just a quick posting before I sign off for the evening (finally!). I hope everyone reading this has a great Christmas, no matter how you choose to celebrate!

Another unexpected and much appreciated gift towards the new CD, this one from “Anonymous Fan” came in the mail today! Don’t even know who to thank for this one, but I hope whoever it is reads this blog so I can say how much all the Taters appreciate it! It’s no exaggeration to say that this will really help us keep things moving, especially as we enter into the bleak midwinter (or, as I like call it… January!). The gift came with a great poem as well, and I’ll post that as soon as I can type it all out (or persuade other family members to help

I’m always happy when people come up at the shows and say how much they enjoyed it, or when I hear from people who’ve enjoyed the CDs. It means much more than a lot of people probably realize. When you consider how much music is out there in the world, how many shows there are to see on any given night, and all the competition from TV, radio, etc, it’s pretty encouraging to know how many people are actually choosing to spend their time with us. I don’t often take the time to thank everyone individually, especially those who come out regularly, or who buy all of our music, but just know that it’s all absorbed and appreciated. I’m sure the other Taters would echo me on this!

So, “Anonymous”, thanks again for your gift, and I hope you’ll enjoy the fruits of it when the CD comes out!

I think you will!

And I’ll leave you with a quote from the good Dr. himself,

"Welcome Christmas, Bring your cheer
Cheer to all Whos far and near
Christmas Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp
Christmas Day will always be
Just as long as we have we"

or rather, one fine evening was had on Saturday, at the 5th (6th? 8th?) annual TaterSons Christmas Party show in Ashland. We’ve been doing these shows for sometime now with our Tater pals from up the road apiece, the Grandsons, and it gets more fun each year. At several points in the evening there were 4 or 5 Taters, 4 Grandsons, and I could swear I saw at least a few ladies dancing, and a lord or two a’ leaping on stage (or maybe that was just Harry. It gives us a chance at least once a year to pull out the stops on most of the Christmas songs we know, and a few that we don’t -- would you expect any less from a Taters show? Some of the best parts are trying new arrangements on the fly and having them work!

Here’s an example -- Greg was riffing around on guitar with “I Can’t Turn You Loose” as we were about to start a song, and Chris (from the Grandsons) picked up on it, so Silver Bells turned into a most unique rendition! Take a listen -- Silver Bells

We hope to be having some of the Grandsons on the new CD, doing some horn parts, and after this show I’m especially excited about the prospect. As a lot of you know, there were on several cuts on our live CD Just One Night, and that was a blast as well.

Thanks to all who came out and making it a fine, fine evening. I’ll leave you with this for now (no, we didn’t actually do this song, but in the future…?)

Greg worked on some guitar parts on Thursday night while Craig and I mused about the upcoming Tater year.  Listening to Greg work out his parts is an interesting experience.  He tends to be very particular about the parts he is playing.  Hearing him play the same section of song a number of times till he gets it right must cause my ability to listen objectively to diminish.  After a while they all start sounding great to me.  Either Greg is a perfectionist or I lack patience.  I listened to the tracks this morning and I have to say that the pieces are stellar.  One piece in particular I find to be quite astounding!  It is a blast to hear things coming together.

Just finished a live radio show here in Richmond. Trying to sing at 7am is not without its share of hurdles, but if you want to hear what it came out like, you can find the songs here. Bill & Shelly have had us on each year on their Christmas show, along with dozens of other local artists, and we want to thank them for continuing to do this each year. We’re always grateful for folks who go out of their way to support local musicians & artists. If you heard the show, or just like the idea, be sure to write and let them know!

We had a great show yesterday at the Virginia Home, playing a very informal Christmas concert for some of the residents there. Even had a guest vocal from one of the folks in attendance, so that was great! Thanks to Billy, Betsy, Robbie, Jody and others who live & work there for giving us the opportunity to come and play. I love getting a chance to do Christmas songs as often as possible!

Got a bit more recording to do this week.  We’ve had a week off due to all the shows (6 shows in the last 7 days), and with Christmas & New Years just around the corner, we may not get a lot done in the studio for the next few weeks, but we’ve made good headway so we’re happy with what we have so far.

A few more big shows coming up before the end of the year. This week, on Saturday, Dec 20, we’ll be hosting our 5th or 6th annual Christmas with the TaterSons show, at Ashland Coffee & Tea. Can’t remember offhand how many of these we’ve done, but everyone has been fun, so I’m looking forward to it. On stage with us will be our pals from the north, The Grandsons. If you’re within driving distance, call the venue and see if there are still tickets available! And, on New Year’s Eve, we’re up in Winchester VA for the First Night celebration, sharing a stage with singer/songwriter Andrew McKnight. This is an all-ages celebration, and a great way to finish out the year!

One of these days we’ll finish a Christmas album (maybe after we finish the current album… focus… focus…), but for now we do have 2 songs up for sale on a Taters MP3 page, as well as several free downloads. Still testing out a few ways to handle the free downloads, including Box.net, so let us know what you think.

In the meantime, you can also listen to the song for free on MySpace  – go to http://www.myspace.com/tatermusic add “My First Christmas” to your MySpace playlists as well!

Just a quick posting to say thanks to Ruth for the very nice gift she sent. It will certainly help with getting the work done on the CD, and it’s much appreciated! I’m really grateful to know people are interested enough in what we’re doing to help support it like this. Came as a total surprise, and that made it all the more… Christmassy!

For those of you who don’t know Ruth, she is a music lover who hosts a great series of house concerts in VA. We played one of her House About Tonight shows this past Fall and had a blast with it.

As Clarence said, “Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.”

Some great stuff from everyone last night in the studio sessions. Brad put down a bass track on “Cat in the Window”, and Tater Pal Flyin’ Brian Sulser stopped by and played stand-up bass (being the stand-up kinda guy he is) on “That’s Me”, a re-working of a tune from our Recess CD a few years back. Mr Marrs proceeded to amaze and astound the masses on both nylon string and electric parts, adding, as always, new directions to the songs that I hadn’t even known existed! I think you’ll be really happy with the results. Hope to post something here soon, in some state of incompletion.

Tonight is our last Shenanigans show for the year, so if you’re free come on out and join us! If not, you can sit home and just watch this instead:

CDs, that is. An interesing post on Wired’s blog about the sale of portable CD players, which is up 50% from last year in the UK. They cite price and ease of use as a few of the reasons why some people are going back to this technology.  In Taterland, we’re always trying to keep an eye out for ways to get our music into as many hands (and heads) as possible, so this is at least one argument in favour of continuing to press CDs. As with most bands, we’re seeing a growth over the last few years in our digital download sales, and we’ll certain keep making those available, as well as any new media that comes along (haven’t gotten started on the Taters Blu-ray yet!), but I don’t see those little shiny discs going away in the near future. Now, as for other formats… ?

It all comes down to the low end: I’ve had two shows this weekend, neither of them with The Taters. For both I played bass, which used to be my full-time axe-tivity with The BopCats. So, the chops are sharpened a bit – and just in time. I think I’m doin’ my first recorded Tater bass track tomorrow night…..AND…..we will also bring in our first official guest Tater for the sessions, our friend Flyin’ Brian Sulser, who will provide some bull fiddle on a cut. Ya Hey!