11/13/15 day 14: Wolfhagen, DE

I opted to skip breakfast and get the extra 20 minutes in bed. We congregated at the car at 10:30 and made the short trip to the Frankfurt airport to drop off Clint. Sad to see him go, he's been a great addition to the squad. We wish him safe travels back to the homeland.

Today's weather is more traditional Nov weather for Germany... It's colder, and foggy grey skies and a hint of rain. The drive was pretty gloomy, in and out of foggy patches with occasional glimpses of villages and mountains and wind turbines. Another easy drive today. We rolled up to Wolfhagen before 2pm and were fortunate to check in early to our hotel.

I did some research and located the venue for tonight which is in walking distance from the hotel, so we made that our first stop on our walkabout. The venue looks good, even if a bit "wedding kitsch."

We then walked around the small Innenstadt of Wolfhagen and snapped some photos.

I'm sure there is a good explanation for the drunk wolf at the fountain that's hitting on a baby goat... I'm sure of it.

Peter and I found a tiny little grill shack for lunch and dined on some delicacies of the region while Jeff sought his fortune in a Döner joint at the train station.

Back to the hotel for a power down before the 5:15 load in.

The venue was cool. Again, I think we are pretty spoiled when it comes to vibey venues. This one was built this century... And it lacked a certain 300 year charm, other than that, it had everything we needed; great Pa, sufficient green room and a great stage and lights.

Peter pillaging the green room snacks. One thing we love about German tours are the snacks and the amazing hospitality. This was the spread they offered before sound check.

After sound check, we dined backstage on Italian food while we took full advantage of the Chaisse Lounge.

Can you guess the three emotions we are emoting?

We hit to a beautiful crowd of 53 Germans. This was the first time as a trio, as we brought Clint to the airport this morning, and I must say it felt really good. While I love what Clint adds, it's nice to know we can deliver the goods as a trio. It's super distilled and raw. Love it! 

And I personally felt great. So much better than last night. I feel like my voice is 95% there which I am grateful for. I also felt like my German was flowing and the stories were rolling off the tongue. We had a standing ovation and then a double encore. It was pretty unreal. We also rebuilt the set a built and moved some

tunes around which felt nice. All in all a crazy good night. 

We walked back to the hotel around 11 and sat in the hotel bar and had a band meeting and then adjourned to the rooms. Feels so good to be feeling better! Can't wait for this weekend! Berlin here we come.

11/12/15 day 13: Bad Homburg, DE

Woke up this morning and was completely disoriented. A full on "where the hell am I?" moment. I did remember having had a very vivid dream about having a conversation with John Mayer about Dead & Company... I think he really enjoys it... That's at least what he said in the dream.

Breakfast was a righteous spread at the Hotel Schwert. Hey had bacon, soft cooked eggs, sliced cheeses, fresh bread, full acces to an automatic espresso/coffee machine, and drum roll... Ketchup! Yeah baby! Made a proper Egg McBrian sandwich. Started my day RIGHT.

On the road around noon after a gloriously late check out. Made it Bad Homburg just north of Frankfurt shortly after two. Hit some traffic but otherwise smooth sailing. We rocked out to some down tempo loungey stuff and some Beach Boys. We stopped at a gas station on the way and grabbed some coffee and tried out Peters new hacky sack in the parking lot like it was 1992. I don't think the locals were impressed and I think half of the band pulled a muscle...

Found rock star parking right in front of the hotel which offered only on street parking. Checked in to the Comfort Inn Hotel (unlike any Comfort Inn in the U.S. that's for sure) and crammed into the two person elevator to the first floor. My hotel room karma is traditionally bad; ie I'll get the smallest room, or the smallest bed, or the room on the 5th floor without an elevator, but today my hotel karma took a turn for the better!! I got the rain man suite for sure, full on with queen size bed (rarity in Germany) and full balcony. Add to all this the venue is less than a block away in old church.

We took a walk on the pedestrian shopping area past numerous malls and clothing stores and restaurants. It's kind of Anytown, Germany which means it's charming and organized and clean but we could almost be anywhere in this country. Peter and I opted for Pho and Jasmin Tea while the two others went for Döners.

Back to the hotel to change and walked around the corner to our venue. Another super big plus of the night. No car needed. Kept the rock star parking spot for the night and walked out instruments and merch a block up the street.

This place is amazing...

It's been a cultural center since 1990. The natural acoustics were great, as you can probably imagine. We had a good set. I'm now fighting a cold which is making things interesting but we made it through the two sets without incident.

We did Bid You out in the audience and that was a highlight for me. Hearing that song reverberate throughout that room was totally cool.

We were also stoked that our friends Ralf and Virginie came to this show as well (they were also in Balingen, Ralf's hometown). We said our goodbyes and walked around the corner to the only restaurant that was open, which happened to be an Italian joint, and had one last dinner as a quintet. It's been great having Clint on these shows; great player, and great dude. We were all back at the hotel by 11:30. Another good one in the books!

Check out some great photos of the set by our friend Virginie!
www.Design-by-Virg.com

11/11/15 day 12: Baden Baden, DE

Slept well last night. Was in bed shortly after midnight and slept through until 930. Just what the body needed. We met up at the car at 10:30 and hit the road to Freiburg. We decided that because Freiburg was halfway to Baden Baden we'd get lunch there. We are all fans of this town now which makes me happy. It's one of my favorite cities on the planet. We rolled up shortly after noon, parked the car in a lot by the main train station and grabbed a coffee in the afternoon sun at Cafe Aspekt.

Scenes from Freiburg; peter basking in the sun with a cappuccino, Döner from Uni Kebab, cascading selfie with Max Steffens on Schloßberg, and beers at Feierling... Super good afternoon in my old home city.

Max Steffens. When I lived in Aachen, I was good friends with Max's older brother Sebastian. At the time, Max was 2, now he is all growns up and studying jazz guitar at Uni Freiburg. Great dude. Great hang!

We then hit the road to Baden Baden around 3ish. Arrived at the venue around 445 due to some traffic on the A5 but spirits were high as we rolled into one of our favorite clubs. We quickly sound checked on the amazing stage and hit the road to Hotel Schwert, 10 minutes away.

Rantastic is the club that is housed in the same building as a really nice restaurant and a couple tennis courts.. It's hard to explain, but it works. It's all very German somehow.

We got back to venue around 7pm (I think I might have gotten a speeding ticket by a camera on the side of the road but I was going 60 kph in a 50 zone which is bullshit) and had a good hour and a half to eat a righteous dinner (some got Schnitzel and pommes and some got Pesto Pasta) and warm the voices before show time. The green room in this joint is pretty righteous: it's huge and usually well stocked with goodies. There's an upright piano, fridge full of cold drinks, ironing board, etc. Everything one needs.

We hit at 8:35 to a great turnout and did two sets with an encore. The sound was impeccable (Thanks Alex the sound guy who realized Peter had a bag cable and jumped to the rescue mid-song) and the tunes felt good on the fingers. We are at the point in the tour where we are fine tuning everything and it feels amazing. It's great to have such responsive and professional players next to you. Standouts from tonight were So Lonely, 1000 Little Pieces and the encore Dance With Me. We take the Doobie Brother vocal jam at the end of Dance to new levels and it gets more and more fun. I think the audience knows that we are in full improv mode and they get way into it.

Me and the lads enjoying a cold one after the gig at the merch table. We offer 6 CDs for sale on this tour.

All and all a great night. Met some other fellow musicians and sold some merch. Another great night in the books. We came back to the hotel and sat outside and ate the salami sandwiches the club packed for us (very sweet of them) and recapped the night. Clint goes home after tmrws show so we are trying to figure out ways to make him miss his flight. This four piece stuff is going too well! Bis Morgen.

11/10/15 day 11: Lörrach, DE

Enjoyed another late morning at Tommy's house. Started to feel like my allergies were acting up so it's nice to chill for the morning. We had lunch with Tommy and Simone and Lotta at their house, we chatted about April's tour (which is going to be amazing) and then we said our goodbyes and hit the road around 2:30.

What was supposed to be a two drive turned into a 3.5 hr drive. GPS sent us through Switzerland, but they stopped us at the border and wanted us to fill out all this paperwork for our CDs and so we decided to bag that and go through Germany which took us on back roads along the river that splits Germany and Switzerland.

Made it to Nellie Nashorn in Lörrach which is a small vibey spot with a small stage. 

Sound checked, ate dinner and hit around 8:30. We were psyched to see some friends come from Switzerland and Freiburg. Met some fans who found us on Putamayo. All in all a great night. Smallish crowd of 30 but they packed the place. Off to bed now. Freiburg is halfway to Baden Baden so we are going to meet my friend Max there for lunch. The tour rolls on.

11/9/15 day 10: Baienfurt, DE

It's so frustrating when you have a day off and you can't sleep past 7. I flew down to breakfast solo and was back in my room at 9. We had made plans to meet at 930 at breakfast and so I rolled back down at 930 and met Jeff and the guys in the empty dining area. I asked the woman at the counter about the lack of warm water and she said it was an issue in the entire building. Even in Germany it's hard to get a plumber at night; some things are universal. We all the agreed it's better to make the 40 min drive back to Baienfurt and grab some hot showers at Tommy's house then stay and suffer through cold showers... I know, we have it rough.

The weather wasn't ideal for a boat ride on the Bodensee so we opted instead for a walk around Ravensburg which is a fairly large city (famous for board games and puzzles) a couple minutes south of us. We were chaperoned by Salka the Hoftheaters owner and her daughter Luna.

Back to Tommy's around 5:30 and then we all met (Tommy's family, the band and Uli and Salka and daughter Luna) for homemade pizzas in Uli's new pizza oven. Uli is a scotch man, so he busted out his selection and walked us through some of the distinctions. Uli and Salka visited the states in September (and caught the Sweet Remains CD release show in September) so we looked through pics and told stories and bad jokes. Love this crew! Always such a great hang.

A great night off. Tmrw is Lörrach...and the tour rolls on.

11/8/15 day 9: Friederichshafen, DE

Slept in today and it was glorious! Walked out into the garden to find the Seitzingers and the guys doing some acoustic jamming in the sun. The weather has been amazing for Nov; warm and sunny, it's been great.

We hit the road around 3. Short beautiful drive to Friederichshafen. We stopped at our favorite fruit stand and grabbed a bag of those delicious apples and a snack at a little grill shack in the parking lot and got to Hotel Traub around 4.

I chilled for a few minutes and then got cleaned up for the show and then made the short trip to the venue (Caserne) and met Stefan the promoter. Super nice dude who teaches English and PE at a local Gymnasium (High School). He saw us at Hof Theater a couple years ago and knows Tommy well and wanted us to play at his club. The club was cool, it's used mainly for comedians and theaterica pieces but they do some music stuff so they brought in their PA and we arrived as they were working out the kinks. Gerhard was behind the console and was having some issues with the board and getting the monitors up. We are so spoiled on these tours. Usually the sound is impeccable so tonight I realized I was getting a little impatient and I had to remind myself how fortunate we are to be here and remind myself of some of the shitty clubs I've played in the states.. All was resolved eventually and we then had a quick dinner of Thai food in the green room from about 730-800.

The crowd was on the small side but they were totally into it. I think we delivered the goods tonight. Got called out twice for encores and made friends with some local musicians who we will try to connect with in the future.

All in all another beautiful night. And now I'm back at the hotel and in bed before 11:30?!  Solid. Gold.

11/7/15 day 8: Baienfurt, DE

We all met for breakfast at 11am, got cleaned up and hit the road around 1. Such a great night and supremely gracious family. We will definitely be back!

The travel time today was a couple hours to Baienfurt but it's a beautiful drive along the Bodensee. In the distance you see the Swiss Alps all while driving through vineyards and apple orchards high above a beautiful lake. It's pretty special. We stopped by a road side fruit vendor and picked up some delicious apples, I forget the varietal but nice and crisp and sweet.

Rolled up to Hoftheater in Baienfurt a little before 4. Hoftheater is an old barn that now has a great stage, sound and lights. Had a coffee in the newly renovated green room then a quick sound check. Our agent Tommy books this room and lives next door with his family and when we play here we stay here with his wife Simone and two kids Lotta and Emil. It's a magic place, lots of good friends here.

This is the view west from the barn. Another reason to love this place is the restaurant that is attached. Always amazing.... I went with the steak and grilled veggies.

It's really so civilized...

We had a great show to 100 beautiful Germans. Highlight was a spontaneous vocal jam at the end of Dance with Me... We started riffing on the Doobie Brothers tune "I'd like to hear some funky dixie land..." And then we took it off the tracks and let her wander for a moment. It was so fun. 

Afterwards we reconnected with friends around a fire outside and sang songs and laughed hard until late. Such a special place for us. Good friends, great times. Tonight was no exception.