Sunday we had the last band show of the tour (8 dates in 9 days) at the Donkey in Leicester. It was the best show yet. I haven’t played this much rock and roll (and jumped around this much!) in a long, long time, and it’s felt really good. (Well, it hasn’t really helped my back heal, but the fun had has been worth the pain! Besides, codeine’s available over the counter here.) I really gotta hand it to Dawson & the Dissenters. They went above and beyond the call of booty and I couldn’t have asked for better mates and players to roam around England with. We made a lot of good music and had a lot of laughs.

Annie Smith (Dawson’s wife and my new favorite person in the world) sang on “25 Years Ago” at the Donkey sunday, and on “I’m Never Gonna Be a Rock Star” singing the wife’s verse, of course. Our voices blended beautifully and it was a really splendid moment singing with her.

Since the last show was a matinee, there was plenty of time to repair to another pub. Dawson managed the neat trick of falling over not once but twice - and barely spilling a drop of his ale, which impressed everyone. Then it was back to his and Annie’s house with friends in tow for another session of guitars around the dining room table, a big green bottle of Irish Whiskey (tea for me, love, cheers), cigarettes of every make and model, lots of harmonizing for the neighbors and general merriment.

A big thanks to Paul Needham, one of my best friends in the world, one of the big reasons I’m over here, due to all his efforts, and the man who’s done a marvellous job of documenting the whole tour in photos and videos. (Scroll down to his guest blog and click his link for said documentation.)

After the rest of my travels - assuming I survive them, and more about that in a second - I will be back in Leicester next Saturday before I leave, for a proper sit-down curry meal with I pray all the miscreants I’ve come to know and love this week. I hope it’s a big table and everybody’s there.

Now, about surviving the rest of the tour…

I leave in the morning on the 8:56 train for London and then I fly to Belfast.

Alone.

Me touring the U.S. alone is bad enough.

Me simply going to the grocery store alone carries an element of risk!

Me landing in Belfast alone - utterly alone - and being expected, like a grown man, to find my own hotel, and my own gig… I’m sorry, that’s got disaster written all over it, in big red letters.

Rebecca Kemp has done a marvellous job pre-booking my flights, hotels, printing me maps - so on paper, it’s all there for me to consult. But giving me a map is like reading a contract to a cow.

This all flies in the face of my long-cherished European touring maxim: to always - ALWAYS - be in the company of someone who knows where the fuck we are!

Did you know the U2 song “Where The Streets Have No Name” is based on the fact that portions of Belfast really do have streets with no names? I thought it was just a lyrical poetic device, but NO! And I’m going there later today! With visions of me on no-name street with my guitar in shards being pummeled against a wall by Guinness-fueled Catholics who think I’m Protestant, or the other way around. Of all the trips to not pack my Hasidic costume…

So, if this is the last you ever hear from me, thanks to all - including Bob Paterson - for making this trip a special one. I’ll forever carry a bit of Leicester in my heart.

And if you’re reading this in Ireland on or before Tuesday afternoon, meet me at the airport!

Cheers,

Tommy

Check out this GUEST BLOG/TOUR DIARY of the first few days of the “Making Fun of Accents” UK Tour from the indefatigable Paul Needham (Mohawk Visuals on MySpace ):

Friday, September 19, 2008:
——————————————
I hope you had as much fun last night as we did .

Tommy had a good day yesterday. Apparently he slept in till around 14.00 and had home made chilli and rice before heading out to rehearsals . He’s doing fine and seems to be handling time difference just ducky.

The rehearsal was a blast. The sound came together right off the bat and a glorious rocking sound it is too. Everyone is getting along swell and grooving off of the pure righteous fun of it all. Tommy dug the studio and was highly impressed with how nice it was compared to the rehearsal spaces in Nashville. There was even an original ’70s Bally DOLLY PARTON pinball machine in the foyer!!! Too cool. Good omens abound. After the studio some serious socialising down the pub.

Our endeavours seem to be blessed with good luck at every turn -

1) The sun is shining and it’s dry for the first time in what seems like weeks.

2) The Dissenters found a tour bus yesterday, I’ve not seen it yet but apparently it’s a red, 9 seat, Ford with a separate compartment for all the gear. Tommy seemed to think it was cool. All of which means I can now make it too all of the band shows - yay!.

3) It looks like Bob is going to drive up to Nottingham next week - double yay!!

4) The Muso recording is on.

5) And we are now making a movie! I’ve just found a cheap video cam on Amazon that records up to an hours worth of footage at a go. The quality is tip top, much better than Tommy is getting at home and at a bigger size. I’ll have it tomorrow morning. So I’ll be able to capture all the shenanigans for a straight to Youtube tour movie. Hopefully Tommy will do some vid casts too.

Fun, fun, fun.

Saturday, September 20, 2008:
———————————–
Fri 19th - Lovers, dancers and near a disaster in Barwell-

Well I must have spoken too soon about being blessed because the wheels nearly came off the wagon before Tommy had even played a note. Half way through the Dissenters opening set a 15ft long piece of plastic cladding that had been propped up in a corner at the back of the stage fell over, clipping Dan Fowler the Dissenters drummer on the shoulder on it’s way back to earth. Now that stuff is not particularly heavy but the fact it was travelling at a couple of miles an hour combined with the point of impact being its thin leading edge, it hurt like hell. Thankfully it missed Dan’s head, otherwise it could have been nasty. The incredible thing was that although he dropped a stick Dan didn’t even miss a beat. In some way’s that’s no surprise as last year Dan walked from John O’Groats in Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall (the entire length of the UK) banging a drum to raise money for charity. He’s a very impressive guy, a great drummer and a total sweetheart. He’s also barking mad. In 2010 he’s planning another drum walk, this time from New York to Los Angeles. That’s AFTER he’s swum the English Channel (21 miles of open sea) and rowing the Atlantic. Perhaps I’ve got it wrong perhaps we are still blessed. After all Dan wasn’t too badly hurt and the tour rolls on.

So that mishap aside how was the gig?

Well let’s put it this way. So far I’ve never had so much fun at a Tommy Womack show. The twenty five or so locals who watched the show loved him. As soon as they boys went into Skinny And Small early in the set we had dance floor action. My Name Is Mudd, Fluorescent Light Blues, Xanex, I Don’t Have A Gun all smoked. The encore Get Off Of My Cloud with a totally spontaneous and unrehearsed segue way into The Last Time. The guitars were positively Daddy-esque. It was awesome fun. As low key warm ups go it couldn’t have been any better.

Better wrap this up as we hit the road for London within the hour.

Should have video footage of tonight’s show.

Sunday, September 21, 2008:
———————————
Yesterday was fun. Nice run down to London. The weather was gorgeous (and still is), looks like Tommy brought us over a full blown Indian summer.

The van performed well, perhaps not
unsuprisingly Annie, Dawson’s wife, has christened it Tommy.

Down to London is a little over 2hrs. Got to Leytonstone, venue in sight and it then took us half a hour to get close enough to park. Let me explain… in song!

“It’s been a nice day, driving around the one way in sunny Leytonstone. There’s the venue, we can’t get to it, oh what are we too do.”

Tommy and I had the sense to bail out whilst the rest of the guy’s threw themselves on the mercy of the most incidieous one way system in East London.

Everything else went as smooth as silk. Decent and enthusiastic crowd.The Dissenters opening set went down a storm. The sound was fabulous all night.

Tommy completely switched the set around and opened with 20min acoustic spot. WOW, ah said WOW! I can see a subtle, but huge raising of the bar as far as his solo delivery goes. I’ve never seen him this good, he’s really kicked it up a notch. Again the band set was killer. Not the unrully garage band freak out of Friday. Still rockin’ as all hell, but tighter and much more focused. The video looks good. I left the camera on the bus last night, so it’ll probably be tomorrow before I have anything online.

Sat in the pub waiting for the guy’s to arrive for this afternoons show in Burton. Arrive early for the traditional Sunday lunch, well worth it, the food was great. Free juke box too! Great little room, this afternoon is going to be fun.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008:
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I’ve consolidated all the photo and video material shot so far onto a new gallery page at -

Mohawk Visuals - Tommy & The Dissenters Tour Photo & Video Diary
Friday, September 26, 2008:
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Not today… Tamworth’s The Tavern In The Town is unique in that it’s the only venue I’ve been to that turns it’s stage lighting (sorry I’m meant to say the room lights above the corner of the pub where the band sets up) OFF when the band go on. Shame ’cause it was a rocker.
—
Be sure to click on links & view NEW PHOTOS on Tommy’s MySpace page as well as Paul’s more detailed album & video gallery! More updates to come.

- Paul Needham

First of all, a news flash!…

Gail is playing “We Can’t Do This Anymore”
on her CMR Nashville show this week.

The Comfort Zone
hosted by Gail Comfort
(from London, England)
CMR Nashville
http://www. cmrnashville. net
UK (BST) times
Tuesday 23rd September 2008 4pm-6pm : repeated 10pm-midnight
Wednesday 24th September 2008 repeated 4am-6am and 10am-Noon
Sunday 28th September 2008 repeated 2pm-4pm

Please bulletin your friends/fans to listen live @
http://www. cmrnashville. net/listenlive. php

Gail Comfort
http://www. myspace. com/gailcomfort

And now the blog…

So I’ve been in England, oh, almost six days now, I think? Have had three really good gigs with Dawson & the Dissenters backing me up. We did What’s Cookin’ in London Saturday night and there was an acoustic interval bloke from Berlin (google ‘what’s cookin’ uk americana music’ or something to that effect and you can find who he is, I can’t remember right now, starts with a P.) and he did “Millionaire” by David Olney. You should have seen his face when I told him that we were not only friends but managed by the same lady. I think the ‘managed by the same lady’ bit went right by him because he just couldn’t believe that I KNEW him! He was gobsmacked that I KNOW David Olney. I spared telling him that David’s cut one of my tunes because I didn’t want to give the poor lad a coronary.

Dawson & the Dissenters from Leicester are doing a cracking job backing me up, and if my vocabulary starts leaping with British-isms, please bear with me - it happens to me when I’m over here. It’s Dawson Smith on guitar, Simon Faulkes on serious Albert Lee-on-Redbull guitar, Steve Cooke on bass and the indestructible Dan Fowler on drums. (The first night, in Barwell, an eight-foot chunk of wood dislodged from the ceiling and landed on Dan’s shoulder in mid-song. He’s been a good soldier ever since, playing through the pain.)

Paul Needham (who designed my sites and does web and graphic work for Jason Ringenberg/Farmer Jason, Warner Hodges and the Scorchers’ upcoming new site) has been documenting the tour stops with photos and video and you can access that stuff here.

I’ve been doing an acoustic bit and then switch to electric with the band and it’s nice to be able to show both sides of me in the same show, which doesn’t happen that often.

And I tell you, I love English folks. They think I’m exotic and I think they are. Conversations are often mere excuses for us to adore each others’ accents as they are anything else.

I’ve been drinking lots of tea. And if you didn’t know, a cup of English tea is equal to two cups of strong coffee back home. I’m typing this at Dawson’s house in Leicester on a night off and I had one cup after dinner, from which I’m so jacked at 11:15 PM right now, God knows when I’ll get to sleep. That’s okay, all I have to do later is call home, make sure Nathan’s alright (he had strep last week.) and then open up Bill Wyman’s massive hardcover ‘Rolling With the Stones’ history of the band. (We’ve been doing ‘Get Off My Cloud’ at the end of our sets.) Having that massive book in bed with me makes me feel like I’m sleeping with someone.

I’m having a first tomorrow: I’m seeing an acupuncturist! I’ve never had acupuncture before. But it’s time to try something new. I have been in godawful back pain for two weeks now.

It started coming back from Texas. I’d been driving for six straight days at that point and before that had had only one day at home and five days solo driving and playing before THAT. My back spasmed two tuesdays ago, two weeks ago tomorrow as I type this.

So after being home only one day again THIS time I was back on the road with Will Kimbrough for four dates in the Carolinas and Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. (Thanks to Jeff at South By Southeast in Myrtle Beach for hooking me up with Georgiana the massage therapist and whosywhatsit the chiropractor, who corrected a two-inch imbalance in my shoulders’ respective heights.) but one chiro visit doesn’t fix all, and I was lying flat on the floor backstage and eating so much Aleve and ibuprofen it was making me queasy.

So we got back (and God bless Will for having to do so much driving as I winced prone in the passenger seat) and I saw my doctor and my regular chiropractor. MY kind of chiropractor! Violent! A 6 foot four inch lesbian who takes no prisoners and body slams you. And even she couldn’t crack much of the spinal concrete the spasmed muscle had caused.

And then, the NEXT day, I nipped off to England, with pills from the doctor that I only have so many of. And every morning I’m still waking up feeling like an eggplant’s lodged under my shoulder blade. Something must be done. And so tomorrow, I see an acupuncturist, a Dr. Patel, two blocks up on Clarendon Park Road at 11:15 AM.

Let’s hope I wake up in time! I tend to sleep late. I also tend to sleep a LOT. I notice myself doing it on these long tours and it’s very necessary actually, given my constitution. I have to be very careful even though I’m getting healthier than I’ve been in years, gaining weight, and went 10 days without a cigarette until yesterday, have smoked today and pray God I can put a patch back on and climb back on the wagon tomorrow because my lungs and throat were already feeling so much better and I was so happy to have gone ten days! Please keep me in your prayers about that because it’s imperative I stop these things and soon.)

So I buried the lead, I went ten days without a fag. That should be a banner headline to the blog, BUT I was afraid I’d fuck up and I did. Tomorrow is another day, I’ll try again. I right now have a nicotine patch upstairs next to ‘Rolling With The Stones’ on the bed. I’m more encouraged I went ten days than bummed that I fucked it up. That’s at least something. At least I don’t feel like I’m going to throw up all the time right now. THAT’s something! My lungs don’t feel QUITE so dirty and constricted. THAT’s something. And tomorrow is another day.

A special word of thanks to the wonderful Annie Smith, Dawson’s wife, a proper English school principal by day and a red-haired fringy-banged singer of songs and lover of life by night. She’s been a hoot to get to know. She and Dawson are being very good to me over here, and yes Mary, they’re feeding me well!

Cheers, ey up and all that!

Tommy

Y’all come out now, ‘hear! Let’s have some curry.

 Tommy Womack Goes To The U.K. Vidcast Sept. 16, 2008: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download