0 Days to Dudes: Le Dudes Est Arrivé!

Yesterday I returned from an 11-day jaunt through Europe as the support act for Fountains of Wayne. I played eight shows in six countries in four different linguistic regions (well, six if you throw Gaelic and Glaswegian English into the mix). The tour came about very suddenly, a by-product of having been provided a plane ticket (courtesy of Kickstarter patron David Morrison, for whom I played a house concert in Glasgow Nov. 12) and being tipped off by another Kickstarter friend (Ken Simpson) that my old buddies FOW just happened to be touring Europe around the same time. The entire thing fell together in such a serendipitous way that, in spite of occurring over the final weeks leading up to the US release of Dudes, I had to do it.

I normally spend the final weeks leading up to an album release buzzing around my house like a ferret with a big smear of peanut butter over its nose, so it was a little odd to be spending the release countdown thousands of miles away from the heart of the action. But the experience made me realize that the ‘heart of the action’ around Dudes is not, and has never been, in Nashville at all. From its inception, the energy around the album has been generated from enthusiasm and support that has come in from all over the world. From its financing to its recording to its current position at #9 on the ITunes singer/songwriter chart (Go team!!!), Dudes has grown because of the community around it, not me.

It is a supremely lucky thing to be able to have anyone actually hear and react to the music you make. There are many people in the world far more talented than I who never get this opportunity. I used to think that I and the music were the determining factors in this equation, but I have finally learned otherwise: The music is important, but your experience with the music is what really determines its value. My experience with the songs on Dudes has already changed dramatically; for example, it’s funny how different ‘Bocce Ball’ feels when performed in Madrid as opposed to Dublin. I expect these metamorphoses will continue to occur for me and hope that they will for you. The best I can hope for is that your experiences with Dudes are simply real.

Thank you all very much for participating in the process up to this point. The proverbial cat is now out of the bag. Who knows what happens from here? Thankfully, the fate of Dudes is in your hands now: Every five-star review, radio broadcast and late-night television performance in the world will never rival the importance of one friend simply telling another that a piece of music really meant something to them. If Dudes serves no other purpose than to initiate a bunch of good conversations between people who care about each other, then it has been successful. As my new friends in Belgium might say:

“Vous avez de DUDES!”