Vote every day, tell your friends, and enjoy a FREE DOWNLOAD of "Paul's Song" from now through April 26 as a thank-you and to share with friends. Just go to my music page on this site!

  (VOTE FOR "PAUL'S SONG" HERE!)

A few day later, "Paul's Song" (co-written with Seattle songwriter Larry Murante) was named a finalist in the Great American Song Contest, which received over 1500 entries this year!

I'm proud of this especially because the sustained airplay has come without any big professional promo push or publicist behind it. Just me, sending 'em to the stations and hoping they like it. And apparently, they do!

It also comes at a time when many highly respected and beloved artists--including some of my personal favorites--also have new CDs out.  I'm extremely honored to be so high on these playlists alongside Nanci Griffith, John Gorka, Caroline Herring, James Keelaghan, Cliff Eberhardt, Sarah Jarosz, Dave Rawlings Machine, Catie Curtis, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Guy Clark and many others.

And the personal notes and comments I have received from many DJs really makes my heart sing. I feel like the three months I spent in the studio at the start of this year and the loving, joyful attention I gave to every moment of the recording is being heard and recognized. 

I'm deeply grateful to the DJs who give airtime to folk musicians and who spend mostly volunteer hours listening and programming so that our work can be appreciated.

You can view the listings of top albums and artists here: http://www.folkradio.org/ 

Before the show, Paul gave me one of his actual Vietnam war medals that he said he wanted me to have. It was one of those expansive moments that can't be described, where songwriting becomes about so much more than it seems and a simple song takes one's community so much farther and larger than one imagined. I felt soooo lucky. Thanks to all the volunteers for a great Tumbleweed Festival!

*NOTE:  Hostbaby and CDbaby are having a lot of problems right now, due to their  !?@^&*!^~(@_(&$@=}#$%~`#%$@!!^&*(&^%#$ "upgrade," and one thing among many that happened is most of the photos in my gallery were lost. I'll eventually need to re-post them unless they figure out how to fix what they did. Meantime, don't be surprised if you see only a handful of photos in  my gallery when there once used to be a veritable photo-journal of my last 5 years as a musician!  Grrrr....

WOW!!!  AMAZING!

"Paul's Song," from the new CD Many Moons, has won Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest!   (Folk category, session 1)

http://www.jlsc.com/winners/2009a/winners.php

As many of you know, "Paul's Song" was co-written with my friend Larry Murante, who also recorded the song on his own terrific brand-new release, Point of Entry.

My version (the winning version :) ) features the incomparable Kat Eggleston on the second guitar, as well as Cary Black (Kingston Trio) on bass and Larry on harmony vocals.

I am very proud of this song, and still humbled by the quietly courageous man who inspired it.

Larry and I will each get to perform the song in Paul's home town this Labor Day weekend at Tumbleweed Festival, and it is just icing on the cake to have this  recognition for the song (and Paul) right beforehand.

True to its beloved namesake, JLSC is considered one of the most respected awards in a songwriter's career, as it receives many thousands of entries worldwide and is open to professionals at any level as well as amateur songwriters.

Later on, Grand Prize winners in each category compete head to head (Session I and Session 11) for the "Lennon Award" and then the 12 Lennon Award winners compete for the coveted Maxell Song of the Year Award (which means substantial prize money that can help a full-time musician live, which is why I'll be asking for you votes if that day comes...) More on that later.

If you don't have the CD already (what?! you don't?!  ;->) you can listen to "Paul's Song" and read about Paul here on my website .  You'll need to buy the CD to see the cute picture of Paul in my beautiful little lyric booklet, however.  :)

This is really exciting and gratifying, and I am very grateful.

I grew up in NY, and spent summers in Manhattan during college, but have been back a scant few times since I moved West. This was such a happy visit! My show at the Bitter End Friday night (Aug 7) was SO MUCH FUN! I had a nice crowd, which included not only Amanda and Kathryn and her friends, but my parents (seeing me perform for the first time since I got serious about it--the last time they saw me was about 8 years ago), and about 15 "kids" from grade school and high school who made it a point to come out and see me!  That was a real trip, but in the nicest way--a really warm and appreciative audience.  

I was relaxed and enjoying the heck out of myself, and very proud of that and appreciating the opportunity and how I've grown as a performer and the chance to play in a place that was once the haunt of so many of my heroes. I really felt that presence there, silly as it may sound.  People snapped up Many Moons (which also got two great reviews last week, from FAME and Victory Review).

Oh, and it didn't hurt to have the talented and gorgeous Eleanor Whitmore playing fiddle with me--a songwriter in her own right, Eleanor is also a stellar violinist who plays with Slaid Cleaves, Kelly Willis, Son Volt and Susan Gibson. I was really honored to have her.  Rehearsal with her Thursday night was so easy and so fun--and ended up being an impromptu dinner party when Amanda's brother Nick (now a New Yorker) joined us at Kathryn's as well.  

Going out to Counter, a famous NYC vegetarian bar and restaurant where everything is organic, and having all 15 "kids" from my childhood follow me there to drink organic drinks and catch up, was also wild.  Afterward, Amanda and Kathryn and I walked all over the East Village till about 2 a.m. in the gorgeous warm summer evening under a full moon. It was a perfect night!

It was all a great reminder of the ever-widening community I have around me, even 3000 miles from where I now call home. I'm looking forward to coming back and playing more in the East.