I’m riding shotgun in the hired car we picked up at Marble Arch in the centre of London about an hour ago. Colm’s at the wheel of the brand spanking new Ford. We’re on the M1 en route to Birmingham. Midlands, England - not Alabama, US. It was the first time I was behind the wheel of a car in London and it was remarkably not as bad as what I had feared. <p>We played The Regal Rooms in Hammersmith, London last night. It kicked off the second stage of our UK tour. Nice venue and it was great to meet up with Dessie, our old drummer who played in the band for over five years. Des has since moved to England and is doing a few things outside the world of music. He hasn’t hit a snare since January and I’m sensing that he’s missing it so no doubt he’ll be banging away again soon. <p>The gig went well. It was divided into two halves with four acts playing three songs in each . The only downside to this format is that it can break up momentum when performing. Still a good night though.<p>A rain shower has just cleared here on the M1. Our sat nav is telling us that we should be hitting Birmingham in about an hour. Playing the Island Bar tonight. “In Birmingham they love the guvnor, boo hoo hoo.” 

Just landed back from Liverpool where I was in town for the Sound City festival and a live session on BBC Merseyside. Had a really good show in Parr Street Studios last night. First solo gig in a while. The week got off to a difficult start though in Manchester on Monday when a joke I made just didn’t work with the audience at the Eurocultured gig. I still think it’s pretty damn funny - myself and Colm were performing on an outdoor stage which was situated under a bridge, so I announced that I felt a bit like a troll. No reaction. Maybe it’s the language barrier or maybe Manchester just doesn’t remember the three Billy Goats Gruff. It’s an awful shame if they don’t. On another note,  big thank you to my two very good friends Brian and Claire Bradley who looked after me when I was in Liverpool. Baby Lorcan Bradley too was integral in the tour management of the past week. He kept a close eye on proceedings from his baby seat in the back of the car. Babies and trolls - the essentials of a good tour.

The smell of wild garlic in Glenarm forest -now that’s something that blasts open the senses. There’s a lot of defining and refining goes on up there. Ran through the oak and the ash this morning. Encountered the same familiar ‘forest-faces’ - there’s Denis and the dogs who stops to tell me about the Buddhist monk who slams his stick on the ground and shouts “Enlightenment is now!!’ There’s  Stevie with his hood up telling me to put on another layer of clothing when I’m running to sweat off the baby fat. And then there’s Josie D who doesn’t need to tell me anything but says everything with his famous rave wave.  Up in that forest at the top of Toberwine Street there’s fine fine air and even finer characters.

 It’s been a few years since I’ve set foot inside a primary school gymnasium, but today I re-entered that realm. Those desks and chairs are an awful lot smaller than what I remember and somehow the ceilings don’t seem as high now as did back when I was eleven. Schools have a distinctive smell though and its funny how odours can awake memories that lie dormant. For some reason those smells today conjured up a memory of Miss Sharpe (an old primary school teacher of mine) asking me to run up to the shop during lunch and buy her cigarettes. Somehow I don’t think that request from teacher to pupil would  be politically correct nowadays …Colin and Anne of the Panarts Programme (they also run the excellent Belfast-Nashville Songwriters Festival) invited me along to perform a few songs for the pupils of St.Joseph’s and Strandtown Primary schools in Belfast. Local music legend, Ken Haddock, also came along and for an hour we had the privilege in having an audience in the kids. Ken and I have shared many a pint and many a conversation on the fear of “the shanks” (you golfers will know what I’m saying) but I’ve never shared a stage with him. To be honest I wouldn’t have put money on that our first shared performance would have been in front of 11 year olds in an east Belfast school, but that’s what keeps it interesting.The kids were great. Asked us good questions to which I hope we gave good answers. I gave them all a single (”Things Haven’t Started Happening Yet”) each to take home. One of the teachers involved emailed later in the day to tell me that for the majority of the kids that was the first CD they have in their collection. Quite appropriate therefore that one of the lines in the song on the single is “I want to see the world through a child’s eye.” Great to play a few songs with Ken too. We talked to the kids about the process/technique of songwriting. We then talked more importantly to each other about the process/technique of “the shanks.” They’re two very different mysteries indeed. I might ask Willie Nelson, who’s an avid golfer, if he has any answers to those two great mysteries. Surely there’s a man who could shed a little light.

Recently I’ve been doing some co-writing with Brendan Murphy from the Irish band “The Four Of Us.” Brendan is easily one of the best songwriters in Ireland and I’ve always been a fan of his music. He and I have quite a few mutual friends but we only hooked up for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We met up again today in The Errigle in Belfast for another writing session. After the initial and now traditional 2-hour conversation about our experiences in Nashville and theorising on how to navigate the music industry, we got down to some writing. The ideas were flowing and the bones of a new song were found. Co-writing doesn’t always work (there’s nothing quite as awkward as a co-writing session gone wrong) but when it’s good it’s great. I’m delighted that Brendan and I click creatively and I’ve a feeling there’s a song or two to be written in the future.

Well that was the reality I attempted to imagine on Saturday night in the Spirit Store, Dundalk. Myself and The Earls made our first visit to this great venue and we had a really good show. I was hanging about afterwards listening to Juliet Turner’s set when I was approached by an elderly gentleman. He told me that he really enjoyed our performance and that I reminded him of a cross between Kris Kristofferson and - wait for it - James Blunt. James Bloody Blunt. When he cited the master Kris I got excited, but then my ego got totally whipped when he mentioned JB. I know that there are multitudes of people who buy JB records but I do hope that I’m not working the same creative landscape. Anyhow, it was a great trip to the Spirit Store, and importantly we found a cool little Italian restaurant/coffee place. Kris Kristofferson, James Blunt and a fine ravioli - Dundalk has it all.   Sunday 29th -We headlined Auntie Annies in Belfast tonight. It was an unofficial release of the “Things Haven’t Started Single.” Haven’t played a band gig here in a few years. Last time was back in the days when gig dog was hanging about (long story). Nice turnout and everyone who was there was there to listen, which always makes a big difference to a performance.  Played a new song “Matters To Me” for the first time and that was the highlight of the show. Performing a new song in front of an audience is a bit like taking the stabilizers of your bike. Well, maybe not. You’re not going to get a busted knee if the song falls flat on its face. However, there’s always an element of trepidation. I have to admit that the response we got from playing “Matters To Me” was the best I’ve ever experienced when debuting a new song. It bodes well for the future… 

Visited BBC Radio in Belfast today and performed live on the afternoon show with Ralph McLean. Ralph has been a great supporter of the album  since its release in N.Ireland. The last time we spoke was in Antones in Austin, Texas, back in March at SXSW. We enjoyed a few shots of Patron tequila that night, but alas the BBC had no such treat for us in the studio today. Colm joined me on acoustic and we performed “No Direction Home” and “Mercury” live.

Tonight, my excellent publicist, James Rollins, and myself visited Lisa Flavelle at Downtown Radio. I haven’t seen Lisa in a while and so it was great to catch up with her again. Lisa has been another great supporter or my music over the years; in fact I still have a copy of an article she wrote about one of my first bands from 6 years ago. We pre-recorded an interview and I performed “Mercury” and “Melodies of Midnight” for her late show. A good day of making noise over the airwaves in N.Ireland

I just realised this morning that a year ago today I co-wrote the song “Strong Enough For This?” in Nashville, Tennessee, with Travis Meadows. This track is turning out to be one of the most popular on the album and I have to admit that it’s one of my favourites too. Travis is a good friend, a great writer and we’ve shared quite a few Blue Moons in Mojos over the past year. I have a feeling we’ll be writing together many more times in the future.I hooked up with the Earls today for a rehearsal in Belfast. We have a couple of shows coming up this weekend in Dundalk and Belfast, so it was great to be making noise with the boys again.  We worked on a new song of mine called “Matters to Me” for the first time and we’ll give it its live debut this weekend at the shows. 

That was the question. I don’t see myself as the typical blogger - but then again who is the typical blogger? I don’t read too many blogs either so to be honest I’m not too educated in the art of this medium. I guess then this will be more of a ‘web journal’ which archives my experiences when I’m on the road, off the road or thinking about the road. It’s all about the road….8.20pm;I’m just home from a radio interview in Belfast. The station was U105 FM and the lovely host of the show was Kresanna Aigner.  We talked about the songs and artists who had influenced me over the years. We played songs from the “Carla Boone” EP and the new album and discussed the journey between the two recordings. I performed “Higher Ground” live and this was the first time that I played it live on radio. One more cherry gone.The first single “Things Haven’t Started Happening Yet” is released in N.Ireland tomorrow (21st April 08) and tonight began a week of radio/press promo in Belfast. More importantly though, Manchester City (that’s the top soccer team in England for all my American friends reading this) won their match today. So, in conclusion, the first single from the album gets released at home in N.Ireland and Man City win their match - there’s been worse days than these…