I returned yesterday after one of the best musical weekends of my life. I had the privilege to be included in a fantastic line-up of live music at Phins To The West at the AVI Resort and Casino in Laughlin, NV. I left my house very early on Thursday morning and drove to Nashville. From there I flew to Las Vegas and met my friend Jim Hoehn. We shared a rental car and headed south. I've never been to the desert before and the scenery was amazing. The mountains looked like something from Star Wars!

The AVI Resort is about 90 miles south of Las Vegas outside a town called Laughlin, NV. What a cool place to have an event. The resort is great and everything is right there. I didn't leave the property until Monday morning to head back up to the airport. They have a bunch of restaurants, a casino, a movie theater, bars, a pool and a beach on the Colorado River!

I can't say again how thrilled I was to be included in the musical line up. Every day they had two stages going with solo acts and each night they had a band. My friends Stars on the Water played Thursday night. I got to play during one of their breaks. It's always great to see Jerry and Mike and they sounded exceptionally good. Friday night was Hanna's Reef and Saturday was the Boat Drunks. The bands on Friday and Saturday played in a huge ballroom with a big stage. The sound was great!

As fun as it is to hear great bands, my favorite kind of live music is a solo singer/songwriter with a guitar. There were six of us scheduled to be there and a few more joined in throughout the weekend and on Sunday for the Songwriter Showcase. The other 5 were Jim Hoehn, Bob Karwin, Rob Mehl, KD Moore and Gary Seiler. Gary was sometimes solo and sometimes played with a wonderful musician named Ron Bell. I have heard and played with Jim Hoehn and Rob Mehl before and I love their music. This was the first time I got a chance to meet Bob, KD and Gary and it was a treat to hear them and get to know them too. How do you beat hanging out in the sun, by the pool, listening to great music?

I saw some friends that I haven't seen since Key West and made a bunch of new ones. It truly was a wonderful weekend. Thanks so much to all the people at Phins for including me.

If you want to know more about Phins to the West, click here: Phins Web Site