The Face of 68 and other news updates - 3/1/25

Just so I do this in chronological order:

THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

I'm playing a few shows with my friend Don Dixon and Murray Attaway next weekend:

• Friday March 7 - Wake Forest Listening Room, Wake Forest NC
• Saturday March 8 - Chilton House, Richmond VA (sold out)
• Sunday March 9 - Chilton House, Richmond VA matinee 

Two people I very much look forward to sharing a stage, and hear them sing their amazing songs. You should come!

And then....

THE FACE OF 68

My new solo album The Face of 68 is being released on green glass colored vinyl Record Store Day 2025 (April 12)! Here's what the cover looks like (artwork is by Jon Langford). Pretty cool, huh? And the RSD sticker is on the shrink wrap, I promise.

The label releasing it is Label 51 Recordings, who also have the new Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill album Long After the Fire coming out RSD, as well as We Can Help, a new Sweet Relief album to which I contributed a track. The Label 51 catalog is full of fine artists like Rain Parade (who are making some of their finest music recently) and Sid Griffin (about to start a tour with Peter Case); the label's staff has been on point and enthusiastic through the whole process.

There's a single from the album called "She and Me" that's on streaming services now. Here's a link to the sweet animated lyric video. (There was a first single released as well, "Larger Than Life," which you can also find on streaming services.) Here is the Spotify link. 

RECORD RELEASE SHOWS

I have a couple of record release parties scheduled:

• April 24, Gas Hill Drinking Room, Winston-Salem NC (with Michael Slawter)
• April 25, Cat's Cradle Back Room, Carrboro NC (with Florence Dore)

My band will include Rob Ladd on drums and Robert Sledge on bass, reprising their roles from The Face of 68; we will be joined by Sam Frazier on guitar.

There will be a few more shows in major metro areas soon thereafter as well. We're workin' on it!

HOUSE CONCERTS THIS SUMMER - CAN YOU HOST ME?

I'm working with Tina Dunn to start booking a house concert tour of the Pacific Northwest and California this summer. Here's Tina's contact info if you have a house with a living room or backyard that could accommodate 50 fans. Tina booked a house concert tour of the East Coast a couple years ago, and it was great fun for me and everyone who came to the shows!

OTHER FUN STUFF

I did some more recording with The Paranoid Style last week in Durham, with Jason Richmond behind the board again. A bunch more great new songs from Elizabeth Nelson!

I have a Linktree now, too. It's got all the appropriate linkyness you would need to follow me. 

THE FINE PRINT

Thanks to Wendy Brynford-Jones at Hello Wendy PR who has done a superior job making me look interesting to the press for this record; to Bill Hutchison who manages his unmanageable client; to Dixon, Ladd, Sledge, Simonsen, Dixon-Jones, Richmond, Powell, Carroll, Langford, Krop and Associates for making this be; to all the girls I've loved before; to everything there is a season; to each his own; to little, to late (sic and sic). 

And especially to my family for always being there.

So follow me. I'm still infrequent here, but I'm trying hard to be "back with a vengeance"--the new album is cause for celebration, it's really good if I do say so myself, and I hope you like where I'm going with it. Come along!

Love

PeterH

Fall update 9/1/24

Oh, hi there, everyone!

Time for an update as we swing into September. There are a ton of links, so follow 'em all!

The dB's

Photo by Lindsay Metivier

Many of you already know that the band I played with in the 1980s, The dB's, are going to be playing dates in support of the reissues of our first two albums, Stands for deciBels and Repercussion which now reside on Propeller Sound Recordings. It will be the lineup from those albums going out on the road (myself, Gene Holder, Will Rigby and Chris Stamey). Here is the list of the shows that are confirmed--ticket links are here, but they can also be found on the landing page of The dB's website. 

9/4 The Rialto * - Raleigh

9/7 Hopscotch - Raleigh (we're on the Moore Square stage at 3:15 pm)

9/13 The Atlantis ** - Washington DC

9/14 Johnny Brenda’s ** - Philadelphia PA

9/15 White Eagle Hall ** - Jersey City NJ

9/19 The Foundry *** - Athens GA

9/20 Eulogy - Asheville NC

9/21 Eddie’s Attic - Decatur GA

9/22 Stage Door Theater - Charlotte NC

10/11 Amsterdam Bar and Hall - St. Paul, MN

10/12 Old Town School of Folk Music - Chicago IL - show is sold out, link is for waitlist

10/13 Shank Hall - Milwaukee WI

11/16 Zebulon **** - Los Angeles CA

11/17 Zebulon **** - Los Angeles CA - show is sold out, link is for waitlist

*with Kate Rhudy

**with Mayflies USA

***with Pylon Reenactment Society

****with Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill

More dates are being confirmed, so check the aforementioned landing page for The dB's for updates.

Continental Drifters

Photo by Julia Ewen

White Noise and Lightning: The Best of Continental Drifters is being released on Omnivore Recordings September 13. It's a collection of songs by the band drawn from the four albums we released (Nineteen Ninety-Three, Continental Drifters, Vermilion and Better Day). This will be available on vinyl LP and CD, the CD also featuring an unreleased live version of "Who We Are, Where We Live" from the Court Tavern in New Brunswick NJ. The band is very proud of this release and hope you'll find a place in your record collection for it. You can pre-order the LP and CD here. And, as you know, Omnivore Recordings released Drifted: In the Beginning and Beyond, a 2-CD compilation of early tracks and 'odds and sods' in 2015, which you should already have but can order here. 

Our friend Sean Kelly has written the biography of the band, White Noise and Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story which will be published by Cool Dog Sound September 27. You can pre-order the book here. It's a comprehensive look at the band's history, with interviews from all the members, our many Auxiliary Drifters and our friends and fans. 

Sean will be doing some book events around the biography:

9/29 - virtual Q&A with the Vermilion-era band and Sean, hosted by Brett Milano

10/1 - Rhodes College - Memphis TN - Sean and Robert

10/2 - Euclid Records - New Orleans LA - Sean and Peter, Robert, Russ and Susan

10/3 - Thacker Mountain Radio Hour - Oxford MS - Sean and Tim Lee (publisher/owner of Cool Dog Sound)

10/30 - Page 158 Books - Wake Forest NC - with Peter and David Menconi, also discussing David's book Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music 

Alongside the biography is this amazing 2-CD tribute to the band's music, We Are All Drifters: A Tribute to the Continental Drifters, co-produced by Sean Kelly and David Jenkins. Included are tracks by Don Dixon, Marshall Crenshaw, Rosie Flores, George Porter Jr., Robbie Rist, Steve Wynn and a host of others, including some of the aforementioned former Drifters and Drifter Auxiliary members. It's just humbling to see the love show to the band here. It's only available for pre-sale here! 

Continental Drifters are putting together showcases for 2025, although nothing is confirmed presently. But do visit our new website, won't you?

***

I'll have more to say about other projects soon, but this oughta hold you for now, right?

Love,

PeterH

Please donate to help out with Gene Holder's family emergency

Gene Holder, as you know, is a founding member of The dB's and a friend of mine since we were  teenagers in Winston-Salem.

His family is facing an enormous and expensive medical emergeny and could use your help.

Please consider making a generous donation if you can. Thank you for considering this request.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-gene-holders-family-medical-emergency