Hello everyone - happy summer!  The day here in Carlsbad, California is overcast, but bright, my hands smell like fabric softener and cinnamon.  I am happy at home.
It’s been a wonderful year, I’ve been working a lot, mostly as a sideman in The Decemberists.  Everyone in the band and crew have been very welcoming to me and I’ve really enjoyed it.

Earlier this year I went with them to the UK and Ireland with a stop in Amsterdam and Antwerp.
I LOVED Antwerp. On the morning we arrived at the venue in Antwerp, I hitched a ride with a friend of a friend, and just wondered around.  No GPS, no phone, in a town I’d never been . . . I hadn’t done that in a while.  It was early enough in the day I knew I had time to get myself lost and then find my way back before soundcheck so I took a picture of a town map (just in case) and off I went.  Wondering in a strange European town, tiny street to crooked tiny street. The smells, the people, the clothes . . .   There’s something about getting lost in a city when you have no particular place to be. I was in heaven.

I did make it back in time for soundcheck as well, which is good, because The Decemberists are a punctual band.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  It’s like they are considerate, grown-ups . . . all be them silly grown-ups.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival is one of the festivals where a lot of folks feel Iike they grew up.  I certainly relate to that.  It’s a special place and a very well run festival with a great staff and thrilled festivarians.  In addition to the main stage, there is also a smaller stage at the town park.  I was asked to put together a “Sara and Friends” set and had invited a bunch of friends to come down to play with me, and low and behold, they all showed up, instruments in hand! I was delighted to say the least and had great time. Thanks to all of them.

Later that afternoon, at the Decemberists show on the main stage, it felt really good to be showing so many of my bluegrass friends what I’d been up to this year.

Right after finishing with the Decemberists, I will be joining Garrison Keillor on the Summer Love Tour again!   I did this last year with the folks from Prairie Home Companion and am very happy to do it again. Later this summer and into the fall, Sean and I will be touring across the country with the Blind Boys from Alabama.

All this touring with the D’s has been really great for my creative health. I have fewer off-stage responsibilities, so I’ve been able to read, listen to music, and ultimately, write my next record which I plan to record when I’m home this fall.

A couple months ago we learned that beloved Jenny Conley (Decemberist keyboardist and accordion player) was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She is currently undergoing treatment so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  We all hope to have her back out on tour as soon as she’s able, and I hope to see you out there as well.
Be well everyone.
xo
Sara

It's been busy, busy, busy in LA for me since Thanksgiving.

After 3 productive and beautiful weeks in the UK, playing shows as a duo with my brother Sean, we flew home and jumped directly into rehearsals for a production of Much Ado About Nothing.   This strange opportunity is the most recent in a string of diverse gigs that came my way this year.

Five week so of touring with the Prairie Home Companion gave me new friends, and an even larger respect for Garrison and the team of people who put on that radio show. The whole tour was a great experience.

Our time in the UK was rad.  The generous and hard working Joe Rusby tour managed, and drove us around and ran the house sound at all the gigs. It's fun traveling in a small group because it is more likely we will all be game, if one of us has a whim to go see what's down that road, or pull over for some tea or leave early so we can sight see.

With just six more performances of Much Ado left, I'm starting to get into the Christmas Spirit.  We rehearsed for the Watkins Family Hour Christmas Show yesterday and I'm really excited about one song in particular :)

I am delighted to announce that  starting in January, I will be joining the DECEMBERISTS on tour.  The tour will extend through summertime and will take me to Europe and, for the first time, I get to visit Australia!!

The adventures continue ladies and gentlemen...  More January excitement to be announced soon!!

It's mostly root vegetables, green beans and broccoli at the Saint Paul downtown farmers market today.  I'm here for A Prairie Home Companion's cinecast, which is when APHC is filmed in high def and broadcast in movie theaters across the country! Many showings have sold out and some theaters are re-showing the cinecast on Monday! Sean is here with me, and our friends Old Crow Medicine Show and Andra Suchy are here as well, which makes it extra good time.

I went to Macy's today to visit a coat I'd been eyeing last time I was in town. This time, thinking specifically about our trip to the UK, I bought it.

Hope to see you guys out there on the road! Come up and say hi if you make it out!  Here is where I will be!
Sara

Two weeks into the Summer Love tour and today I feel, for the first time that I can sit back and think on the whirl-wind that tour has brought me so far.  Before the first show, we gathered in a music room at the Keillor home, and hashed through a pile of material.  We gave almost every song that fit our criteria a fair shot and pick our favorite duets, silly, sweet, and heartbroken songs.  I was a little nervous and, quite honestly, the nerves did not recede until we were five or six shows into the tour.

Each night there are little, and sometimes big, adjustments in the show.  This makes it really fun, but also, for me (an complete novice at this sort of program) my brain had to adapt fairly quickly.

In short - i'm having a BLAST and am completely impressed with how Garrison puts the show together every night balancing all the options PHC has: sketches, songs, sonnets, stories, more songs, Ketchup, Guy Noir and of course, the monologue.  In Interlochen, I went for a night swim in the lake, in Salt Lake City, a storm came on us which stage nearly blew off the mountain!  I've interviewed picnickers  who brought beautiful dinners, or KFC to the show which the watched from a grassy hillside, and I've seen them smile all night long even through the occasional downpour.  Garrison knows exactly how to please his audience.

Last night we played in my hometown of San Diego and today I write you on our day off, from my very own couch while the laundry finishes the last cycle. Tomorrow we head up the west coast and then curve back toward the center of the country.

Nic Vetter has been taking some great pictures every night and posting them on the APHC website, so its been fun for us to check every couple days. I hope you guys can make it to a show, it's so much fun for me!