through Lone Star Music by clicking here . Info on the free download coming SOON!

On Thursday, March 11th, I’ll be turning thirty.

It’s really not that big of a deal. It would be if this were Medieval Britain: turning thirty would mean that I was about ready to kick the bucket. Thanks to the advancement of sanitation, medicine, education, and overall personal cleanliness, however, this is no longer the case.

It also means that I’ve successfully managed to avoid that weird “27″ thing that got Hendrix and Joplin and Morrison… but those guys were all already famous, so I had a feeling it wouldn’t really apply to me.

Oh, yeah, and that whole die at the age of 29 in the back of a caddy thing that Hank Williams pulled off… I managed to skip out on that one, too. Again, he had that famous thing going on, but he also had that drink a bottle of whiskey a day thing going on, too… that was an easy one to miss.

Mind you, I’m not trying to put myself in the same category as these people, I’m just looking at numbers here. Numbers and music.

Thirty really isn’t anything other than an age with a zero at the end of it. Those are supposed to be “milestone” ages. To me, after 21, the next milestone age is 35, when I can run for President.

Which I will not be doing.

I just like knowing that I could.

In the end, I guess I did fall prey to the whole milestone thing, and so a couple of months ago I decided I’d do something special for it.

It’s more for you than it is for me, though.

My friends over at Lone Star Music will be helping me out with this, and I’m pretty excited about it.

Starting some time on March 11th, you’ll be able to download my first ever live acoustic album, Alone, But Not Lonely for free. You punch in your email address, and BOOM, you’ve got a live album. It’ll be as easy as that.

We’re also printing up 300 limited edition albums, with artwork hand made entirely by my personal Artist-in-Residence, Holly. That’s the cover up there. It’s a print. We’re hand making all of them, individually numbering them as the come out (so that means if you get #78, it really was the 78th one we did), and signing them. They’ll be available through Lone Star Music, and with me on the road. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. No more will be made. The download will still be available, though.

And the recording?

I think it’s a pretty excellent one. 6 new songs, 6 old songs, and a bunch of the stories behind them. This is a pretty fair representation of what you’d get if you came to an acoustic show of mine, I think. And that’s why I wanted to do this– it doesn’t cost you anything to pick it up, and if you like what you hear, I’d really love to see you at a show. I know people are busy… I know times are tight… I know some people just don’t go out of their way to see new artists, or pick up new records. I’m trying to eliminate all of that for you. I don’t want you to have an excuse to NOT check out my stuff… I want this to be as easy as possible for you. If you like what you hear, come see me at a show, pick up a copy of my last studio record, An Audio Guide To Cross Country Travel, tell a friend where they can download the album….

And if you don’t dig what you hear, at least it didn’t cost you anything.

I think that’s fair.

So, at thirty, I give you… me.

In true Artist-As-An-Egomaniac form, perhaps.

But really, I’m just trying to be nice.

The track listing:

Cincinnati

AM Radio

St. Abilene

Tending Bar By The Tracks At Midnight In Tupelo, Mississippi

The Last Waltz

Caroline

We’ve All Got Our Marks To Make

A Picture of You

Rolling Around In The Bed

Room # 27

A Cold Goodnight

Vapor Trails

I’ll pass along the info once we’re ready to roll on the 11th.

I hope you’ll enjoy it!