Hello dear friends!
I’m happy to be in Portland a few days before hitting the road again (skip to the bottom for a whole bunch of US and Europe tour dates).
So much action since I last wrote!
The first round of shows went wonderfully well! I returned to New York, glowing from tour, promptly hid away in my apartment, finished my thesis, and graduated a few weeks ago with my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. So many moments, I wasn’t sure I would make it through the program. What an incredible, wild two years.
A few highlights from tour:
-Sean and Lauren sneaking a stuffed alligator claw into my electric guitar case
-Speed walking to Notre Dame between sound check and our Paris show
-My six-year-old niece, on the steps of the stage in London, reading Where’s Waldo while we played
-Missing our exit and driving through back roads and villages in the Hungarian countryside on our way to Pecs
-Eating three different types of waffle for breakfast in Brussels
-My first time in West Virginia (now South Dakota is the only state I have yet to visit)
-Our super sweaty-packed Berlin show, just when I needed a sauna
-Watching Bob Log III, then buying matching t-shirts at the Roots and Roses Festival
-Playing with dear friends Calexico in a chalet-like venue in Dornbirn, where you could hear the river from the stage
-My mom helping out at the merch table in Portland
-After our sold-out show at Joe’s Pub in New York, and afterwards the gear train: twenty-odd friends walking in a line, each carrying an instrument of amp, back to my building and up five flights to my apartment
-A pineapple piñata to match our yellow tour van
-The sound cutting out during my very first viola performance at the Grey Eagle
-Michael Nau’s smart/sweet songs
-Packing everyone in a warehouse in Somerville, Massachusetts
-The boardwalk in Asbury Park, the morning after our Philly Show.
-Schoolwork in the van, schoolwork on an airplane, schoolwork in various greenrooms.
RECENT VIDEO SESSIONS
In April, my bandmate Sean Ogilvie and I spent an afternoon riding the Empire Builder train with the sweet talented folks at Oregon Public Broadcasting. The scenery was just as magical as I remember. Hats off to OPB Music for pulling this off (beautifully), and big thanks to Gary at Amtrak (who is about to retire after 38 years, and has the most incredible stories).
Watch the session here
Recently I popped into the lovely Paste Studios for a solo session. Watch that here.
And if your curious to see the full band, we stopped by one of my favorite radio stations, WFUV, for a session and interview.
Listen here.
AMAZON SONGS OF SUMMER
I was honored to be included among some incredible bands on the Amazon Prime Songs of Summer Playlist. I worked with Empire Builder collaborators John Askew and Dave Depper to create a version of the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon”.
Check it out here.
NEW TOUR DATES
I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be doing a run of solo US shows alongside one of my heroes, the great David Bazan. Those shows will stretch from the Northwest, Rockies, Midwest, to the East Coast, beginning in June.
West Coasters! The full band is coming in July!!!
EU/UK – Thank you for the packed shows last month! We’ll be back in September.
All the dates are below!
6/8 at The Bartlett – Spokane, WA
6/9 at Wild Buffalo – Bellingham, WA
6/16 at The Olympic – Boise, ID
6/17 at Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT
6/18 at Lost Lake Lounge – Denver, CO
6/20 at Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
6/21 at Reverb Lounge – Omaha, NE
6/22 at Daytrotter – Davenport, IA
6/23 at High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
6/24 at Turf Club – St. Paul, MN
6/25 at Collective Coffee – Milwaukee, WI
6/27 at Zanzabar – Louisville, KY
6/28 at Old Rock House – St. Louis, MO
6/29 at Hi-Fi – Indianapolis, IN
6/30 at Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
7/1 at Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI
7/2 at Great Hall – Toronto, ON
7/3 at Pressed – Ottawa, ON
7/5 at The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA
7/6 at The Outer Space – Hamden, CT
7/7 at Music Hall of Williamsburg – New York, NY
7/8 at Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA
7/9 at Black Cat – Washington, DC
7/10 at The Southern – Charlottesville, VA
7/11 at Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
7/13 at Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
7/14 at The Earl – Atlanta, GA
WEST COAST FULL BAND SHOWS
7/20 at Bootleg Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
7/21 at Bottom Of The Hill – San Francisco, CA
7/22 at Johnny B’s, Medford, OR
7/23 at Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
7/24 at Capitol Hill Block Party – Seattle, WA
ALASKA
7/29 at Taproot – Anchorage, AK
7/30 at Pioneer Park – Fairbanks, AK
UK / EUROPE FALL DATES
9/3 at End of the Road Festival – Dorset, UK
9/4 at Moseley Folk Festival – Birmingham, UK
9/5 at Courtyard Theatre – London, UK
9/6 at Ramsgate Music Hall – Ramsgate, UK
9/8 at La Peniche, Lille, France
9/9 at Van Slag, Borger, Netherlands
9/10 at Rotown, Rotterdam, Netherlands
9/11 at Patronaat, Haarlem, Netherlands
9/14 at Teatro del Arte, Madrid, Spain
9/15 at Cultural Coron, Burgos, Spain
9/16 at Cav Museo, Coimbra, Portugal
9/17 at Cafe Pop Torgal, Ourense, Spain
9/18 at Tabakalera, San Sebastian, Spain
9/20 at Bleu Lizard, Lausanne, Switzerland
9/21 at MUZClub, Nurnberg, Germany
9/22 at Bi Nuu, Berlin, Germany
9/23 at Brotfabrik, Frankfurt, Germany
9/24 at Reeperbahn Fest, Hamburg, Germany
9/25 at Atlas, Aarhus, Denmark
9/27 at Pustervik, Gothenburg, Sweden
9/28 at John Dee, Oslo, Norway
9/29 at Mejeriet, Lund, Sweden
9/30 at Beta, Copenhagen, Denmark
10/1 at Glocksee, Hannover, Germany
10/2 at Botanique Rontinde, Brussels, Belgium
I can’t thank you all enough for coming out to shows. I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to this record, and it has meant so much to share these songs.
From the deeps,
LG