Hello from Tennessee!

I can't tell you how good it feels to be home. I also can't begin to tell you how fantastic the last three weeks on the road have been! It started with 4 days and 4 shows in Door County. That is such a neat place and the people there are always so nice to me. A lot of the folks who vacation there pick that same weekend every year and that is always my "Door County Weekend" so I see a lot of familiar faces. My time in Door County always feels like the perfect combination of work and time off and I always leave there feeling great!

From Door County, I drove down to Pewaukee, WI. The Milwaukee Area Parrothead Club has been so good to me. The set up a concert for me in a place called Coppers and it was such a fun night. The place was full and almost everyone was from MAPA or friends of the club. I've played for them in the past and it's always a treat! They are great fans and supporters of live music and a wonderful crowd!

I didn't have a long drive after Coppers. I played the next night in Lake Geneva, WI in a wonderful new places. The restaurant is called Hemmingway's Port of Call and the Bar is called South of Disorder. It's really neat! It was a Tuesday night so not wild and crazy but I had a couple of fun groups come out and despite almost being late (bad MapQuest!) had a great night.

I had the next night off and used that time to drive to South Bend, IN. I went down through Rockford and around Chicago. There was a lot of construction and it probably would have been shorter just to drive through the city but I had all day. The next night I was back at Simeri's. Simeri's is home to the biggest patio I have ever seen and they have a perfect set up for live music. They have big bands on the weekends and I have heard it is so packed there you can't move. Thursday nights is their Acoustic Nights and it has a great laid back feel to it. I saw some folks there that I met last time I was in town and had a fun show.

The next day was Friday and I was making a trip I had been looking forward to for a long time. You've probably heard me rave about Cheeseburger in Caseville before. This was my 4th year here and the best yet! I finally got to hang around. Usually, I race into town, play a few shows and have to leave right away. Not this year. I played solo shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I got to open the big stage and they did a webcast so I was live on the internet! I had a couple of days off and then my good friend Jerry Gontang got into town and we did shows together on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday, we did two shows, the first on a beach and the second on a parade float! I've played on boats before but never on a float. I just got an email today telling me that the float we played on won an award! It's always great to see Jerry and I have a great time sharing the stage with him. In addition to the shows, some of my favorite people are in Caseville and there was lots of time for good meals and hanging around. Jerry was originally going to fly out yesterday but he got a flight out of Detriot on Sunday. We loaded everything into my car, I dropped him off at the airport and just kept going down I-75 until I hit Knoxville!

I have to leave Thursday morning to get back up to Eau Claire, sleep a bit and be ready for the Festival in the Pines Saturday morning. Thanks so much for making these past few weeks so great! See you all soon!

Matt