Ashby Frank
Mandolinist, Singer, Songwriter

Another set of shows in the Northern Indiana/Chicago Area in the books. Great weather this weekend! Wish I could say it made the driving shorter.
Speaking of long drives, I’ll be leaving on Thursday for our North Dakota/Canadian run. First is Washburn, ND, then on to Winnipeg, Manitoba, then Kenora, Ontario. Lots of driving, but two new places for me! That’s a rarity these days.

Anyway, Mashville is set to be a good one tomorrow night. Brandon Rickman will be back, no doubt with copies of his newly released CD that features some amazing songs that he’s written over the last few years. Jenee Fleenor will be fiddlin, Aaron will be back on Banjo, and Randy will be there holdin’ down the Bass!
Come one, come all!

Back on the road again!
Yesterday we played the WIthlacoochee Bluegrass Festival which is about 30 minutes outside of Ocalla, Florida.
Now we’re on the road headed for Columbia, SC.
Fall is in the air and the drive down here from Nashville was actually pretty nice. Change of scenery, at least!
Thanks to the folks who came to the Monster Mashville Haloween Party.
There are some interesting pictures on the Bluegrass Blog if you’d like to see my “outfit”.
Maybe I’ll get them up on here later… can’t do it from my PDA.
Just confirmed yesterday that The Mashville Brigade will be pickin’ at a special Wednesday night show on Nov. 19th at the Station Inn to help the Inn get some new sound gear. The Grascals, and other big ol’ Bluegrass stars will be performing as well.
OK, well I hope everyone’s having a great Haloween weekend.

I’ve been mighty busy at the World of Bluegrass this week, and today was quite a ride.

I had a practice with a buddy of mine and awesome musician Keith Sewell for a set on Friday for Fan Fest at 4, then Mashville at 9:30, then Special C showcases at 12:30 and 1:30. I’m pretty tired.

We have three shows in the Convention Center tomorrow, then a slower day on Thursday (good thing!)

Thanks so much to all of yall that came to the Mashville show tonight. It was one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had and we all had a lot of fun.

I’ll try to get some pictures for those of you that can’t be here this week. It’s quite the event!

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.

The trip to South Dakota was great! I got to see the sights and hang out with some good friends, made that long drive through nowhere seem a lot better. I have some good pictures that I’ll try to put up here tonight.

I spent my afternoon prepaying bills and trying to get my tags renewed before my next big trip, and here in Davidson County, TN that’s not much fun.

Waited in line for over an hour for an emissions test, then I stood in line for 20 minutes after I drove to another place to get my sticker. I wonder how much gas was burned and emissions were put out during that time when all of us stupid Nashvillians were parked in a creeping line waiting to pay someone to see if we have a good gas cap so we don’t waste gas. They really need to open more of those things with more workers if we need them. Enough of that rant.

I won’t be at Mashville tonight because I am so behind on getting ready for the trip to Ireland and the UK that I leave for tomorrow, but Josh Williams will be organizing what I’m sure will be a good show.

So yeah, I’ll put some pictures up here later hopefully, and I might be able to blog from overseas, but I don’t know. What I’m saying is, it might be awhile before I get to say much more, but I promise that they’ll be a lot of pictures and stuff when I get back.

Oh and by the way, Happy Independence Day! Downtown Nashville’s the place to be for fireworks and music on the 4th, so come check it out!

Mashville on Tuesday… Bean Blossom, Indiana for two days… Arlington Heights, Illinois… Collinsville, Illinois yesterday, now I’m home. Whew.

I get a few days off now before we head out to South Dakota. Tis the season, I guess!

Just so yall know, the Mashville Brigade Studio Special that we recorded a few weeks ago is airing this week on XM Track 14 Bluegrass Junction. You can check out the Bluegrass Blog to find out some more info and show times by clicking here.

I also found out some good news about the Mashville album’s chart action this week. I’ll have to post about that later.

Hope yall are doin well. Time for a nap.

Well, good review anyway!
Check out the review of the new Mashville Brigade CD on the Bluegrass Journal.com!