Robin and Linda Williams: April's News

Dear Friends,

Here it is the first weekend in April and we're still feeding wood into the furnace. It seems to be one of the coolest springs we've had in years. Last year's winter was so mild it didn't seem that the grass ever quit growing. But to think one year will ever be the same as the last defies common sense. We remember Garrison Keillor once saying that God gave us the month of March to show those who don't drink what a hangover is like. The good news concerning this winter is we've had enough moisture to build up the water table, and that will come in handy during the dog days of July and August when we'll be writing you complaining about the heat.

We've got a new CD "in the can." We went to Nashville on a Sunday, met with the producer, Jim Rooney, on Monday, started recording on Tuesday and by Saturday we had fourteen songs recorded and mixed. It was the two of us, Chris Brashear on fiddle and mandolin, Al Perkins on dobro, pedal steel and Weissenborn guitar, and Todd Phillips on bass. Jim Watson added a vocal on one song and Mark Howard engineered the project. We think it sounds great. Though the date hasn't been decided yet, Red House Records will release the CD in the fall. We'll surely write more about this CD as the release date draws nigh.

The garden is on our mind. This week eighteen tomato seeds sprouted in their containers by the window in our back hallway. They'd been sitting there for a couple of weeks or more and we were beginning to wonder if we'd have to start over and re-plant. And then, as if by a miracle, up they came. It was as if the first one popped its head up and, upon seeing that things were okay, signaled its buddies to come along too. They'll sit by the window until we get home from April's travels and then will go into the garden down by the road.

We recently spent close to a week in California having huge fun on the California freeways (one 121 mile trip took us almost four hours). We got to visit with some family and friends and enjoyed them all. We played some familiar venues and one new one and, in general, had more fun than we should be allowed to have. The only disappointment was we didn't get to go to Hawaii for the dates there. Thanks to all of you who checked in on us wanting to know if we were okay. Yes, we're fine. We just had to shift gears suddenly and, instead of continuing to head west, head back east. Hawaii being the only state we've never played in, we'll have to wait to cross it off our list.

We just recently checked and discovered we've been sending out monthly emails now for over twelve years. These are the closest thing we have to a blog and every once in a while it's fun to go back and read one just to see what we were doing. We enjoy hearing from you and have been concerned that our emails have been coming to some of you with strange hieroglyphics. Believe us, they aren't sent out that way and we've been working with ou r web site company to straighten things out. So we'll be interested in what this one looks like. If you notice anything strange concerning our email's format, please let us know.

And finally, last month we flippantly asked for folks to send us any ideas for the title of our next CD. We got some great responses and we think we've picked the winner. Cherie Sheppard gave us "Back Forty." We don't know what Cherie has won other than our gratitude but we'll get with her and figure that out. We've known Cherie since the mid-80s when she lightened our load and brightened our lives with her performances in our musical "Stonewall Country." Thanks, Cherie, we love you!

Bumper Sticker of the Month: Don't believe anything until it has been officially denied.  (Thanks to Jack Wright)

We hope this finds you well and busy. We hope to see you at one of the stops along the way and, as always, keep on the sunny side.

Your pals, Robin and Linda

Robin and Linda's web site: www.robinandlinda.com
BOOKINGS: Trish Galfano, TG2 Artists, trish@tg2artists.com
919.967.8655