Well - many people probably won't find this blog for a while as I assume no one is following a blog that is more than a year overdue! I hope we can get you back on the site after sending out a notice in the next newsletter. I apologize for my blogging absence - but I hope to be back "on the wagon."

2008 brought about many changes for me personally and professionally. In the summer of 2007 I moved back to the northwest to be near family, sadly leaving behind a nearly seven-year run with the Hilary Scott Band, which I miss very much, and for a period of time had been focusing on writing and recording. I took three trips back to Columbia, MO between summer 2007 and summer 2008 where I played in shows with members of the Hilary Scott Band and worked on an album with Wes Wingate at Mansion Studios (the album will be released in summer of 2009). In April of this year, I was contacted by an agency called Premier Talent International, and offered representation by Vanessa Feltner, the owner of the company, who finds musicians jobs overseas. My first placement was for three months in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and now I am working my way through a six month contract in Seoul, Korea. I may have future placements in other areas in Asia, the UAE, and Europe. The job combines cover music and some originals, and I perform piano and vocals. I have found pleasure in developing this other aspect of my life as a professional musician. On the flipside, I recall with nostalgia the wonderful music the Hilary Scott Band made, and I still plan to return to the Midwest for shows with the band when possible.

Since this lifestyle is so different from what I had been doing previously, I have interesting stories to tell, which I will try to find time to blog about. Thanks for reading this and please keep checking in.

Life got the best of me over the past few months. For those of you who usually check the blog (and haven't given up on me yet) I hope this brief update will serve as my apology to all of you.

I recently moved across the US, from Missouri back to Seattle. Although the move was mostly for personal reasons, sad personal reasons, I am also looking forward to a wide array of new musical opportunities, and so far haven't seemed to miss a beat.

Before leaving Columbia, me and my second family, The Hilary Scott Band, had the opportunity to play Fire in the Sky for our second time. Performing in a football stadium is certainly fun! We had to dodge a couple of fleeting rainshowers, but it was a beautiful, and blessedly cool night (by Missouri standards!)

Since arriving back in Seattle, I have taken a couple of trips, mostly for personal reasons. I visited an old friend of mine, Shannon, on the east coast, and it was an enjoyable, whirlwind ten days that included dinner in Baltimore, several days in rural Pennsylvania, a day in New York City, several days in New Haven (recognized a few of the landmarks from when I went to Yale summer school) and several wonderfully relaxing days in another rural Pennsylvanian town near Pittsburgh. It was great to see Shannon - whom I met when we both studied abroad in Milan, Italy.

This weekend, I went to visit my dad and stepmom in Idaho on Pend O'Reille lake. Sandpoint is the site of the Festival at Sandpoint (which I played last year as the opener for Tanya Tucker) and this year I was able to attend Jonny Lang and Lyle Lovett's shows, and last year after performing, I stayed an extra few days to see David Grey. What a beautiful festival it is....and what awesome musical performances I have seen there.

I have several projects going on right now, all of which are exciting. Here in Seattle, I have begun collaborating with Robert Parks, who produced one of my first albums, 'Hypothermia,' (a die-hard fan favorite). We will be performing here on the 18th of August, and I have another solo show on the 22nd of August. After that, I fly back to Columbia, thrilled to see friends whom I miss like crazy already, and ready to play with the band again, for 5 or 6 wonderful dates packed into a couple of weeks. All show dates will be available on the various websites.

I have almost completed a project I started working on a while ago, with Keith Colley, songwriter and recording artist out of LA, who wrote several hits, with heavy exposure in the '60's. He has started a couple of awesome projects, one called Can Do! to help raise self-esteem in children, and now the Salute Amerca project, of which I will be a part. I have written a song called 'America's Song' for the project, which at some point I will record with Keith in either his LA or Seattle-based studio, and possibly I will record a couple of other songs which Keith has written for the project. The project is directed toward re-invigorating positive feelings about this country, and will serve the dual purpose of promoting some artists, such as myself.

It looks like there is a good chance I will be touring abroad, in Italy, this fall and winter, with a band of italian musicians. I have also befriended a musician in France who has done booking in the past and is looking to help book me more extensively abroad. I am very excited for these opportunities!

Recently, the Kansas City Rockers for Life project I was part of was released. We hope to get extensive promotion for this project, as it benefits the very important cause of raising awareness about, and against, drunk driving. My song 'Sugar Bomb' was included on this compilation CD of Kansas City-area artists. Links to purchase and for more information should be on the website.

I also was recently contacted by a company out of LA, Hitt Street Music, which will hopefully be instrumental in shopping my songs to various TV, Film, Label, and review opportunities.

All in all, these coming few months are going to be busy, filled with travel and music. I want to say, to my band members, friends, and family: THANK YOU for all you have done over the past 8 months to support and love me. There are not words enough....

To fans - please keep coming back! No matter where I live, I can't do this without you, and there are so many exciting developments I hope you will be a part of. Stay with me on the road to hope, I need you....

OK - you can officially string me up by my toenails for being out of blogdom since August. My life has been utter chaos, and it's time to fill you in.

Within the last week, some great possible developments have come about with the music. Keep in mind all of these are 'possibilities' and I'm not making grand announcements here, just talking about stuff that I think you will be interested in hearing about, especially after my prolonged absence! :)

First of all - drum roll - the long awaited booking agency has finally entered stage right! Through Hometone Records (check them out - great Columbia-based record label/promotions company) I've gotten the opportunity to work with Sound Mind Booking out of St. Louis, which is going to be a wonderful opportunity beginning with a possible spring break tour and an extensive tour in June starting in the midwest, heading up to New York and circling down the east coast to finish in Nashville. This is a huge step in the right direction for promoting my music and taking it to the next level. Through this same booking agent I may have the opportunity to compete in a wonderful north Hollywood showcase for female singer-songwriters that might enable me to be seen by TV, film and label types.

Locally, the Hilary Scott Band has some great gigs coming up like a two-night-stand at Uncle Bo's in Topeka, Kansas, a huge blues fest in September, another appearance at Jim Curley's Mountain Music Shoppe and Knuckleheads, all favorites. We recently were chosen from Sonic Bids to compete in the Wakarusa Winter classic (national competition happening in several cities across the US) at the Blue Note - we made connections with the festival which may eventually lead to a booking there.

I've been asked to appear as the feature artist on the radio show Homegrown at the Lake of the Ozarks this weekend, which is also a tremendous honor.

Recently, my mother got in contact with a friend of hers from many years ago, Keith Colley, who is incredibly successful as a songwriter for Sony and who has many years experience in the music business. He has agreed to become a mentor of sorts for me in terms of polishing my songwriting, possibly helping me direct who I send my material to and how to present it.

In Nashville, the songs I completed several monoths ago with producer Matthew Wilder are in their final stages of production, mixing and mastering. Matt has said several people with whom he is working have shown interest in the material - this could lead me to several different types of opportunities and is very good news.

I even received an e-mail from someone who probably found me on My Space, and who has a successful (ie label, promotion, distrbution, touring, opening for major acts, playing the best festivals, radio play, etc.) three-girl-fronted band and who needs a replacement for the singer/violinist who left the group. I don't know if I'd be exactly what they are looking for but it's great how, just as my good friend Steve once told me, when the opportunities start to pour in they don't stop - it's an AVALANCHE!

I know the above comments are vague, but that is all they can be at this time. Details to come - but the good news is that all the years of hard work start to pay off and as more opportunites present themselves I realize that there are multiple paths that can lead to success. Patience and readiness are the keys!

I apologize for being silent for so long. Forgive me, and let's blog again soon, OK?

Getting back from a long, amazing trip can sometimes be incredibly depressing. I feel overwhelmed by the things I need to catch up on, but ultimately refreshed when I think back to all the wonderful things that happened to me in the past four weeks.

I have some catching up to do! Back in July, BA and I hit the road for Wisconsin, shared driving duties and a hotel room, and a lot of great laughs on our 'northern tour.' Little Feat let us be their guest for their show in Madison at a beautiful theater venue, then the next night we played in Middleton at Club Tavern. The house was pretty full, and some old friends from Chicago surprised me in the crowd, Rob Lampe and his wife Lynn drove up (eight hours) and back in one day just to make that show better - it was three guitars that night - and I marveled at their incredible friendship and devotion to the music. The next day brought us down to Mattoon, Illinois where we enjoyed playing a beautiful evening concert outdoors at Uncommon Ground. We were well fed and coffee-d, and we hope to return to that welcoming little place sometime soon. It was on to Champaign-Urbana the next night. We have several friends in that city due to gigs we've played in the past, and Gary and Dennis were there to cover merch, treat us to dinner (Gary, you're too generous) and make the night smooth. The venue was an outdoor patio with strings of lightbulbs forming a delicate canopy above our heads. We enjoyed sweating out the gig (yep - over ninety degrees at 9pm), staying up very late drinking good beer while Griff continued his DJ services from his laptop computer long after we stopped playing, and staying at his aunt and uncle's house, where we shot BBs, played with the dogs, and bonded.

One short day in Columbia and then Michael and I were off to Hawaii. My grandmother Glenda made the trip with my mom and her husband Pete, and Pete's mother Marie. My sisters Heather and Dede were there, as well as my stepbrother John and his girlfriend Cassandra. Our condo was gorgeous - Michael and I shared a loft with a gecko - he scared me the first time he dropped from the ceiling in the shower, but then I grew accustomed to him! Snorkeling was an almost daily priority, and on our first full day there we lucked onto a beach called Chang beach (discovered in the book Maui Revealed) and just a couple hundred feet offshore, hidden behind a group of rocks, were two huge old souls: sea turtles. I swam among them, close enough to touch a shell, but just observed them in awe as they nibbled at treats on the rocks. My goal for the entire trip was to see sea turtles, so finding them on the first day was perfection. Tattoo number three (and last?) might have to be a tribal sea turtle - I find them to be a connection to calm, peace and wisdom. We took the road to Hana on the third day and found a couple hidden pools where the natives go. At one of them we saw some nudists singing - we listened and swam with them (in suits :)) and then went to another place called Venus Pool. We felt like trespassers as we jumped through a fence, walked in a wheat field for a couple hundred yards, past an old abandoned bread oven, and down some steep rocks which opened into the most amazing 'swimming hole' we'd ever seen. Michael was able to cliff dive (there were perches as low as six feet and as high as thirty or forty for us to jump from) and the water was so deep that even with its clarity you couldn't see the bottom. Although the car ride home from Hana made me sick, I had some Dramamine on hand and survived! The next day we went sailing on a catamaran that had been built especially for the cove in which it sailed daily; it traveled over 20 knots (faster than most racing vessels) while we were on it getting showered and bounced by the waves and holding on for dear life - what a thrill! Although I once had a scary run-in with a catamaran, I enjoyed every minute of this adventure, and we snorkeled at Molikini with some amazing schools of colored fish, eels and other sea creatures. (My fin managed to do some damage to my heel; it scrubbed off an inch-long and half-inch wide portion of skin over my achilles tendon - I had to use Chacos as fins for the rest of the trip - the sore is just now healing almost three weeks later!) Evenings often found us playing dominoes or sitting and reading with the family, (cocktails in hand) or even trading the salt of the ocean for the chlorine of the condo's pool and the amazing breezes that would wash over us from the beach. We did our fair share of eating too - discovering one of the THE best sushi places Michael and I have ever eaten at! We couldn't have had this most perfect of vacations without the help of my mom and Pete who helped with expenses all over the place. Thanks, guys! This will always rank as one of the best times of my life. There was so much more - Big Mama's Fish House, best ice-cream sandwich ever, hippie town Paia, amazing sunrises, and a rooster that woke us up every morning before the sun - but mostly it was some of the best family time I've had in a while. Being around my sister, mom and grandmother at one time was reminiscent of family gatherings when I was a child - it was incredibly special. I could go on for hours - but I'd better not!

Then came opening for Tanya Tucker at the Sandpoint fetival - something we've been anticipating and looking forward to for months now. Right before we left, our bassist Mike Robertson got sick and couldn't make the trip. We missed him very much, but lucked out by catching Jeff Mueller and Ruth Acuff of the band Rutherford before they left on a trip to the east coast and inviting them to come along and share bassist duties. Michael, BA, Griff, Jeff, Ruth, our publicist and 'merch supervisor' Melissa, and myself piled into the fifteen-passenger Ford with instruments and luggage for a week (we must have re-packed the van five times before we figured out how to get it all in) and headed out west. The entire trip was 30 hours, but we stopped in Fort Collins to party with my sisters Heather and Dede and about forty of their closest friends! A rehearsal there at their house turned into an impromptu performance, and we had a fantastic time playing and partying. After two restful nights there in Colorado, we finished the next eighteen hours of the trip with Michael at the helm. He's a driving maniac!(Backtracking a bit, let's give a round of applause to Michael for being the most excellent captain of that ship - he got us safely though a blown tire in Kansas - scary as hell, let me tell you I screamed! Apparently, the pavement was too hot for peoples' tires - we saw evidence of more than thirty blown tires as we made our way through that hot, long state!) Griff's computer became a makeshift movie screen and Office Space and Mr. and Mrs. Smith accompanied us for part of the long drive. We talked about songs, chords, arrangements, set lists a bit as we drove, but mostly looked forward to arrival and some sleep. Arriving in the dark of night, nobody could tell just how paradisical Sandpoint Idaho is, but the shock of 45 degrees after having been in 100-plus heat earlier in the day was incredible. The next morning, everyone oooh-ed and aah-ed at the view of the incredible Lake Pend O'Reille from my grandmother's comfortable lakefront cabin. My dad and stepmother Robin had set us up with a stocked refrigerator, we had cards and poker chips, a dock, beer, and when we weren't rehearsing with a mountain view, we were swimming, sunning, kayaking, hiking. (Several of the band members went huckleberry picking on Schweitzer). It was truly paradise. Thursday night, Robin and Dad threw a BBQ party for many friends, neighbors and family members, and the band members couldn't tell me enough how welcomed they felt. Press poured in; the Spokesman Review, the Daily Bee and the Sandpoint Reader ran nice half-page photo ads and I got a great interview in the Reader. We were told this festival hasn't sold out pre-show since 2001; our show (OK it was Tanya's too!) of over 4000 people was sold out long before Friday the 4th. We were treated like kings and queens in our air-conditioned trailer with food, beer, bed, private bath, and massage therapist on hand. The crowd lapped it up; we all felt high after performing, then gorged on catered gourmet food, and I mingled with the crowd, signed CDs, and basked in the feeling of playing at a festival I've dreamed of being part of for years. Several friends and family members who have never seen me perform were able to be at this show, and that was probably the highlight of this experience for me. I can't thank friends and family enough for helping make this all happen, selling merchandise at the show, and supporting us. It took a village to make this the awesome experience it was for everyone involved. I will write a part 2 of this soon - there is much more to the story, and the fact that I stayed an extra week in Idaho after the show and got to see David Grey in concert is something I definitely want to write about. Let's see, meeting Tanya Tucker, baking biscotti, visiting Grandma, seeing my cousin and her daugher Rowan, my aunt's connections, and more! If I write the keywords down, perhaps I won't forget, and perhaps it will get you back on here to read the next update! For now, my fingers are cramping! More soon.... :)

July blog here I come! Things I need to remember to write about when I get a chance:

Four-day tour of the northern states!

Tattoos, mai tais, snorkeling and sea turtles in Hawaii!

Preparation for Tanya Tucker opening (one fun little hint - our monitor man just finished a stint doing sound for Pearl Jam and our front-of-house sound man often mixes for Pavarotti - should be some good sound, huh?)

Best fish around

Overcoming my fears of catamarans

Pupunene

All for now - have to write myself reminder notes or you'll never hear the whole story!