Can’t believe we got we got to Springtime so fast this year. February started with a bang when I headed to Nashville to produce the very talented songbird and songwriter Laura Cantrell who actually wrote a song inspired by me and my guitar playing, “Like A Rose” which may be the rockingest tune she’s ever recorded! And for the 2nd tune, we added a tune by Amy Rigby, whom we both admire greatly as a songwriter and a person, we covered her song “Brand New Eyes”, which Laura sang so sweetly in the spirit of the late Ronnie Spector. Then, we hooked up with engineer and producer Ed Stasium who sprinkled some magic dust on the recordings and mixed them just right, so we are both very happy with the outcome! The songs will be part of Laura’s long awaited collection of recordings that she’s been working on since 2020. Later in February, we both hit the road for Miami and jumped aboard the Outlaw Country Cruise ship and what FUN that was and so good for the heart and soul. What an amazing line up, and the crowds were so jumpin’ happy to be there digging on the sounds of some of the greatest country artists, in my book, like Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Emmy Lou Harris, Lucinda Williams and even the hard rockin’ Super Suckers and Waco Brothers! You gotta know I’m looking forward to sailing this November 2022 for the Outlaw Country West cruise that will sail out of LA this time with some West Coast legends and pals like Los Lobos, Social Distortion, X , Dave Alvin and more, I can hardly wait! After the cruise there was just barely enough time to get ready to jump into the SXSW Music fest and boy after a 2 year break, we were all ready to play the city as much as we could. With Mule Kick Record in town, the label who put out the Rosie and the Talismen’s last 2 singles and Pearl Records who put out our Talsimen’s EP, we were kept pretty busy showcasing our stuff. The big finish of SX for me, was sitting in with Alejandro Escovedo for his Sunday closing at the Continental Club, he was amazing as always!! Then 2 days later I flew to California to play Pappy and Harriets up in the high California desert. Unfortunately the Covid was running rampant in Austin that previous week and I picked up the dang virus, I guess you could say I was run down from moving and shaking without any rest at all. Well forced rest is what I had for a couple of weeks and I made it through pretty well being triple vaxxed and all so now I’m back to the boogie-woogie! Just back from a recent run to Arizona and will be soon heading to Tennessee to play Nashville Boogie in May. Planning to keep the shows rollin’ in with travel and local gigs for the Talismen as well as The Blue Moon Jazz Quartet. Recording is definitely coming down the pike too as well folks so come back here to see what’s up. Stay healthy friends be safe and thanks for stopping by to check back here with me and all my doin’s!! Cheers Big Ears! Your pal, rosie
