July Greetings from Memphis!
Well it’s cooled off a bit here—only 93º today, thankfully—and I mean it when I say my heart is with my Texan and New Englander friends who are at present melting or floating. I pray for your relief!
I’ve got a bit of news, a couple of shows, a little food for thought from an old inspiration, and the monthly new poem. Here we go…
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CONTENTS of This Newsletter
1. Sherpas on the charts, the radio and the stage…
2. Solo TK show in VA next week…
3. Ireland & Scotland: the sweetest people, and future trips…
4. Personal news: New home studio operational…
5. TK Poem of the Month: Repetition
6. Wisdom for our time from George Orwell
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1. Sherpas News: on the charts, the radio and the stage…
a. "Promise to Harry" album and single charting now!
Thanks to the promo team at Hudson Harding Music, the new Sherpas album has been climbing the FAI chart (formerly Folk DJ Chart).
On the end-of-June album chart, “Promise to Harry” was sitting at #9…
…and “A Ways to Go” (our single) was up to #3 on the singles chart!
And the album and single are still picking up stations, getting play now in TX, VA, CA, KS, FL, MA, OH, IL, WA, NY, VT, ME, NM, CO, IN, AL, CT, Australia and Canada.
THANKS to all the DJs spinning our tracks!
To buy the album—the physical CD or as a download—click HERE. To stream it, just visit the usual places: Apple Music, Spotify et al… and search for “The Sherpas” or “A Promise to Harry.”
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b. Sherpas Radio Hour
Last month, Virginia DJ Barry Graham hosted the Sherpas for his weekly Acoustic Highway radio hour, and it was joy. Now it's archived, so if you’d like to hear it, click HERE, then click “June” and then “Sunday, June 18, 2023." (There's your media player. Voila!)
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c. Sherpas in VA next week
The Sherpas will be playing an outdoors set next week in Vienna, Virginia.
The scoop:
Thursday, July 20, 2023 7:30-8:30pm
Nottoway Park presents the Sherpas
9537 Courthouse Road
Vienna, VA 22181
—FREE 1 HOUR CONCERT!
—for more info, click HERE
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2. Solo show in VA following Sherpas show
And the night after the Sherpas show in Vienna I'll be playing a semi-rare SOLO house concert. The scoop:
Friday, July 21, 2023 7pm
Browntown House Concerts presents Tom Kimmel
Browntown, VA (near Bentonville)
—IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING, please email me at ptclear(at)yahoo(dot)com ASAP
…and put “YOUR HOUSE CONCERT?” In the Subject line. I'll pass your contact info to our host.
(Note: We have a full house, but I’m told we can squeeze in a half dozen more in the hall and on the landing…)
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3. Ireland & Scotland: 2024 and beyond…
To those of you who aren’t so interested in Ireland & Scotland, thank you for following me anyway! I appreciate you. And for those of you who are curious about the trips, most of the info about the tours is at my website HERE and HERE.
2024 Tour Dates:
Ireland
Sunday June 23 - Wednesday July 4, 2024
—For more Ireland info, click HERE.
Scotland
Tour 1: Friday, April 19-Monday, April 29, 2024
Tour 2: Wednesday, May 1-Saturday, May 11, 2024
—For more Scotland info, click HERE.
And I must say that what I love MOST about these tours is the people who come with me, who are unfailingly big hearted, good natured and curious. May the adventure continue.
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4. Personal news: Studio up & running
My new home studio is finally operational! Took almost 2 months from unplugging at the apartment to being able to push Recordin what you might call the tiny house in the backyard. And it's an OLD tiny house which in prior incarnations was a one car garage and a woodworking shop. So grateful to have it.
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5. TK Poem of the Month
Repetition
Who doesn’t repeat themselves?
(I say, who doesn’t repeat themselves?)
Yet we find certain things bear repeating.
“Of course I love you.”
“No I don’t mind.”
“I’m listening.”
“I hear that!”
Certain others, not so helpful:
“I told you not to vote for that guy.”
“You did what?”
“Well crypto was always funny money.”
“Hopefully you’ve learned something.”
Others even less so:
“But no, you wouldn’t listen.”
“There you go again.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“I know exactly how you feel.”
But you can hardly go wrong with:
“What a shame!”
“Really? No way!”
“Boy oh boy!”
“Honestly!”
My favorites:
“So sorry to hear it!”
“I’m really happy for you!”
“Goodness gracious!”
“She didn’t!”
“I’m right here if you need me.”
“I mean it.”
“Don’t forget you have the Bat Phone”
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6. Wisdom for our time
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”
—George Orwell (1903-1950), author & journalist
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Till next we meet, Maximum Peace, Love & Understanding,
TK
PS Thanks always to the folks at Elixir Strings for keeping me playing the world's best strings for over 25 years.