Quick Update

Lee Ann's performance of "He Oughta Know That By Now" on the Ellen Degeneres show is re-airing today. Check the local listings for showtimes in your area.

Katrina picked up speed right as it got to our area and pushed on through pretty quickly. There are still trees down all over the place (including a few in LAW's neighborhood) but we didn't get the foot of rain or prolonged winds that were expected. Hope each and every one of you are safe and sound.

Butterflies and Hurricanes

Well, not much else to say today other than I hope everyone is safe and sound after Katrina. Sadly, we have yet to see the storm and I fear there might be quite a rude awakening for those of us in middle Tennessee about 3am. In the forecast is 60+mph winds, tornados and a foot of rain. If you and/or your family members have been effected by this massive storm, please know that you are in all of our thoughts.

Happy Birthday Boss!

A big happy birthday goes out to the boss today! I busted my cellphone yesterday trying to carry way too many things into the house, so a new one is on order and I have no way to send a happy birthday text message. Happy birthday email it is. I also put together some HILARIOUS artwork for her birthday cake, and I'm hoping someone will take a picture of it for the website. Picture cakes...seriously, what will they come up with next. I hope they let the LAW eat her own head. Heh.

LAW was a bit under the weather this week, so I hope she's feeling better now. To those of you going to shows this weekend, have fun!

From CMT.com

Dolly Parton will release Those Were the Days, an album of folk classics, on Oct. 11. Duet partners include Joe Nichols ("If I Were a Carpenter") and Keith Urban ("Twelfth of Never"). Judy Collins, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, Mindy Smith, Rhonda Vincent and Lee Ann Womack are among the artists providing harmonies.

Yikes!

Where the heck have I been? Even I don't know. I got hired to do a big 2 month freelance project which has been consuming all non LAW hours (the few of them that there are ;)). I also have a new TV obsession....The Gilmore Girls. Aaaak! Great show! Highly recommended.

Hmmm....there's a point here, I think. I've got a new diary entry up for those who haven't read it. The Toby tour is winding down...just 6 shows left to go. I brought this to Lee Ann's attention today, so hopefully she'll write a few more diary entries before the end of the run. Also, don't forget LAW's birthday on Friday! If any of you are going to the show in Vegas, be sure to wish her a good one!

The Lazy Librarian's Son

Post title taken from a friend's band called The Foxymorons. Great name, great band. Check them out.

Man, what a lazy Friday. I've been a lazy poster, and the folks at Yahoo! (good natured ribbing since I have a friend who works there) are lazy coders. More about that in a minute though. Sorry for not posting much this week...it was crazy getting everyone ready for the longest run of the tour, and I fell a bit behind. The whole camp is now out in California playing shows, so if you are in the area, be sure to snatch up some tickets and head over there.

The LAW along with Keith Urban will be announcing the final nominees for the 2005 CMA's on September 7 in New York City. Fingers crossed that LAW calls out her own name more than a few times!

If you'd like to see some exclusive videos (and are on a PC), head on over to Yahoo!'s SBC Blue Room for some interviews with LAW. Since the site is awesomely all in flash, I can't directly link you to the videos but if you go to the main page, roll over the box that says "interviews" and you'll be able to tab down to LAW's name. Note that the videos won't work on a Mac or in Linux....a beef I've had with Yahoo!'s lazy coders for a while now (in good fun of course). If you can view them though, happy viewing

For the Fans....

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog....

....to talk for 2 minutes about one of my favorite bands. One of my favorite things about music, and working in music, is turning folks onto different music. I've spent WAY too much time in my life making mixed cds and mixed playlists for folks. Anyway, one of my favorite bands in the world is a band called Sigur Ros and they are from Iceland (like Bjork). Up until recently they were actually a labelmate of the LAW's (it all ties together somehow doesn't it?!) but were moved to Geffen Records after the pop branch of MCA folded into Universal. They are a super tough band to get into....the first time I heard them I thought it was the worst drivel I'd ever listened to. Now, I can only describe listening to their music as something of a spiritual experience. It's also the only time I've cried while watching a music video (the video for "Untitled 1" won MTV Europe's Video Of the Year two years ago). If you want to be adventurous in your music listening, give them a shot. I would recommend the ( ) album. The album has no name, the songs have no names (at least officially) and the lead singer sings in his own made up language. The artwork also came completely blank, leaving you the listener to come up with your own words, your own song titles and your own album title to whatever the music moved you to do. My favorite part about the album? The 30 second silence after Track 4 which pays homage to the days where you'd listen to vinyl and have to flip the record over to side b. The first "side" of the album is more mellow and then they crank thing up another notch on the second half. Enough gushing though eh? Thanks for letting me rave on about them a little bit, and if any of you happen to like it, I'd love to know.

Since I'm on an iTunes linking rampage, have any of you heard Lee Ann's duet with Willie called "I'll Never Be Free"? If not, check it out here. I never hear people mention it, so I thought I would. It's a great little honky tonk song. But then again, that's what Texans do best! From Iceland to Texas, music is the one universal thing that brings us all together. And there's nothing better.

Washington Post, July 8

Keith should take his cue from Lee Ann Womack, a country star who has recovered from her own compromises with cliches to release one of the best honky-tonk albums of the decade, "There's More Where That Came From." Womack, too, has misused one of the great country voices of our time, but on her new album she rescues a neglected country subgenre, the cheating song, and in mining its veins of guilt and pleasure rescues her own career as well.

Womack is the rare singer who can capture paradox in a four-minute single. She can confess a lingering lust for an ex-husband and at the same time acknowledge that "I May Hate Myself in the Morning." She can describe a husband confessing an affair over the kitchen sink and convey the subtle notion that his apology is too "Painless" to be believed. She can pray for God to "get this cheating off my mind" on the title track, but when she gets that inevitable phone call from her lover, she realizes her conscience is no match for her desire.

-- Geoffrey Himes

I'll Fly(er) Away

Dustin was cool enough to make these awesome flyers. Feel free to print them out (click on the one you want for the bigger version before printing) and do whatever you see fit with them. Be sure to let me know how you are using them!