Yesterday marked the debut of A Few Honest Words at the annual Americana Music Association Festival in Nashville. There couldn't have been a more appropriate place for my first reading from the book, which profiles sixteen artists from a variety of roots genres. 

As Jim Lauderdale said onstage at the AMA awards ceremony on Wednesday evening, "boundaries are for cowards." That's one of the main points of A Few Honest Words--to move beyond constricting categories and simply embrace the music. 

Thanks to the good folks at Parnassus Books, who were on-hand to sell the first available copies of the book. If you're ever in Nashville, please stop by their store and support a wonderful independent retailer.

Since the book officially releases in October--and ships from online retails outlets on 25 September--the next reading will also be in Nashville, this time at the Southern Festival of Books, where I will be sharing the stage with Naomi Judd on 12 October. We'll do an onstage interview and discussion, and then a signing. Hope to see you there--or out on the road at other dates. 

Welcome to my new website! My forthcoming book, A Few Honest Words, will be released October 2012. In the meantime, take a look around. Read an excerpt that was just published in Sojourners magazine. Listen to a clip of my interview with Jim James on the A Few Honest Words page. And please spread the word about the book to your fellow music lovers. 

We will be adding new content to the website (a book trailer, updates on readings and events) in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.