Dakota Lullaby

Albert and Gage - "Dakota Lullaby" The Songs of Tom Peterson
Tom is an old friend from Sioux Falls, South Dakota who had a dozen beautiful songs in his pocket that we simply had to record.  The CD features a wonderful array of musicians such as Kenny Putnam, Boyd Bristow, Lloyd Maines, Mike Stevens, Michael Austin, John Mills, David Carroll, Paul Pearcy and Glenn Fukunaga.  The really cool thing is that these songs also fit so well in our live shows, so we're jazzed with new energy in our performances.  The national release is in June, but we're celebrating all around Texas now - special thanks to those of you who have already picked up a copy.  We've got some shows at great venues this month, so come join us. 

Cover painting by Jim "Geier" Stevens, poem by Jack Kreitzer, photography by Terry Smith, with an inside panorama of "The Little Brown Church" just west of Hayes, South Dakota photographed by Chris Gage. 

More info at www.moonhouserecords.com/albertandgage/dakotalullaby.htm

Coming up next month!

     Today we're going out to our friend's lake house (thanks Don and Ronna) for a whole two days off!  Wow!  Amazing how hard it is to carve out even that amount of time these days.  But first we'll get the newsletter out to all of you so that you know what we're up to this month.  Then we'll pack our food and my journals and books and some movies and sunscreen (in case the sun actually comes out) and head for the hill country. 
     Well, Chris took a stroll down memory lane, so maybe I should.  My early gigs were all in Santa Fe and the surrounding towns and mountainsides.  I was 19 and playing The Turf Club, out by the racetrack south of Santa Fe.  Cowboys and hippies and locals and the occasional tourist jammed the dance floor and would country swing to the sounds of "Ozone Express", my first band.  Gigs in those days were often 6 nights a week.  Our first residency  was at The Apollo Lounge in Albuquerque.  A lovely establishment where the bikers one evening took the bartender out into the parking lot and smashed in his knees with a baseball bat - can't remember what he had done to "provoke" this.  But, it was a gig and I was thrilled to be making my living making music.  I just tried to avoid the bikers.

     I like our venues much better these days.
     See you there - don't worry about your knees.


 Christine

     You can't go home, that's what they say, huh?  I always enjoy driving around the old home town.  I drive by the empty lot where the Whale Inn Tavern used to be, where I had my first long term musical residency.  I played in the "belly of the whale" for two summers when I was in my late teens. 
     A couple blocks away stands a bank where the 406 Club used to be.  I would spend my evenings upstairs in the whiskey bar while my high school friends were "dragging main" right outside the window, chasing girls and honking at friends while trying to find someone 18 who could score them some 3.2 beer. 
     Then there's the armory where the battle of the bands would take place, and the Moose Lodge across the river where I got my first solo job playing guitar for the...moose guys.  My parents were always great about letting me explore my talents and would drive me to these strange places and wait while I played my songs and collected my pay.  We had a band for awhile called the "Capital City Brass" (I think) and our parents would all carpool us to different venues and wait while we slammed out our 14 year old versions of "The Lonely Bull" and "House of the Rising Sun".

     I'm glad my Mom chose to stay in Pierre, it gives me a great reason to keep returning, although I think I would anyway.  You can go home. 
     See you at the gig!

     Chris