Here it is, October 13, 2025 and I'm staring down my last handful of shows here in Montana before making the trek back to the sweet sunny southlands of Texas and Oklahoma. Like a migratory bird, when the weather starts talking, I listen and fly south for the winter. Montana does feel like a home away from home at this point, after 13 years of coming up here to play music every summer. I've stayed longer and longer each year, partly because Texas summers can suck it, partly because booking shows around Austin gets harder and harder for my bands, and partly because I'm willing to admit I've become a full-fledged trout bum. Waking up in the morning and hitting a trout stream for a few hours before going to play a show in the evening is a tough gig to beat. Living in a van down by the river ain't so bad when the rivers are this glorious. Nevertheless, I find myself yearning for some of those native Texas fish, the Guadalupe bass and Rio Grande chichlid. And I need some saltwater, too. Hoping to get down to the Texas coast and catch a few as soon as possible. 

Looking forward to spending some time with the fam, too, on the way back, and then during the upcoming holiday season. Hoping Stillwater doesn't get an early season freeze before I get there so I can reap some bounty of the last gasps of the 2025 garden we planted in the spring. I planted a whole bunch of new pepper varieties and it'll be time to make a batch of new hot sauces. I just might be looking forward to that as much as catching some different species of fish. Still need to land a big fall brown trout here in the next 2 weeks, though. First things first…

Musically, I'm trying to wrap my head around getting back in the studio. We've got a bunch of stuff at various levels of completion and I guess we should maybe finish them off. I don't know. I haven't written anything new in awhile but there's no shortage of material that's been sitting on the backburner, some of it for years, and I still don't hate it, so maybe we'll see what we can do with some of it. 

This ole world keeps on spinning, though, and as long as it does I'll just sit here and watch the river flow. Or whatever. Every time I think it couldn't possibly get any weirder, it does. Maybe that's exactly how it's supposed to be. Good to focus on things like gardens and making hot sauce and fishing and trying to make pretty sounding things in the studio with your pals. 

OK for now,

JD