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Announcing the Summer 2013 National Tour

I’m incredibly excited to tell you about my summer plans. So far, my tour dates for June-August include shows in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, and New Hampshire, and more are being added to the schedule every day. Keep watching the performances page for details.

And that’s the official poster above. Can you see the piano?

The dates:

5/31: BRATTLEBORO, VT – Metropolis, 8pm
6/1: PORTLAND, ME – Blue, 6pm
6/20: WESTERLY, RI (with 90-Mile Portage) – The Malted Barley, 9pm
6/22: SALISBURY, MA (with 90-Mile Portage) – Pettengill Farm, 2pm
6/22: CAMBRIDGE, MA (with 90-Mile Portage) – Toad, time TBA
6/27: CAMBRIDGE, MA – Lily Pad, 8pm
7/14: HARMONY, PA – The Center of Harmony Opera Room, 4pm
7/16: MADISON, WI – Crescendo, 6pm
7/17: MADISON, WI – The Froth House, 7:30pm
7/18: PARK RAPIDS, MN (with Saint Anyway) – Second Street Stage, 6pm
7/19: DULUTH, MN (with Saint Anyway) – Beaners Central, 8pm
7/20: MOOSE LAKE, MN (with Saint Anyway) – [private]
7/21: DULUTH, MN – Amazing Grace, 7pm
7/22: IOWA CITY, IA – Uptown Bill’s, 7pm
7/23: WICHITA, KS – The Pumphouse, 6pm
7/25: ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Blackbird Buvette, 7pm
7/26: FLAGSTAFF, AZ – Firecreek Coffee, 8pm
7/27: TEMPE, AZ – Extreme Bean, time TBA
8/9: SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Dolores Park Cafe, 7:30pm
8/16: FRUITA, CO – Cavalcade, time TBA
8/17: FORT COLLINS, CO – Spotlight Music Cafe, 3:30pm
8/17: BOULDER, CO – The Laughing Goat, 8pm
8/18: LINCOLN, NE – Meadowlark, 7pm
8/19: MINNEAPOLIS, MN (with Saint Anyway) – 331 Club
8/20: MINNEAPOLIS, MN (with Saint Anyway) – Hell’s Kitchen
8/21: DULUTH, MN (with Saint Anyway) – Red Star
8/22: GRAND MARAIS, MN (with Saint Anyway) – Gunflint Tavern
8/23: ONTONAGON, MI (with Saint Anyway) – Porcupine Mountain Music Fest
9/5: CAMBRIDGE, MA – The Lizard Lounge

See you out there,
Ben

Spring in New England

Announcing some dates for April/May/June in a few of my favorite places:

4/29: PORTSMOUTH, NH – The Red Door, 9pm
5/2: JAMAICA PLAIN, MA – Midway Cafe, 8:30pm
5/3: BURLINGTON, VT – Radio Bean, 7pm
5/4: PORTLAND, ME – Dobra Tea, 6pm
5/18: MANCHESTER, MA – Manchester by the Book, 8pm
5/31: BRATTLEBORO, VT – Metropolis, 8pm
6/1: PORTLAND, ME – Blue, 6pm
6/27: CAMBRIDGE, MA – Lily Pad, 7pm

Hope to see you there!

Peregrinations, Plans, and 90-Mile Portage

The Watershed Tour of last month was a great success, and I wanted to thank all of you in the Midwest for making my snowy journey among the lakes so warm and pleasant. Despite the fact that I spent what seemed like every day outrunning one blizzard or another, the brilliance of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ontario compensated for even the most inconvenient weather. And at the end of it all, I traveled to New Orleans, where I got to perform on a piano that had been signed by Allen Toussaint. Pretty cool.

One of the tour’s biggest thrills did not occur onstage though: while I was racing around the Midwest, Saint Anyway’s Jamie Kallestad and I (via a series of about 10,000 emails) were putting the finishing touches on a brand new EP from our side project, 90-Mile Portage. We played several shows in Vermont last weekend to hype its release, and will be putting on special shows in Salem and Somerville this Saturday and Sunday to officially and ceremoniously let it out into the world. But the CDs are here (they arrived from the factory yesterday), and we’re both delighted with how they came out:

You can listen to samples and order your copy in my store, or come to one of our concerts this weekend and pick one up in person. I’m very pleased with the way these songs came out: it was lots of fun to write and perform arrangements for Jamie’s songs, and a cool experience to work closely with a vocalist for the first time. Naturally we went through a healthy series of tug-of-wars during the mixing process, and I think the songs all benefitted tremendously from these. Neither of us can wait to hear what you think of the results.

For me, April will be spent playing relatively locally and working on a lot of new recordings. Stay tuned to see where those end up. And most importantly, thanks again to those of you who came out to shows, bought a CD, or offered me a couch last month as I passed through New York, Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Louisiana. Meeting people like you is the best part of touring — especially in a winter like this one.