Kelley McRae

One of the best parts about touring is when you happen to play with a band or songwriter who blows you away.  There’s something about it that’s so energizing and exciting that you end up playing at your highest level.  And it’s the great tour morale booster because when the music is good all night and you get to be a part of that, it doesn’t matter how much you made or that you had to drive 5 hours in a hail storm to get there, it’s just a great night.

So here we are, about a year after leaving our lives and home in Brooklyn behind for music and the unknown.  And we are still going!  The new album is in the works AND the booking of ‘The Great VW Camper Van Tour of 2012‘ is in the works.  And one of the things that we wanted most for this next tour is to play more shows with amazing musicians.  So as we’ve booked, we’ve looked for  musicians we’d want to share the stage with and I must say, I am CRAZY PUMPED about some of the people we get to play with this spring.  And when I say people I mean ass-kicking, songwriting, singing from the heart BABES.  It just kinda happened that the shows lined up in favor of the ladies and I think you’ll understand why once you watch these videos!

Please check out these videos + then go ‘like’ these lovely ladies on Facebook and tweet about them and all that good stuff.  And mark your calendar for the shows we’re playing with them (all listed below with more details HERE).  Or tell your friends to mark their calendars.

Playing with HEATHER MALONEY on Feb. 18th in NYC @ The Living Room

Playing with CARTER SAMPSON four times!!

• March 1st, Broken Arrow, OK – Troubadour’s Emporium
• March 2nd, Ft. Smith, AR – R. Landry’s New Orleans Cafe
• March 3rd, Norman, OK – The Chouse
• April 14th, NYC – The Living Room

Playing with CARY COOPER on March 8th in Dallas, TX @ Poor David’s Pub

Playing with NICOLETTE GOOD on March 9th in San Antonio, TX @ 502 Bar

Playing with LOUISE MOSRIE on March 24th in Birmingham, AL @ Moonlight on the Mountain

Playing with CAITLIN ROBERTSON in Minneapolis, MN (Date TBD)

This past summer we got to hang out with the French documentary maker Christophe Cousin and photographer Matthieu Paley, who were in America for four weeks seeking ‘nomadic America’ by following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac in his book ‘On the Road.’  In the course of a four week trip across the US they captured the stories and images that would become “The Road to Kerouac; Portaits of a Nomadic America.”   We met up with them in a state park in Michigan and our story and some great photos are included in the book!

The book is in French, so I unfortunately can’t read it, but the photograhps are breathtaking.  The photos I show above (photos of photos by Matthieu) don’t do it justice and some of the nomads they encountered on the way – cowboys, hippies, a hobo, and many more are fascinating.  Not to mention the pictures of the American landscape, which we got to see so much of this past year, which is just gorgeous and so well captured in this book.  We are honored to be a part of such a beautiful book. You can see more of Matthieu’s photos, including some from the book on his website HERE. (FYI, some of the photos would go in the NSFW category.)

I am excited to announce that there is officially a new album in the works!  We are renting an incredible house in Knoxville, TN (until March when we hit the road again in the VW) that has a studio in it: mics, a drum set, a grand piano, a fireplace, a suit of armor – Ya know, all the things every good studio needs.  It is dreamy.

We have a ton of new songs, most of them written on ‘The Great VW Camper Van Tour’ and a couple we wrote in the studio recently, and we are working hard to do them justice.

I am REALLY excited about what we have so far, but there’s a lot of work still to do.  I will keep you updated!

OK, so that’s not really work that’s happening in the above pic, but it was fun!  My brother Shane, the blur on the right, is trying out our new stomp box as Matt plays along.

I will post more pics soon and keep you updated with our progress.  I can’t wait to get these new songs out into the world!!