Hey there, fellas,

without exaggeration these past few days have been some of the best I've ever had. I got to hang out, play and record with some of the finest musicians and best people I've ever met - Jim Stringer, Karen Poston, Susanna Van Tassel, Bobby Snell, Vance Hazen und Jon Hahn from Austin, Tx. I'm still thrilled about having them come visit me.

Two weeks ago I received an email from Karen whom I know from the time I spent in Austin. They were touring Europe and some of the gigs they had planned on fell through. So they asked me to help out. It wasn't easy to get good gigs on such short notice but thanks to a friend of mine, Peter Näder, we were able to book a couple gigs and - what was even more important - provide them with a place to stay on the off days. Peter helped out greatly and I owe him a huge favor in return.

Anyway, that band is so rockin' and they're such nice folks, I really had a blast hanging out with them and making friends with them. And, on top of that, I got to record with them. We had a wonderful rehearsal on Monday night and went into the studio on Tuesday to record two songs. Everything went smoothly and the results are truly great. Heck, how can they not be great when you get a superb drummer like Jon Hahn, a steel guitar ace like Bobby Snell, an amazing guitarist like Jim Stringer and a great bass player like Vance Hazen playing on your songs? And then Karen sang beautiful harmony on two songs. I can't wait for y'all to hear what we did. I think the songs turned out really good. We did an uptempo thang called "Love Has Dragged Me Down This Road Before" and a storytelling tune called "Rose's Song".

To round out the wonderful time we spent, I got to sit in with them on last night's gig at the Nashville Inn in Schweinfurt where we did the two songs we recorded and a rowdy version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". This morning the band took off for Switzerland. They'll be playing a festival in Bern on Saturday. Go see 'em. And then drive on down to Würzburg and catch me playing with the Gunslingers at the Umsonst & Draußen-festival on Sunday.

Y'all take care and keep supporting handmade music,
Markus