Sitting in the lobby of the hotel awaiting a car to Heathrow Airport, still buzzing about last night’s triumph at Bush Hall. There is something special about playing in London, a city that has been the hub of the music world for centuries. There is something very special about the intoxicating feeling of momentum that comes with returning to a city to a bigger venue that is sold out to the doors with excited people eager for your return. There is something very, very special about getting a chance to sing songs for folks in a city that has had a few rough weeks. Not that a night out with me and the band is a cure all, but it feels good to offer even the most modest breath of levity and light when folks are hungry for it.

All of these things happened last night, I figure. And I am grateful for it all.

Exciting times as the first single from the new CD drops tomorrow. As of Friday, you can request the song on your fav radio station, stream it on your fav streaming service, and download it from your fav digital platform. I’d be super thankful if you did one, two, or all three of these things and spread the word about it all. A big rush and show of interest in the single drives a whole bunch of activity for the album release and tour to come later this Fall and into 2018. So, thank you all in advance for all the support.

Stay tuned for a fun video for Summer Summer Night as well. Me and the band and a crew of wonderful young actors recreated an 80s Summer Camp movie. I hope the guy gets the girl, don’t you?

Off to LHR and onto Frankfurt en route to the Blacksheep Festival! Danke!

Cheers,
Alan

Any frequent readers of this blog know I am not usually a fan of a day off in a lonely hotel room. Most often I find it kind of isolating and depressing. It is the very time when you count how many hours and days you spend away from your family. It is the time you are neither Home nor on the bus with your pals prepping for a concert. You are just, alone. And normally it is, by far, my least favorite of days.

But I am enjoying this day off in the hotel room more than usual. I have sang a concert 9 of the last 10 nights, so I really need to rest body, voice and mind. Also, I have a major book deadline looming and am grateful for these 24 hours or so with almost no distractions so I can catch up on it all.

Very briefly here, a note of thanks to everyone who’s joined us on this trip so far. Great shows all around with Sell Outs in Ann Arbor, Pawling, and Sellersville. A look ahead sees a few more Sold Out shows in Brownfield, Lindsay, and Parry Sound. I know that Belleville, Kitchener, Northampton, and Derry have very few tix left, so grab them quick if you want to join us. Love to see you.

Have to say, my day in NYC was one of the best of my adult life. Got to see Come From Away, the now Broadway smash about Newfoundland’s hospitality during the 9/11 crisis. It is as heartwarming as it gets and a reminder that even on the darkest of days, there is a light to show the way. So proud of GBS’s Bob Hallet for placing the traditional music of Newfoundland in the show and of our own Petrina and Romano and all the cast for telling such a true and much needed story. Made me proud to be a human being, a Canadian, and especially a Newfoundlander.

Thankfully, all of the above joined us at BB Kings for a great concert and jam. It’s tough to make a splash of any kind in the big city. There is so much happening and making big waves, it would be easy to go unnoticed in the wash of it all. But I really feel like Newfoundland had a big slice of the Big Apple on Thursday, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

Go see Come From Away. And go see it in NYC. The lovely story of a small town and how it shone on such a dark day being told and staged in the very city that suffered it the worst is quite honestly the chance of a lifetime.

More touring news to come as the Summer shows roll out soon.

In album News, the mastering date is Thursday. The single has been picked and should be released soon as the days get longer.

I am working away on the last brush stroke of the new book. It should be out of my hands before the tour is over. Fun stuff.

The sun is shining on some very tall deciduous trees just outside this hotel room. Through the window I can see the light catch on brown branches pushing tiny green needles and cones through the fading husk used to ward off winter.

Though I dare to say it, I think Spring has Sprung.

Cheers,
Alan

Ottawa gig at Centrepointe Theatre is Sold Out. This is a big deal. Thank you so much. More about this later.

I am sitting in my St. John’s Kitchen in between storm three and four of this week. I’m serious. Pretty much all I have done lately is shovel snow or get ready to shovel snow. And I could not be happier.

2016 turned out to be a much busier year than I expected, with The Beautiful Gypsies and me on the road for about 100 days. I enjoyed every single one of them, but I am a little weary after so many miles on busses, trains, and airplanes. Happy to be Home for the Holidays.

Much to look forward to in 2017. If all goes well, you’ll see a new book and CD in the Fall. I have submitted about 75% of the book to the editing team and we hope to finish the last bits early in the new year. I hope you enjoy the tales of my first journey across the country in the GBS van and how all the new found land compared to the only Newfoundland I knew.

I am humbled and excited to get a chance to work with one of the most successful music producers in history. Early in 2017 me and the BG’s will roll West to the famous Warehouse studio in Vancouver to record a new album with Mr. Bob Rock. I can’t fit all his credits in one blog, so I’ll just politely ask you to look up his incredible resume if you are interested. It is not a brush stroke of an exaggeration to say that this is the chance of a lifetime. I cannot wait to see what comes of it all.

Lots of tour dates over on the tour page. Many of the March shows are close to selling out so grab some tix quick as I’d love to see you out there. Stoked to have the wonderful Mr. Donovan Woods along for the ride on a bunch of those shows. Donovan is an incredible songwriter and has helped me with a bunch of tunes including The Nights Loves Us and I Can’t Dance Without You from the SO LET’S GO album as well as a few for the upcoming recording, including Come Out with Me and Ready to Go, that many of you may have heard in concert recently. Not sure how he makes time for me in between writing tunes for artists like Tim McGraw and the gang from Lady Antebellum, but I’m glad he does. He’s an amazing performer and singer as well. So grateful he agreed to come along for a bunch of the shows.

Also on that tour, subbing in for the most awesome Shehab Illyas, will be my old friend and GBS stage mate, Murray Foster. Many of you know Murray from GBS or Moxy Fruvous, or The Cocksure Lads band and film. He’s an incredible player and singer and an equally awesome travel companion, so I look forward to spending a few weeks on the bus with Murray. Shehab will be back with us right after the March Tour.

Stoked be heading back to The Black Sheep Festival in Germany in June. Will be sharing the weekend with The Hooters, Saga, and Nazareth just to name a few. Hoping to add a few other gigs in UK and/or Europe while we are over that way. For all the festival info, go here.

Thanks to all for the tremendous support for Cory Tetford’s new CD In the Morning. Me and a bunch of the BG’s helped Cory with these tunes, but trust me when I say Cory did all the heavy lifting. Great songs. Great Singing. Great Guitar Playing. Grab the CD here or here.

For folks in the St. John’s area, you get a chance to see Cory live and in concert on March 8th. He’ll be joined by Chris Ledrew and a gang of awesome players at Holy Heart Auditorium. Grab tix here.

Back to the Sold Out show in Ottawa in January. Here’s a confession. Like everyone, I have moments of self-doubt and worry if the momentum of it all has ceased to move forward. Sometimes I pick a gig and focus on it as it goes on sale and use it as a marker, a litmus test if you will, for how it is all going. The Centrepointe Theatre is a big capacity at around a thousand seats. The gig came up fairly last minute and would go on sale at an odd time of year, when people may have already spent their pockets empty with gifts for the holidays. So I said to myself, ‘if this one does ok, we are still in the game.’ Then the show Sold Out clean in about a week after being put on sale and a month before the date. When I got the news I looked up and said ‘Home Run’, to no one and everyone and mostly to myself.

I have to tell you how grateful I am for this sell-out so quickly and so far in advance when I know folks are spending a pile on just about everything. It means more to me than I can say. Get ready, Centrepointe Theatre. You are getting… well, you are getting everything I got.

Happy Holidays to All from The Luckiest Man in the World.

Much Love to Ye for an incredible 2017.

Cheers,
Alan