstones" and was given the guitar as a gift from the director. John found he didn't play the guitar very often and offered it to Steve who promptly jumped at the chance to own this gorgeous instrument. We've featured it in our concerts and recording sessions ever since.

We should be in Vol. 29 of “The Sounding Board” this summer.

Also while at the NAMM show we were delighted to set up artist relationship agreements with Shubb Capos (www.shubb.com) and Deering Banjos (www.deeringbanjos.com).  Steve ordered a Vega Old Tyme model from the Deering booth and we’re excited to have it arrive soon.  Watch out for some old fashioned plunking from Steve coming soon…!

Writing

I’ve started my CD review writing for Dirty Linen (www.dirtylinen.com) and my first byline will appear in their March/April issue.  On Folkworks (www.folkworks.org) my review of Jeni & Billy’s CD “Jewel Ridge Coal” is currently CD Review of the Week.

February Shows

As I write we’re preparing for our February shows, including our first time in the San Francisco Bluegrass & Old Time Festival (www.sfbluegrass.org).  All the details for February are on our Upcoming Shows page.