THE BIG THANK YOU

I held off on blogging this until this morning because so few folks come here on the weekends.

A big thank you goes to everyone who had anything to do with the live recording's success on Friday night:

THE DONORS: You know who you are. Tons of people made donations for weeks leading up to this recording, and without those donations, seriously, it would not have happened. I was shocked at how quickly so much money was raised. Thank you, it's astounding to me that so many people cared about what we're trying to create, or cared about me and my music, to give us their hard earned cash. Amazing.

THE BOARDIES: There's a little community with a lot of love for each other and me, that's been meeting over on my message board for years now. Headed up by moderator/mother-hen/counselor/fried Nancy Tyler, this group rallies around everything I do. Just about all of them gathered inn Knoxville on Friday for the live recording a a sort of convention/reunion of sorts. Thank you to them for the years of support and sacrifice and prayers and encouragement and for driving hours to support me and each other in Knoxville. On days when I wonder if what I do makes a difference, if anyone cares - and those days are rare but certainly do occur - I think of you guys and I keep making music. Thank you.

BRIAN: Thanks to Brian for taking care of so many of the details of the day once we arrived in Knoxville so I could focus on my job. Brian jokes that he puts out bottled water for a living but he does much much more than that. In a sense he's an A&R guy and producer for this project. He helped me decide which songs sound good live and which just don't translate as well, what bits of my shows over the years I should resurrect - things that should be said etc. He's a spiritual advisor and best friend I couldn't do my job without him, definitely not this recording. Thanks, Brian.

JIM: Jim has a been a friend I rarely get to talk to for years now, sense he engineered my first record in 2000. He's worked with the best in Nashville and I'm honored he brought his skills to this project. Jim is the humblest of the sickeningly overly talented people I know, always wanting to serve the person he's working for above all. Always spilling compliments and encouragement but without the fakeness that often accompanies music biz flattery. If this project sounds great in the end it will be mostly because Jim Dineen worked on it. Thanks, Jim.

SEAN (AKA SULLY): Sean is the road manager/sound engineer for Selah but has worked for Watermark and a host of other talented folks in Nashville. At last minute Sean stepped in for us as sound guru. And did an amazing job. My guitar has NEVER sounded that good and a couple folks said they thought I was lip syncing because the vocal sounded like a record. That's Sully, not me. And again, Sully has a great attitude, very flexible and always trying to do "whatever you want" - a gift on a stressful day. Thanks, Sean.

NEW CITY CAFE: Kenny at New City Cafe was very accommodating, allowing us to change the way he sells tickets, change the time he usually does shows, change the way the room was set up, change the way his piano worked, and on and on. Kenny cared most about this project being a success and he put "the way he does things" second for us, without us realizing it until the day of. It dawned on me before I went on just how much Kenny at New CIty let us change, how kind he'd truly been to let us crash his venue and have our way with it. Thank you, Kenny, for years of letting me play at New City and for giving us a place to record on Friday.

LOVE 89: I'm not used to being all things label to myself. Definitely not used to thinking about publicity. So at the last minute it occurred to me that we had a great show planned but hadn't gotten the word out locally all that well. I called Marisa at LOVE 89 in Knoxville two weeks before and she got me on the air for two interviews. No small task when your programming's already, you know, programmed. Marisa has been a friend in the industry for years though, coming to my shows in Knoxville, sticking around afterward to catch up. Thanks to LOVE 89 and Marisa for being a key to the success of this project. No people, no recording. Thanks.

THE CROWD: I don't take for granted that anyone comes to my concerts. It's astounding every night when I walk out and see people who paid money to watch me play music. Strange. But great. Especially when we need to record people listening to my music. Thank you to everyone who came out, especially to those who drove hours, as much as sixteen hours, to be part of this recording. Thank you. I hope you left different than you came. And I hope to see you again soon.

SHLOG READERS: Thank you to everyone who encourages, donates, spreads the word, links, comments and reads. You gave me a place to dream up this project, and plan it out loud, so thank you. Thank you for just being here and part of what I do.

Thank you.