Hello dear fans, collaborators, friends (old and new), family and strangers,

Before I speak to you about the end of 2014, I want to reflect on the end of 2013. As the year was coming to a close I began to consider my goals for the coming year.  I had played 24 shows throughout various locations in Northern California with various line-ups and released an album; not a bad year.  But, as so many performing artists are, I was still hungry; still determined to push myself.  Without a whole lot of thought, I set myself a simple goal – play more shows this coming year than you did last year.  25, this was my bottom line and anything beyond that would just be the icing on the cake.

So here we are and it’s the end of 2014.  I can say, simply, that I reached and exceeded my goal.  In fact there were a number of things that happened this year that I never expected to happen.  Simply put, 2014 kicked ass and I want to share the details with you.  So here’s the run-down:

• I played 59 shows.  That comes to a rough total of 136.5 hours of stage time.
• I played in 7 different states – California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Washington and Oregon.
• I appeared along with Linda Tillery, Mary Washington and Goapele in the documentary “Free In Song” about my teacher friend and mentor, Melanie Demore.  The film has appeared at numerous film festivals, including Frameline Film Festival, the Queer Women of Color Film Festival and the Oakland Pride Film Fesival.
• I was featured on my friend Grover Anderson’s album “The Optimist” (if you havn’t heard it yet, remedy that) as well as his Christmas Tune “The Best You can”, which has been riding the airwaves on various stations in the Gold Country his month.
• I was selected to write a song for Amador Arts’ “River Reflections” project.  The tune features my friend Aaron Madsen, has been recorded and will be released publicly in 2015.
• I was honored to perform with a number of artists and friends (I’m looking at you Grover Anderson, John Russell, Aaron Madsen, Lucas Lundin, Eric Ian, Ernie McMillan, Miles Lathan, Quiles & Cloud, Blood and Dust, Tom Rhodes, Logan Jensen, Hart and Hare and many more).

So finally I want to take a moment to thank everyone who helped make this year a giant leap forward in my music career.  To my family, friends, loved ones, supporters, collaborators, fans, anyone who helped me lug gear, sell a cd, book a show, sing a song, strum a guitar and tap a toe, this has been a fantastic year.  Thanks for being a part of it. So with that, here’s a little tune I recorded with my friend Aaron Madsen in November.  Let’s make 2015 a great year!  

love,

Jimbo