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6 May, 2008

 

Dear Friends, Music Lovers, Honored Guests, Tree-Huggers, Sea People, Dap-Dippers,

Shape-Shifters, Flibbertigibbets and Stalkers,

 

These are historic times for all of us here at the Waybacks front office. Read on.

 

Our new CD "LOADED" debuted on the Americana Music Assosciation's Top-40 radio chart

at #29 back on March 24. Since then we've held our own amidst fierce competition from a

slew of strong contenders. I mean, seriously, have you heard Hayes Carll? Ya oughta.

And in this month's odd coincidence department, note that we're being chased up the ladder

of fame by the Wood Brothers, who have also recently released a CD entitled "Loaded." Dag, Yo.

 

Today we hold the #7 spot after an unprecedented - for us - fifth week on the chart.

Keep up the good work, folks - every request you make to your local radio programmer for a

spin helps keep us high on the charts!

 

The hard-working humans in the publicity department at Compass Records have been striking gold

for us this past month. Check out these upcoming press coverage highlights:

~ The final print issue of the venerated NO DEPRESSION contains a feature on the Waybacks

   penned by Nashville journalist and musician Jewly Hight. You should really go buy a hard copy

   but if you can keep a secret, we'll show the way to a link to a scanned version of the article, a scan so

   huge that it might crash your browser. Serves you right, you cheapskate!

~ We'll be on the cover of the June/July 2008 issue of DIRTY LINEN. Check out our hyper-

    kinetic severe double-deuce flying action shot!

~ GUITAR PLAYER magazine will run a feature on our very own James Nash in the August 2008 issue.

   Also look for features on James in the July/August 2008 issue of FLATPICKING GUITAR and in

   ACOUSTIC GUITAR sometime later this year.

~ Check out the N.P.R. feature "The Waybacks: Power Trio and a Fiddler", an interview and performance

   from Folk Alley, recorded at the WKSU-FM studios way back in February 2008.

~ High praise and good reviews keep rolling in: PopMatters.com & Country Standard Time.

~ CMT.com is hosting an online listening party for "LOADED." What does that mean, exactly? It means that they

    have dedicated some bandwidth and a web page for your listening pleasure. In exchange, we will soon be

    ripping the sleeves off our fancy pearl snap western shirts and getting our teeth polished.

 

MerleFest 2008. Man Oh Manischewitz!! They worked us hard this year and we loved every minute of it.

Monster jamz and epic RGTs were abundant. We were glad to host the Midnight Jam which spawned

some inspired picking and spirited collaborations from the likes of Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Abigail

Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet, the Lovell Sisters, Bearfoot, the Wilders, Sierra Hull, Casey Driessen,

Bela Fleck, the Circuit Riders, Hot Buttered Rum, to name a few. A personal highlight for me was the

end-of-the-night wickety-wack bebop jam with Bela. CHECK IT OUT HERE.

 

Rumors abounded before our set on Saturday afternoon on the Hillside Stage. We initiated what we hope

will become a venerated MerleFest tradition - the  "Hillside Album Hour" - with the premise being that we will

present a classic album in its entirety with the help of a plethora of special guests. Online bloggers posted much

advance specious speculative scuttlebutt that we would  be attempting to cover Michael Jackson's "Thriller,"

the Rolling Stones' "Big Hits," Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" or even "In The Court of the Crimson King."

This year, in case you missed it, we performed LED ZEPPELIN II in its entirety. The mighty, mighty

John Cowan handled the vocals and guests Pete Wernick, Tom Rozum, Byron House, Shad Cobb, Tom Ball,

Phil Wade and Betse Ellis all stepped up and threw down! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO CLIPS HERE.

The Cow absolutely shredded in the role of the fearless pitch-perfect wailing Golden God!

Possibly the best time we've ever had on stage. And we get paid to do this!?!?

Mad props to James Nash for a ton of advance prep work and the organizational strength to pull this crazy train

down the track. Extra credit points to all the Festivarians who braved the downpours and threats of lightning strikes

to rock with us on the hill. We're taking you all bowling and we're going to buy you all a bacon maple bar.

 

OK, that's all. I could prattle on all day about my sinus infection or about the Tsui Hark film I watched nine

times yesterday or about Marilyn Manson's new brand of Absinthe or about the carnival of youthful hellions that

erupted in the park behind my house at seven a.m. Sunday morning but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details.

 

Oh yeah, I guess it couldn't hurt to mention that we'll be playing in California this month.

We sure hope you can join us. Mark your calendars. Tell your friends!

Our performance schedule for the year is always a work in progress, so please be sure to keep

an eye on our calendar page for updated info as new performance dates are confirmed and added.

 

 

WED. May 14  9 pm - KPFA-FM  We'll play live in-studio on David Gans' "Dead to the World" program.

                                  Listen live on 94.1-FM or via streaming audio at KPFA.org.

THU. May 15   8 pm - FREIGHT & SALVAGE COFFEEHOUSE Berkeley, CA. CD Release Party!

FRI. May 16  2-3 pm - VIDEORANCH! Live 3-D videotaping and simulcast on KPIG-FM.

FRI. May 16    8 pm  - DON QUIXOTE'S MUSIC HALL  Felton, CA.  CD Release Party! Poor Man's Whiskey opens.

SAT. May 17  5 pm  - GARAMENDI BASQUE BBQ  Paloma, CA

SUN. May 18  7 pm  - LITTLE FOX THEATER  Redwood City, CA.  CD Release Party!

 

 

We hope to see you soon!

 

Yours in humble servitude,

 

Joe Kyle Jr. & the WAYBACKS

 

joe@waybacks.com

www.waybacks.com

www.myspace.com/thewaybacks