Mary Beth Mann

I was just browsing through my pictures and found this gem. Isn't she the most wonderful thing you've ever seen? I don't know why she wants to be with me, but I definitely feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

Two Gigs, One Souncheck

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I know I'm a few days late on the follow-up but it's been pretty stressful these past few days. Mary Beth and I got back from ETown on Friday and then, almost immediately, turned around and traveled to Centerfield for a JMB gig. Yes, yes, the rumors are true the Josh Martin Band is still alive and kicking- we've actually got some pretty big plans in the making right now. I can't say too much sense nothing is set in stone but we are going to have a meeting about it next Thursday and I will say that I don't think you'll be disappointed. But anywho, Friday night we played at Cowboy church in Centerfield. You heard me right... Cowboy church. I could explain it to you but you're just going to have to come see us next year to truly understand. It was a great night. Doug couldn't be there with us but that didn't seem to stop us from playing a fantastic show. I walked off the stage that night feeling more confident about our performance than I ever have before. We pulled out a new one on the crowd- Clumsy Believer, which is sure to become one of our favorite songs. We had practiced it on two separate occasions before Friday night and for the amount of time and energy we put into that song, it turned out to be superb.
Saturday. We sat around at my house for awhile the next day until I called Wilcutt Guitars in Lexington and talked to them about purchasing a new acoustic guitar. The guitar didn't have a pickup in it so they installed one and then I went and bought it. I'll dedicate a whole post to the guitar either tomorrow or the next day when I've had a chance to actually play it on stage. It's an Epiphone Masterbilt and I am absolutely loving it but I don't want to say too much about it in this post. Saturday night we had a concert at another Cowboy church (actually, I think they call it Country Church in Brandenburg) which didn't go quite as well as the previous one. It was just aa hectic night overall. We got there about 2 hours early in order to set up our equipment and get a good sound check... or so we thought. We were all under the impression that Brandenburg was in Central time- right over the border, but apparently they stick with Louisville's time. So, our extra 2 hours magically turned into 1 and we rushed to start 10 minutes late. I never really got in the right mindset to play a concert so both my playing and singing suffered quite a bit. But hey, at least I got the licks in the chorus of Clumsy Believer that night. (Did you hear them Kelly? I'm pretty sure I looked over at you a few times so you would know that I didn't screw them up again). Oh, and for some reason we could never get the bass level settled because I kept messing with my sound and my amp. Pretty soon I'll be saying good bye to my loud on-stage amp, and going with in-ear monitors- as long as I can get everything figured out and my mix right.

Thank you, vandal

The phrase "Jesus is helping me through my struggle" takes on a whole new meaning when someone carves it into the bathroom stall at Wal-Mart.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Althought it's not my absolute favorite holiday, I do love this day. It's always nice to spend the day with my 3 favorite f's- family, friends, and food. Today is going to be a fun-filled day of traveling for Mary Beth and I as we travel to Somerset in just a few hours to eat lunch with my dad's side of the family and then drive to Campbellsville to eat some dessert with my mom's side of the family. After that we will venture into E-Town to eat with her dad's family and then spend the night out at the farm and eat lunch with Bob and his family tomorrow. As soon as lunch is over we have to head back to Frankfort and then to Centerfield for a JMB concert tomorrow evening. Whew! I got tired just telling you all of this stuff. I can't imagine how I'll feel once all of this traveling is underway.
On another note, Mary Beth is continually improving and we both thank you all for your prayers, phone calls, and support. She is walking a lot more and the pain has subsided oh so slightly- hopefully she's ready for today and tomorrow. I guess we'll see shortly. Well, I hope to see some of you at the concert tomorrow night or, if you're in my family, I hope to see you today at one of the meals.

I'm still alive

Well, it's certainly been awhile. I don't have much of an excuse for not blogging within the past couple weeks- just a lot of little things seemed to come up. The biggest news from the past few days would be Mary Beth's hospital stay. She started experiencing large amounts of pain at the Lousiville football game on Saturday and was taken to the hospital before half time. I was already on my way to Lousiville to pick her up from the game when I heard she was on her way to the hospital so we arrived at the same time. After many tests and an overnight stay, they decided that the pain was caused by a ruptured ovarian cyst. Sounds painful, right? I'm not really sure what it feels like but I'd imagine that it's pretty terrible. She's staying at my house right now for the week, recuperating on the couch- actually, thanks to the magic of wireless internet, I'm sitting beside her right now. Say "Hi" Mary Beth. She waved. You'll just have to take my word for it.
I'll try to do better this week with this blog. Be patient, people.

I Love These People

Thy Mercy - Sandra McCracken

Thy Mercy, My God

1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.