Yes, folks. Marshall Chapman has invited me to join her and the incredible Tim Krekel for an in-the-round at the one, the only, Bluebird Café, on December 28th. I’ve been waiting for this for more than fourteen years, ever since I came to Nashville. People like to diss the Bluebird. It’s an exclusive club and hard to get accepted into. Hell, I’ve drunkenly dissed the place WHILE PLAYING THERE speaking directly into the microphone. That may indeed be part of the reason this day has waited so long in coming. But the day has come. December 28th, I play the real show, the PAYING show that starts at 9:00, NOT the freebie 6:30 ITR which I did several times years ago and over time managed to piss off every waitress who worked there. I remember asking one what her name was and she said “Cher.” I laughed, thinking she was kidding. She wasn’t kidding, and she was no longer my friend for the balance of the evening, during which I ordered a scotch and water about every time my turn came around to sing a song. You might say I’ve been my own worst enemy there, but here I am, getting to play the serious time slot in the most serious songwriter’s club in the entire world. You know what that means? It means I’m a real songwriter now. I’m not being pathetic or making too much of it. It really is that big a deal. It’s the Bluebird. Love it or hate it, and I’ve done both, it’s the by-God Bluebird. There is no other.

Other good news. Attention fellow depressives! For my birthday, I gave up all artificial sweetener. No more Diet Cokes, no more Sweet & Low in my coffee, and the difference in my mood and general well-being has been immediate and amazing! Lots of depressed folks have shared their thoughts with me by e-mail because I’ve been so open with my OWN struggles with anxiety and depression. And I think it’s helped us all to have that relationship. So hear ye, fellow sufferers! Take my word for it. Get off the artificial sweetener. Give it a week. Me, I felt noticeably different, a little less stressed, a little less gloomy, within two or three days. I’ve been drinking Dr. Pepper for the first time since I was a kid. And it’s not bad. A friend told me studies have indicated that Aspertane (sp?) interferes with the actions of some anti-depressants, not to mention the fact that it metabolises into formaldehyde and eats holes in your brain. You can buy shit off the street that’s not as bad for you as that stuff is. Heed my call, go back to real sugar, or honey. You’ll thank me for it.

And yes, we’ve moved up to #35 at XM Radio. I’m going to have to get me one of those radios, so I can hear myself.

Later taters, Family Wash in East Nash December 8th. The Jambodians bash in Bowling Green at the Brewing Company on the square downtown December 27th. Bluebird December 28th. St. Louis at Mississippi Nights as part of Todd Snider’s band December 30th & 31st with the by-God Bottlerockets opening both nights. Can’t beat that with a stick!

God bless,

Tommy

Happy Thanksgiving! On this day in America we celebrate how pious white Englishmen came to a place they would someday name Massachusetts probably because the natives called it that. They could have shortened it to Mass but that would have had a Catholic ring to it. So now every November we celebrate how those white folks sat down to eat with the natives who saved their ass and showed them how to grow corn, shit in the woods, and generally stay alive. Two races ate sumptiously and gave thanks to God. “Thank you God, for these native Americans who showed us how to keep it together, given how we were a single boatful of idealistic religious one-worlders who thought we were going to sail across an ocean to a windswept chunck of land where there wasn’t jack shit and somehow we thought half of us weren’t going to die. Well dear Lord, thank you for these red-skinned people who helped us keep it together. Let us now eat together with oneness and brotherhood so that we may procreate, grow strong, and kick their ass all the way to North Dakota someday, where they’ll open casinos while we graduate from Harvard and crap out people like Paul Wolfowitz, Bill O’ Reilly and way too many people named Bush. Amen!”

“There, I Said It!” has entered the charts on XM Radio’s “X Country” channel! The damn thing doesn’t even COME OUT until February 20th of next year, but they got hold of a promo copy and they’re playing it! Apparently playing quite a bit of it! God bless them. I am thankful today, among many things, for such people as Jessie Scott and Webb Wilder and everybody at XM. They’ve been good friends to me and kept my music on the airwaves while I was down in my mental hole living my Henry Miller period that gave birth to the album they’re now playing.

Also, equally way in advance of the release, is my first very nice review! This gives many of you your first opportunity to hear a couple of songs from the record, as they’ve posted mp3s of “Nice Day” and “I’m Never Gonna Be a Rock Star” as well as linked to a YouTube of lovely vintage footage of Government Cheese blaring through “Camping on Acid.”

I’ve got to grab a shower and go eat my first of three turkey meals this weekend. God bless us all, everyone!

I’m Tommy Womack and I approve this message.

Like I said, check out the rants. Much more news to come, just might have to wait ’til I get some shut-eye. Happy Thanksgiving!

Like the headline says…