I’m so excited to announce that my annual Michigan tour has expanded to a multi-state tour!  Here’s what this summer is going to look like for me…

July 7 – Scruffy City Hall, Knoxville, TN
July 9 – Evangeline’s Bistro & Music House, St. Louis, MO
July 10 – Chicory Cafe, South Bend, IN
July 11 – Silvie’s Lounge, Chicago, IL
July 14 – Cafe Santé, Boyne City, MI
July 16 – Cafe Santé, Boyne City, MI
July 18 – Stormcloud Brewing Company, Frankfort, MI
July 20 – Crunchy’s, East Lansing, MI
July 21 – The B.O.B. H.O.M.E., Grand Rapids, MI
July 22 – Our Brewing Company, Holland, MI
July 23 – Fetch Brewing Company, Whitehall, MI with Jason Bryant
July 24 – The Noggin Room Pub, Petoskey, MI
July 25 – Crystal Mountain Resort, Crystal Mtn., MI
July 28 – Lookout Brewing Company – Asheville, NC
July 29 – D9 Brewing Company, Charlotte, NC
July 30 – World Of Beer, Gainesville, FL

(more details are listed on the calendar page)

This tour all started with the hair-brained idea to drive up to Michigan this year (instead of flying as I’ve done in the past) and attempt to play shows along the way.  The first show that came in once I expanded my email territory was the one in Knoxville, and I had to confirm it within 7 days.  This sent me in a manic email frenzy, as I was using that date and deadline to secure enough shows along the way to make the drive worth my while. 7 days later, I had about another two show offers along the route and decided I’d move forward with this expanded tour.

Now for some real talk.  It took me roughly two months of work to pull this together – including information gathering, spreadsheet making, sending over 400 emails/messages, receiving dozens of polite rejections while 63% of messages *still* remain unopened, not to mention the ones that were opened but received no reply.  If you do the math, 16 gigs booked out of 400 messages is a successful booking rate of 4%.  While that percentage is mildly soul-crushing, I’m really pleased with how the whole thing ultimately shaped up, though I still have a few venues/dates I’m pursuing.

It’s also worth noting that this tour would absolutely not be possible without the help and hospitality of several friends along the way who have offered me comfortable places to sleep with fantastic company!  I’m looking forward to spending time with old friends and making new ones along the way.

Please stay tuned and join the Facebook Event Page!

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