Happy SPRING everyone. I can't tell you how bad I needed this beautiful weather we are enjoying here in the Boston area. Now, if only school was over and the pool was open. Ok, I know - one thing at a time. Next week is April vacation and at least I have that to look forward to. My husband has been Spring-cleaning the yard non-stop and I find myself sitting on the swing set with the kids yelling things like, "It looks real good babe, do you want some iced-coffee?"

We spent nearly every winter weekend on the road in some shape or form. Mostly, I was out with Ms. Trisha Yearwood and her band and crew. What a lovely group of people. We did opening sets (by we, I mean Mark Erelli and myself). When Mark couldn't be out on the road with me - my amazing guitar player Russell Chudnofsky was with me. Trisha is an incredible singer - it was such a joy to watch her perform each night. Her audience was great to us and we really enjoyed the beautiful theaters (along with a couple of casinos) Trisha plays. Mostly, I think I loved learning all the songs in a typical Trisha Yearwood set - she would change the set nearly every night. My favorite has to be the song called "The Song Remembers When" - it's just gorgeous.

This winter marked the beginning of my working with Mr. Dan Hallas: wonderfully capable and experienced tour manager/sound engineer. Dan has just been the best at taking care of us all on the road and amazingly enough - running our sound each night. Along with all that, Dan knows his way around an apple computer and regularly gives John Sands and myself tutorials on our laptops ("Really, I didn't know Apple + Z was undo!"). Dan is a musician and his super talented wife is the voice and reason behind Ramona Silver. http://www.myspace.com/ramonasilver

April was set aside for writing new songs! Yippee, writing new songs! Ya, I get to write new songs. So that is what I have tried to do. I've had some great friends visit my basement studio to write. Felix McTeigue made his way to Stoughton from New York City and Jeff Spence took a plane from Nashville. Jeff and I drove the minivan all the way to Western Massachusetts to find my friend Ashley Gearing and hang out with her and her family in their kitchen. Ashley has a single ready to hit country radio any day it's a great song called "Out The Window" and you should look for it. She is a REAL talent. http://www.AshleyGearing.com

Enjoy Spring everyone - I'm going back out to the swing-set. Be well.lm