(Photo courtesy of Exit Hibernation Media / Al Hafner)
As we're at the beginning of staying still for a few months, in the middle of the "holiday season," and at the end of the year, we got thinking about what a wonderful year 2016 has
been. With lots of highs...
...and some lows....
Let's recap the big ones shall we?
We played 128 shows this year in 26 states and had our first international show in Canada. These shows have ranged from farmer's markets to radio appearances, house shows to music festivals and everything in between. We worked our tails off in the winter booking all of these shows, and we've gotta say that this is our best, most complete year of touring yet. Some of our favorite shows happened this year- we're looking at you Manhattan, KS, Savannah, GA and Cambridge, MA-- and we can't wait to get back out and play for you all some more.
Butter, the best damn road dog you'll ever meet, turned a very young 7 years old in October. That was around the time that we got the Pud, who is a puppy and will turn 1 on Festivus. They get along great. If anyone ever says "life is perfect with a dog," then you say "have you tried life with two dogs?"
We got to park in some beautiful places this year and saw our fair share of awesome weather. We met quite a bit of wildlife, including those baby bunnies who lived under our camper. Our camper has survived another year despite incredible odds, and we're thankful that our home on wheels lives to park along another highway with a scenic view.
This year saw the release of the soundtrack to the short film "Pieces and Pieces." We put up a couple music videos that we hope will whet your whistle for when the film comes out. Rumor has it, release date might not be as far away as you thought...
Oh yeah. We also got married this year on Leap Year Day. People ask us all the time how we can stand traveling together, working together, playing music non-stop and the answer is...both of us really lucked out by getting to make music with our best friend.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for everything you've done for us this year. Whether that is listening to our music on Spotify or Pandora, downloading it from iTunes, spinning an actual physical CD in your car or coming out to a show- thank you! There is so much good music you can fill your ears with and it's an honor that you've listened to us. To those of you who have hosted us at a house show- thank you for opening up your home. We always feel like house shows are the places where you get to see The Rough & Tumble as we intended you to see us. To those of you who offered us places to park the camper, housed us, fed us, or contributed to our page at The Will Gray Blueprint-friends and strangers alike- thank you. You literally are helping us keep body and soul together.
As a thank you, we want to give to you a song that's been bouncing around in our heads for a few years. It's called "You Are The Age" and is a lullaby that assures that all is as it should be and as it shouldn't be. So go get yourself a free holiday download! It's our gift to you.
2017 has a lot to live up to. And from the looks of our calendar, it's going to be another good year. We're planning a cross-country tour (if you want to host a house show, shoot us an email!) and have an EP coming out that we recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC. We're also taking some time this winter to record a full length record that we hope will come out sometime in 2017 as well. And with new music comes new music videos and a whole bunch of new jokes and other surprises. We're getting ahead of ourselves here.
Thank you. We love you. See you next year.