Happy August, friends!

I've had the Ben Folds Five song "Where's Summer B.?" stuck in my head all day. Probably because, although it is still August, and my tomato plants are just hitting their stride, there has ever-so-gradually been a crispness creeping into the air, as if to remind us that, alas, summer is winding down.

But it's not gone yet. There are still warm days remaining on the calendar. There are still many more cookouts ahead. And there is still plenty of music to be made before it's all said and done.

On June 21, Summer Solstice, Jo Henley kicked off this way-too-short season with a hugely successful show at The Spire, downtown Plymouth's beautiful new performing arts center. The whole concert was recorded for a live album--cleverly titled Jo Henley Live at The Spire--and in the weeks since we have been working with Mark Bryant to get that finished, mixed, duplicated, and ready for the world to hear. We feel this is a great and accurate representation of what a live Jo Henley show is. The song is always the focus, the centerpiece, but there is also plenty of extended jamming, improvisation, and risk-taking. You guys are going to dig it.

In the meantime, we are also putting in the final mixing stages of our new studio album Around These Parts, which we have been working on with Tim Lynch for much of this year. I just received a fresh set of mixes yesterday and was ecstatic with that I heard. This one is going to kill. We took our time and really tried to make sure each song is a gem. Whether or not we succeed is, I suppose, up to the public to decide. But we know we made a strong record, and most importantly, we loved making it. In the end, that's all that really matters to us!

So, sort of unexpectedly, here we are with TWO new albums waiting in the wings, all set to be released this fall! It's incredibly exciting. I have listened to each album about a bazillion times and still aren't sick of them; quite the opposite, in fact--which is saying a lot. These two records represent some of the best stuff we have ever done and we are thrilled to share them with you soon, soon, soon.

We have two big shows coming up this month that we want to remind you about. The first is this Saturday evening, August 23, at the Plymouth Waterfront Festival. It's an all-day event, with food, arts and crafts, music, and lots of other activities for the whole family. We are the headliner and will play from 5:45-7:30pm. Come on down to Plymouth this weekend and check it out--and be sure to stick around for our set!

Then next week, Friday, August 29, we return to one of our favorite venues on the planet, Caffe Lena, in Saratoga Springs, close to my hometown. Summer doesn't officially wave goodbye until late September, but Labor Day weekend is what most of us consider the end of the season, so it feels entirely appropriate that we bookend what has been an outstanding summer for the band with a two-set show at Caffe Lena. We have joining us bassist Tony Markellis for the occasion, as well as our friend and former bandmate Jordan Santiago, who will be sitting in with us on fiddle and mandolin.

Caffe Lena is a special place. We hope to see as many familiar faces, and hopefully new ones too, that can fit in that room. We have a few surprises in store for the occasion, including the debut of a bunch of new material, and we will even be dipping into the Jo Henley catalog and dusting off a few songs that we haven't played in a while.

This is an important show for us. Be sure to reserve your tickets today by going here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/734675

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