Ashby Frank
Mandolinist, Singer, Songwriter

Another great show with another great symphony, and then another fun Mashville Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to IBMA next week after a show in Maryland. I’ll get to see a lot of my friends that I haven’t seen in a while, and spend a whole week at home! I’ll be really busy though.

We found out right before the show started that this was the first concert with this symphony for their new conductor, so that kinda made me nervous! But in the end, it all went well.

A lot of the crowd were out-of-towners that worked in various state’s agriculture offices that were there for a meeting. In fact 30 some odd State Agriculture Commissioners were there, and it was pretty cool to get to meet and chat with them after the show.

North Dakota is sparsely populated, but probably has one of the highest percentages of nice and friendly people that I’ve ever seen. It’s really awesome to be up there! Thanks to Kayla Wiese for taking these pics for me.

Special C with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony September, 2008

Tomorrow we’ll be flying off to North Dakota to play a “special” show with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra. Every time I’ve gotten to do a concert like this, it’s a blast. Singing with a huge string section behind me took a little while to get used to but it’s really awesome. I have a hard time not just wanting to stop and listen! I don’t think that’s allowed though.

I have a new “widget” that tells where I’m going. Hopefully I’ll remember to keep it updated. Also, you can go to my schedule page and see a more detailed view of where I’m going and a map to show my projected path and intensity.

Hahaha.

Well, it’s mostly brown, but I’ve got a new design that I’ve been working on for the last day or two.

I like brown, but I really picked it because that’s the color of my sweet new shirt that I had my picture taken in the other day. I’m an amateur designer and I know I need help, so look around and see what you think and drop me a line. AND PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO CALL YOUR FAVORITE RADIO STATION (ESPECIALLY XM) and request TAKE THIS HAMMER!!!!!!! Thanks!

I just got an email about the XM Bluegrass Junction Chart for this month, and it’s pretty cool!

Take This Hammer is now #5 on the chart, and the Mashville album is #13 in the Satellite World! We REALLY appreciate everyone requesting our music, the whole Mashville gang hopes that you keep it up! We need your help to get us to the top of the chart next month… and considering that last month’s #4 song is the #1 song this month, I think we have a pretty good chance.

You can call XM Bluegrass Junction at 1-866-267-0375 to request Take This Hammer, or any other song that you might be in the mood for… but make sure and ask for Take This Hammer while you’re at it. hahaha
Even though it’s probably a better idea to call in, you can also request via the website XMFan.com here’s a link.

Also if you don’t have satellite radio, I would REALLY encourage you to do so. For a low monthly fee, you can listen to pretty much any kind of music, pretty much anywhere in the US or Canada. I have a unit that I can move from a stereo, to a boombox, to my car. I’ve had it for 5-6 years and it’s great. I don’t leave home without it.

But it’s kind of strange how we’ve driven through a flooded Indiana twice this year.

It took FOREVER to get home from our show yesterday in East Troy, Wisconsin. The aftermath of the Hurricane didn’t hurt us too much here in Nashville, just some downed limbs from the wind, but up there in Indiana it looked pretty rough.

That being said, I got home late to perfect fall weather here in Nashville. I have a few days off, so I’m going to enjoy it. BUT I will be at Mashville tomorrow, and the band will be kinda changed up, but fun. Jenee’ Fleenor will be mashin’ the fiddle and singin, Brandon Rickman will be layin down the git-tar all over the place, Cory Walker will be pickin’ the banjo, and Randy and I will be the old regulars.

Tonight at 9:30 at the Station Inn will be the “regular” All-American Mashville Brigade! Darrell Webb, Randall Barrrrrrrnes, Jim VanCleve, Aaron Boo McDaris, and yours truly.

Tomorrow it’s off to Saint Louis for a show at Grant’s Farm, then back home for a few days, then off to Wisconsin for the weekend! Back and forth, back and forth…. I think we are responsible for half of the potholes on I-65 between here and Chicago. That one big hump near E-Town, KY is a doozy.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the MASH on Tuesday, it was a lot of fun picking with Corey Walker and Clay Hess as well as the regular guys.

Friday is the photo shoot for the new Special C album which is finished (woo hoo!) then it’s off to Auburn Hills, Michigan for the weekend. It’ll be nice to have a short weekend for the first time in awhile, except that’s a pretty good little drive from here. Oh well.

This month is kinda light on the schedule side, which is nice in some ways and not in others if you know what I mean. It will be good to have some time back home after a crazy busy summer. This month we’ll be in Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Maryland, and North Dakota. If any of those states are where you are, check out SpecialC.com to see where we’ll be. And as always, I’ll be down at the Station Inn for the Mashville nights.

Oh and by the way, I’m back to playing my Randy Wood mando after it was sick for awhile with a sour tuner. Glad to have her back. Thanks to Robin Smith at Heartland Guitar and Banjo for the help fixin’ her.