Sewing Circle in Barnsley!

Report from Barnsley, South Yorkshire: One of the great things about traveling around sharing our music is that I get to see my fellow sewists! And it just so happened that today was an open sewing day among Joy's quilting group, so I got a start on a little gift for a friend and got to share in a rather decadent birthday cake! 

Thanks very much to all of the folks who came out to Barnsley Folk and Acoustic Night​ to see us! One of our MOST favorite things about touring in Britain is coming to this folk club and HEARING our friends sing . . . rumor has it that we will be going to session tomorrow night in Thurlston . . . our first session ever! 

Next week, I will be posting a brand new song, handwritten lyrics, and a story from our show at the Barnsley Folk Club on our fan club site . . . so now would be a good time to mosey over and put a dollar in the pot for this month so you can hear our new country song. It went down a storm last night and everyone asked who in Nashville was going to cover it! Yikes! We had no idea . . . just got in the mood to write a country song, as you do. https://www.patreon.com/jeniandbilly

See you in 2016, Florida!

What started with a trip to the attic to find our tents and camp stove ends with a visit to my parents to get my new used computer up and running and design a cd package or three. In between, we've done eleven concerts in Florida, laughed with friends -- new and old -- visited family, and made a start on a couple of new songs! 

Mr Tomato has performed admirably and may have earned his own Jeni & Billy bumper sticker by the end of this! 

We went out with a bang thanks to a community concert organized by our beautiful friends, Gerry & Fred. Every time a friend organizes a concert for us, I stand in awe of their gumption. We saw our friend Peggy Osborne who grew up down the road a piece from Jewell Ridge in Lebanon, Virginia. Peggy's mother was at the concert, too, and invited me to their family reunion which was one of the best after-concert compliments I've ever received. 

We are heading up to North Carolina in a light drizzle with our hearts full of friendship and thanks for all, near and far, who made this trip with us. Love to you.

Jeni & Billy go to Hollywood!

Report from the desert outside Los Angeles, California: When I was a kid, I wanted to be a movie star. It didn't make great sense, because I was actually really good at things like physics and typing class and those things would likely have lead to truly attainable careers. I almost never got big roles in school plays because I was always trying to re-write the main character, even in the audition. The only exception was Cinderella, and then I was cast solely on the strength of my long blonde hair.

I first visited Los Angeles in 2009 and I was smitten. I laid a flower at Marilyn Monroe's grave and Billy never got tired of the fact that I had to take a photo of practically every star on Hollywood Blvd. He even took me on the Warner Brother's Studio tour.

When I came out of one of the restroom trailers, a very put-together woman with a Warner Brother's employee lanyard said, "Aren't you on The Mentalist?" And a nearly speechless me, who had failed to brush her hair that morning, said, "No." "Oh," said this woman to whom I was eternally grateful. "Are you working on that pilot next door?" "No," I said. "Well," she said. "You should be. Did anyone ever tell you, you have great teeth? And you look very chipper, but smart." Then she got a call on her cell phone and I walked on air back to the golf cart. 

As we drive these last 300 miles toward the dream city of my childhood imagination, I feel so thankful to be approaching the embrace of so many friends. I can hardly believe we get to tour in California every year and it's all because of the friends who take us into their homes and adopt us into their families for a meal or for a week. If anyone asks me if I'm in that pilot they are shooting next door, I'm going to say that I'm in the Jeni & Billy movie right here, right now.