Hiya all,

seems like I was a little too enthusiastic about the first rays of sunshine in June. It still hasn't been much of a summer over here in Germany. For me, however, it couldn't have been better.

I played a bunch of shows with the Gunslingers (the Stuttgart show being a highlight), the Cash-tribute band Solitary Men, as well as a few acoustic shows. The lovely and talented Rachel Harrington from Seattle, WA. joined us on those June and July dates. Gee, she's great. Y'all should check her out at www.rachelharrington.net

Rachel and I even went into the studio to record an acoustic version of Townes van Zandt's beautiful song "If I Needed You" with a bit of Steve Earle's "Ft. Worth Blues" thrown in. That song may or may not end up on Rachel's debut album that's in the making right now. We'll make that song available through the website later this year.

For now, we've posted a bunch of new reviews (in the Articles section) and even the complete soundfile of a German radio show that I was on (in the German section of the website, go to Sounds).

We're slacking off for the rest of July, got some gigs in August and are currently working on putting together a tour in November.

My good friend and former Gunslinger Dennis Schütze has released a new CD entitled "2174" (don't ask). I sang harmony on a song called "Think Of Me" and wrote the liner notes for the album. Check out Dennis's site www.dennisschuetze.de

So stay tuned and keep a-rockin',
Markus
PS: And do check out Dave Alvin's new album "Ashgrove". Haven't heard a better song this year than "The Man In The Bed".