The last few weeks have been killer. Touring with Flogging Molly, SXSW, hanging with Pinetop Perkins, and so much more but…

The blog has to start here. Winter died hard, and you can see the ice on the Big Damn Van horns.

This is part of the ice storm as seen from an overpass looking out at I-70 in Putnam County, Indiana.

Picking up where the last blog left off, this is right off the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN. Breezy owns the Washboard.

Jayme rocks the drums

The show in Lafayette was really special.

This is Clark’s Hill lake in Georgia. We did some fishing here, and I caught a beautiful Bass, but Jayme and Breezy mysteriously didn’t get a photo. I think they were jealous.

These pics from the Map Room in Charleston, SC sent in by Big Damn Fan, Keith Morgan.

These pics from the Map Room in Charleston, SC sent in by Big Damn Fan, Keith Morgan.

This is blues legend Pinetop Perkins. He came to our show at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, FL. What an honor. Pinetop was the piano player for Muddy Waters, he is 93 years old, and he has been touring for almost 70 years. There is a great story here, so here goes… Pinetop sat in the front row, and he was pounding his cane and cheering during our whole set. During a break in playing he came up to me and said, “See that piano over there, tell them to hook it up. I love what you are doing, and I want to get up there and play with you.” Well needless to say we were crazy excited. I went over to the soundman, and asked if we could get it hooked up. He said, “Pinetop won’t like it… it is a Hammond Organ.” Well I go back to Pinetop and relay the message, but he says hook it up anyway. So they did. Well… He gets up on stage with us, and I asked him what we were going to play, and he said, “We’ll play something in G and Got My Mojo Workin’ in E.” Now Got My Mojo Workin’ is one of the most overplayed songs in the blues world, but you gotta understand Pinetop played on the original Chess recording with Muddy Waters. Pinetop then sits on the stool and he starts banging away on the keys. And he says, “This sounds like an Organ. I don’t like the sound of this at all.” After messing with it for a few minutes he got up and walked off stage. He kept saying, “I can’t play that, it is an organ.” Well it was hilarious, amazing, and heartbreaking all at the same time. You gotta cut him some slack though. He is a 93 year old legend. We are lucky to have had him out.

This is the view from a balcony in Lake Worth, FL.

This is Breezy and I during the setting of the sun in Clearwater, FL

I told Breezy to stand next to the pelican, but she wouldn’t get any closer.

Clearwater Beach, FL.

More of the sunset in Clearwater, FL.

Breezy took this picture of a crane on a beach near Clearwater, FL.

This sign hung over a pier near Clearwater beach.

We are always working on the Big Damn Van, and in Atlanta our cousin Jake really saved us by changing out our fouled up spark plugs and giving us a great place to stay. Jake makes coming to Hotlanta that much sweeter.

Well the highlight of this month was being on tour with Flogging Molly. That band is kick ass, and they are just as cool to hang out with. The shows were really special for us. The crowds were so kind to us.

Here we are at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa on the road with Flogging Molly. Cain’s has so much history and you can see above the stage it says, “Home of Bob Wills.”

The crowds really made us feel like home. This is during our set in Tulsa.

More Big Damn Band at Cain’s Ballroom.

In Tennessee the van was giving us some problems so we took this exit for luck. It paid off, because they couldn’t find anything wrong with it, and we didn’t have anymore problems until Louisiana. We eventually had to get a new starter.

Nathan the bass player for Flogging Molly throws a cheers to us with his Guinness from the stage. Nathan is quick to share anything, Guinness, pizza, stories, good times, whatever he has.

Flogging Molly at Cain’s

Another pic of Flogging Molly rocking out.

Here I am hanging out with Dennis, the guitar player for Flogging Molly. This was after the show in Nashville, and we were talking about country blues and trading licks on my old gibson. It was awesome. Dennis loves music, and it really shows. This whole night was just one I’ll remember forever. It was just one of those special days.

Here I am with Dave King, the lead singer for Flogging Molly. He is an intense guy. If you haven’t seen the Flogging Molly DVD they just released, I highly suggest it.

This is more backstage in Tulsa. I love these pics where there are multiple cameras, and nobody knows which way to look. We have members of Flogging Molly, twopointeight, the Street Dogs, and of course The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band pictured here.

This is, Mike McColgan, the frontman of the Street Dogs backstage. The Street Dogs and a band from Sweden called twopointeight were also on the Flogging Molly shows. It was a pleasure hanging out and playing with them as well.

This is Fred from twopointeight. He is obviously a wildman. He is also a big sweet guy. Those Swedish guys were super kind to us.

This is George the drummer for Flogging Molly with Jayme. George is really low key off stage. You wouldn’t guess just how good he is on stage.

This is Jayme with Bob from Flogging Molly. He mainly plays banjo and mandolin for FM, but he can play damn near anything.

This was right before we were parting ways with Fred and the guys from twopointeight. I hope we run into them again soon.

SXSW this year was better than last year. There were so many great people who made it out to the show. We only had one official show this year, and there is so much competition, but it ended up being packed and it made for a great show. Austin, TX is one of the best places for music in the US.

We played at the underground punk showcase FXFU again this year. It is put on by Australian Cattle God records, and as you can see the show was crazy. One of the craziest shows ever. We loved it.

This is our Old Man at the Alamo. Steve Peyton. We are on the road so much we don’t get to see him enough, and he is such a good sport about all the songs I have written about him. We decided for his Birthday we all would chip in and get him a plane ticket from Texas back to Indiana. All he would have to do is get a ride from a buddy to Nashville, TN and he could ride in the van with us and see what it is like to be on tour with the Big Damn Band. He got to drink Guinness and Moonshine backstage with Flogging Molly, and he was with us for the whole SXSW experience. I think he hated living in the van, but I think he had fun too. I don’t know if he’ll do it again anytime soon though! Life on the road can be hard. We love him though and we loved having him. He is the one who taught me how to play the guitar. The Old Man hasn’t travelled much, and someday I hope he can see the whole country with us.

Two things do not belong.

The Peyton’s on a log at the Alamo. Poor Breezy isn’t in the picture because she took the picture. She was pretty sick here, and we were all starting to get sick. I ended up with Pneumonia and Strep throat a few days later. I played a couple more shows, but I had to cancel a few. I had a temperature of 103, and the doctor said my heart wasn’t getting enough oxygen. I had no choice but to cancel. I feel real bad about it, but I promise we’ll be back. We are just getting started in 2007. Thanks to you all for everything. I know the next few weeks will be great too.

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Big Damn Tattoo – We have made it…
Current mood: jubilant

BIG DAMN TATTOO

Well I think one way or another we have made it.

Yes Gang that is the tattoo of Craig a Big Damn Fan from Pekin, Illinois. He took this…

And he modified it to make the tattoo. We love it of course, and we couldn’t be more proud. We have some amazing things happening this year, and the last few weeks have been really special. Be on the look out for another BIG DAMN photo blog coming in about a week. We have a busy week coming up, on tour with Flogging Molly, SXSW, etc. Come out and say hello if we are in your town, and tune into Sirius Satellite Radio on March 15th for the My Old Kentucky Blog Radio hour. We are performing live, and talking about some stuff coming up.

If you have fan pics, tattoos, fan art, photos, etc., please send them in – we’ll put them on our blog and love you forever.