Like the bright berry from the naked thorn. --Hartley ColeridgeIt's that time of year. You can put the past behind you and just look forward with optimism. We do so with smiles on our faces; the last year was something we don't wish to simply bury. For us it was a year of adventure and change and success. For 2013 we just want more of the same!
January of 2012 found us at our Big Sky Ski Resort residency where we snowboarded by day and played our ditties in the nighttime. We've come to know some of the regular returning crew members in that seasonal business and now we're headed there again for January and February of this year. Our New Year's resolution is to make it a time of utmost creativity. We hope to leave Big Sky with new songs in our pockets. In the spring of 2012 we headed out on a huge tour of the South. We drove from Arizona to the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee. We had a grand time in that beautiful neck of the woods, playing in beach towns and gorgeous cities and meeting the friendliest of folks. We topped it off with our attendance at Jazz Fest in New Orleans where we saw the city's best talent as well as global acts that absolutely floored us. We left New Orleans feeling completely rejuvenated and tinkered with the idea of moving there. Alas, the summer weather is less than inviting.
We drove back to Arizona where we flew to Alaska for a 3 week tour in May. We adore that state and have found some amazing friends there in Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Talkeetna, Cooper Landing, Ninilchik, Seward, and Homer. We made it there twice this year and now we can't imagine going a year without a visit.
We flew back to Arizona, had 4 shows in 4 days, packed everything we owned into a mobile storage unit and moved out. We were terribly sad to leave Prescott, which was such a genuine home for us. We realized it was time to relocate to a bigger city full of countless venues and other resources. We started making plans to revisit Prescott's magical community as soon as possible.In the meantime, we drove back to Montana, rehearsed with our very talented band mates there and and headed out on tour with them right away. We toured Oregon and Washington together and had a blast. We spent the next 2 months playing shows all over Montana and headed back to Alaska in September. 
We rehearsed with some fabulous musicians up there and got a fantastic band on the road to Fairbanks, Denali, Talkeetna, and Anchorage. It was so nice to get our full band sound out to our favorite Alaskan spots. We can't wait to play with those boys again.
We returned to Montana and within a week we were driving north for our first Canadian show. This year marked our first international show and it was a total success. The Calgary Folk Club welcomed us and treated us like rock stars. We had a lovely time in that super clean and quiet city and took a little time to explore beautiful Banff before heading home again. We were home just one more week before we toured as a duo through Oregon once again. We then found ourselves in northern California spending Halloween (and pre-Halloween and post-Halloween) with good friends, including The Dirt Floor Band, for whom we opened in Ukiah and a grand time was had by all.
Next up, we wandered on down to San Francisco and spent a month checking out the city while we met with some new musicians and did about 4 full band shows. We fell in love with the city and felt our shows were quite successful. It encouraged us to make the leap and we will be moving there more permanently in March!
We gathered our parki
ng tickets and got a slight readjustment to our car (everyone donates a car stereo and a passenger window when visiting San Francisco, right?) and headed back to Montana for the holidays. It was great to spend the holidays with the family for a whirlwind 5 days before hopping on a plane the day after Christmas and flying back to Arizona for a string of shows over New Year's! It was so energizing to see our home away from home again and we were welcomed with open arms and blush-worthy celebration. We hope to come back as soon as we can, Arizona!That brings us to January 2013. We are back in the Big Sky Ski Resort for another two month residency before moving to San Francisco in March. The snow is coming down in loads and forcing the temperatures into the negatives. It's a toasty place to spend a snow storm; the giddy energy of the powder hounds is pretty infectious and we can't go anywhere around here without meeting someone from another far corner of the world. And that pleases us.
Thank you, friends and family, for making 2012 a very, very memorable and joyful year for us. Here's to a happy and healthy 2013 for you and yours.