Lille. Lots of fun in Paris! I am always so excited to play there and spend some time in that beautiful city. Thanks to all the enthusiastic people who came out to our show at Cafe de la Danse. 

In Lille Alex and I decided it was time to do our laundry. We traipsed through a bizarre complex of shopping malls to search out laundry detergent, and after 45 minutes we returned to the venue to learn that we’d bought fabric softener instead.  The washer and dryer were in the kitchen and the very sweet chef helped us find a tiny bit of proper detergent and we supplemented the load with shampoo and Dr. Bronner’s.  The chef asked us how dirty our laundry was.  We said “pretty dirty.”  So we washed the load at 60 degrees Celcius without thinking about it.  That’s 140 degrees Farenheit!  So now all of my increasingly small maternity clothes are now EVEN TIGHTER because we washed and dried them on such high heat.  I feel like a fish packed into a tin, but I’m hoping things will loosen up again soon. 

The chef said he’d put the laundry in the dryer for us during our show.  When we returned to get it after the show we discovered he’d carefully and lovingly folded ALL of it, including our shrunken underwear! By that time he’d gone home so there was no way to thank him. On top of that he cooked us the best meal yet on the tour, and served it with a kind smile.

In other news, a fan at the merch table after the Lille show insisted on telling me that “Carbon Glacier” is my best album and that I was lying (for “promotion”) when I said that “July Flame” is my favorite. What is it about the French and “Carbon Glacier”? I have yet to meet someone in this country who likes one of my other albums more than that one. I guess it struck a cultural vein of some kind…

Below are some pics of our amazingly energetic and upbeat Scottish tour manager/sound person Tim. He dresses in 50s fashion, never stops working on endless tour-related tasks, and always reminds us that we’re “Living the Dream”! 

London.  A chilly walk along the Brighton beach and a packed show – Brighton has now inched into First Place in the International “Ooher-Ahher” Competition.

The London show in Union Chapel was lovely.  I felt humbled by the space and honored to play there.  The sparse songs came off particularly well, with our group harmonies sailing off into the reverberant chapel above us. It was great to reconnect with Bella Union folks and my booking agents and some dear old friends back stage. Off now to Manchester for a radio show and then … the City of Love!

Bristol. The show in Leamington was FREEZING! The heat was broken, the room was huge and painted blue, and even hanging out in Tammy Wynette’s old trailer in the green room (cool!) couldn’t warm us up.  Nelson invited a cute waitress to the show but she couldn’t come because she was working.  He valiantly tried to give her our rider’s roses but the restaurant was closed by the time he got there.

We played on an old boat in Bristol (also freezing — who’s idea was it to tour in Europe in the winter?), and the crowd there bumped Oxford out of first place as “Best Ooher-Ahhers” thus far. Despite the cold, spirits in the group are good. 

Banbury. The Oxford crowd was the rowdiest so far, with the most enthusiastic “Ooher/aahers” on “To the Country.” A nice day off in Banbury yesterday — I spent some time meditating in a church on squirmy “Junior”.  It is so bizarre that two cells meet and start to divide and make bones and lungs and muscle and teeth and a heart and brains and a personality and soul and everything else.  A pleasant walk along the canal today, a sunny reprieve, and a dish at the coffee shop called “Spotted Dick Winter Pudding.” ???

Oxford. The green room where I’m writing this is frigid. The whole of England is cloudy and cold. Reminds me of home.  Great gigs so far and even a moment to explore one of Norwich’s elegant churches.  My butt hurt in the van today and Alex took an incriminating picture of me sleeping with my mouth open.  Looking forward to our first day off tomorrow…

The news pretty much knocked us out of our chairs. We’re not exactly sure how they measure the New Artist Album Chart, but the we’ll take that #1!

July Flame also made the much-referenced  Billboard 200, debuting at #124.  In other charting news, July Flame has been perched in the top 30s-60s range for bestselling albums at iTunes.  Hot dog!

The title track to July Flame is enjoying a windfall of exposure on iTunes US this week as the Free Single Of The Week.  The kneejerk iTunes listening public has weighed in and it’s a hit (with a majority of listeners give it 5 and 4 stars).  Head on over and have your own say. As of this writing there are 374 opinions.

A hearty thanks goes out to all of the creative individuals that submitted a video for the “I Can See Your Tracks” contest.  It turned out to be really hard to choose a winner and runners up (and a little tricky to transfer from DVD to YouTube) but we are pleased to crown Alden Healy from San Francisco, CA as the winner with this intriguing use of human interest newsreel footage to elucidate the haunting tenderness of the song:

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Second place goes to Dan Fields of Baltimore, MD for creatively pairing the song to stills from the Apollo 11 mission.  Who knew Jim James soaring vocals make for a terrific soundtrack to the iconic “Earthrise” photos?

Third goes to Karen Anderson of Hood River, OR, who turned in an simple, almost meditative treatment which uses footage of our locally beloved stratovolcano, Mt. Hood.

Thanks again to all the videographers that participated!

Cambridge.  Cloudy and cold. At the Gateshead show the crowd was so quiet between songs you could have heard a crumb drop! Very sweet people, though. We all slept fitfully at the Royal Hotel; we’re sure it was haunted.  The walls were so thin we could hear the man in the next room BREATHING. Alex burst out of bed talking in her sleep and Tim had nightmares about driving the van with the back doors open and the gear falling out all over the road. 

Listen to Laura’s in studio session here. From OPB:

A bit of trivia: Laura Veirs was our very first recorded session when we began all of this roughly two and a half years ago. At the time, she had just moved to Portland and was working on making it feel like home, something she’s had a chance to do while taking a break from touring, for the most part, following her last album Saltbreakers.

Her new album, July Flame, is also a result of that time, though- despite its effortless beauty- it was anything but easy in coming for Veirs. She talks to us about the creative block that she eventually managed to open for these songs, as well as the decision to release the album on her own Raven Marching Band label after the previous two with Nonesuch. The effort also marks a move away from composing with a full band as she had done in recent years, though Saltbreakers conspirators Karl Blau, Steve Moore and Tucker Martine all figure prominently on the playing (not to mention appearances from My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James and The Decemberists‘ Chris Funk, among others).

Veirs was joined in studio by her current touring band, The Hall of Flames, featuring Alex Guy on viola and vocals, The Old Believers‘ Nelson Kempf on keys, guitars and vocals, and Eric Anderson on guitars and vocals. Now touring Europe, watch for Veirs’ return to Portland March 12th at Mississippi Studios.